Health Week Diaries
Overview
I was previously a P6 teacher at Harrysmuir Primary School in West Lothian. After the Headteacher, Susan Mackenzie, and another member of staff received some initial Glow training, all staff were encouraged to use Glow to support their classroom learning and teaching activities. As Harrysmuir school is double-stream, it was initially decided to have one Glow Group per stage, the other P6 teacher and I decided to set up our own groups for each of our classes. All pupils in the school can view all the class Glow Groups.
Context
After initially setting up my class Glow Group, we added various tabs throughout the year as we studied different topics and had different school events. One of the tabs I set up was for Health Week. As a link to our literacy focus in personal writing, I wanted children to keep a diary as a personal reflection on their thoughts and views about the health week activities. I also wanted the pupils to see and comment on each other’s diaries, so I set up a discussion board web part for each day of health week. Also within this group I set up a calendar of events so children would know what is happening and at what time.
How was the Health Tab used with the P6 Glow Group?
There are a number of web parts within the Health Week tab:
Text Editor
In this web part I left instructions to explain to the pupils how to add their diary entry.
Calendar
I used the calendar web part to display a timetable of events for the pupils so they could see what activities they had the opportunity to take part in, and to remind them what was happening on each day. This web part allowed them to check at home what was happening the next day so they could remember the necessary equipment, for example to bring a swimming kit on Tuesday.
Discussion Board
In this tab I had three different discussion boards, one for each day of health week. In these web parts each pupil 
wrote their personal reflections on the health week events they participated in that day. This allowed me to read the pupil’s comment and leave a reply or question, the pupil could then leave a further reply to answer my question. Giving the pupils the opportunity to reflect on their health week activities enabled me to address some of the literacy and health and well being outcomes and experiences:
LIT 2-26a By considering the type of text I am creating, I can select ideas and relevant information, organise these in an appropriate way for my purpose and use suitable vocabulary for my audience.
LIT 2-28a I can convey information, describe events, explain processes or combine ideas in different ways.
LIT 2-29a I can persuade, argue, explore issues or express an opinion using relevant supporting detail and/or evidence.
HWB 2-01a I am aware of and able to express my feelings and am developing the ability to talk about them.
HWB 2-19a Opportunities to carry out different activities and roles in a variety of settings have enabled me to identify my achievements, skills and areas for development. This will help me to prepare for the next stage in my life and learning.
Ingredients
What did I need to set up the health week diaries?
- Class Glow Group
- New tab for health week
- Text Editor web Part
- What’s On
- Multiple Discussion Board web parts
Recipe
In the following videos, we will take a look at the P6B Health Tab and then find out how to replicate some of its structure and content.
What does the P6 Health Week tab look like? (1.36)
How to add a new page to your Glow Group (1.10)
How to add some text in a Text Editor web part (3.37)
How to add a What’s On web part (4.01)
How to add a Discussion Board web part (4.24)
Impact
The health week tab allowed me to have access to the views that the pupils had about the activities they completed. This information was then fed back to the Health coordinator which will help her when planning health week activities next year. It also was an extension of the personal writing tasks the pupils had completed.
Click on the video below to hear the pupils’ views on using the Discussion Board web part for writing their diaries. (0.28)
Click on the video below to hear how the pupils used the What’s On web part. (0.15)
Click on the video below to hear how the pupils shared their learning with their parents. (0.13)
Related Cookbooks:
There are currently four other cookbooks relating to other aspects of the P6B Glow Group in Harrysmuir Primary School.
Click on the link to view each one:
Peer Assessment within 2nd Level Literacy and Language
Incorporating principles of AifL into 2nd Level Numeracy
Incorporating formative assessment and critical skills within 2nd level social studies
Developing Literacy and Presentation skills through use of Glow Meet