Using web parts to share learning intentions and CfE Outcomes in P6
Overview
Robyn Moonie
Robyn Moonie teaches P6 in Glencairn Primary in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire. She is a Glow Mentor for North Lanarkshire and began to use Glow with her previous P7 class last year. With her current class, P6, she has been using Glow since last August and has found it a purposeful way to extend learning in a new context. At the beginning of many of the pages in Robyn’s P6 Glow Group text editor web parts are used to list Learning Intentions and Curriculum for Excellence Outcomes for the pupils.
Learning Intentions and CfE Outcomes
Robyn uses these web parts as a way of sharing outcomes with her class. Many of the text editor web parts contain text directly copied from the Curriculum for Excellence website. On the Glow page, the text editor web parts retain these links and the children or their parents can always click to see the Outcome within its original context. This can enable background and future progression to be viewed from within the framework. Robyn feels that this enables the pupils to become familiar with the language of curriculum for excellence in their work. She will often refer to these web parts as teaching points and believes it helps the pupils to understand what their targets are. It allows them to reflect on this in terms of why a particular piece of work is being undertaken and what is expected of the pupils. As the outcomes occur within a context for the pupils within a Maths or Novel Study page it allows the pupils to gain an overview of all their targets across that particular area, rather than just the topic being studied at any one time.
As pupils are often asked to self and peer assess it is helpful for them to have the Learning Intentions and Outcomes available on the same page for reflection during these exercises. Interactions between pupils on discussion boards, teamed with the Learning Intention web parts can then allow for a deeper understanding of their own personal targets. As all staff in the school have membership of the P6 Glow Group they are able to use the Learning Intention web parts as accurate information of what Robyn is setting out to achieve with them. This allows other staff to contribute to discussion boards and comment on the pupils’ progress.
Glencairn P6 Glow Site
This will be the 3rd of 4 Cookbooks looking at Robyn’s P6 Glow Group. Other Cookbooks will look at using Glow to enhance Novel Study in the classroom; using Glow for celebrating Responsibilities and Achievements and Using Glow to enhance teaching and Learning of Maths in the classroom.
You will find the other Cookbooks here:
Using Glow for Responsibilities and Achievements in Glencairn Primary School
Using a Glow Group for Novel Study at Glencairn Primary School
Maths is Fun at Glencairn Primary
In this cookbook, we will find out:
• What the Glencairn Primary P6 Glow Group looks like
• How a range of text editor web parts have been used to share Learning Intentions and CfE Outcomes
• How to replicate it
• What the impact was
Context
Glencairn Primary school has a role of approximately 180 pupils, not including the role from the attached nursery school. Robyn received training as a Glow Mentor in Phase 2 of North Lanarkshire’s rollout in May 2009. She started with her P7 and Glow in the summer term of 2009 by joining some transition Glow Meets. However, since the start of the new term in August 2009 she has embedded Glow throughout the curriculum rather than it appearing as a one-off lesson for the pupils. She introduced them to Glow with some specific tasks in the group 2/3 times per week and it has grown from there. Home Access has been enabled for the pupils in March of this year and P6 are trialling this for the rest of the school.
Home Access has been sourced for the pupils by making sure they can access Glow if not at their own home then at friends/grandparents or other relatives. Robyn feels that Glow is helping with partnership with parents, where previously jotters went home to help with this and might not always have made it back into school, all information and progress can be shared through the class Glow Group. P6 are also acting as Glow Buddies in the school and introducing it to pupils in other classes to get them logged on to Glow, all of the pupils from P3 upwards have logged into Glow. Robyn is also involved in training all the staff in the school and has set up all of the Glow Groups on the school site. Other teachers are being influenced by the success of Robyn’s class in using Glow and as a policy within the school, all staff have access to the group. Robyn’s P6 group is also linked to from North Lanarkshire’s Glow Showcase Group with membership set for all staff in North Lanarkshire. Glow Development Officers, Scott Clark and Eileen Mallaghan regularly use Robyn’s Group for supporting staff across from the authority in developing their use of Glow.
In this Cookbook we will investigate how Robyn has used text editor web parts on several pages within the class Glow Group to enable her to share Learning Intentions and CfE Outcomes with the pupils in her class.
Ingredients
Learning Intentions and Outcomes in Maths
Learning Intentions and links to CfE Outcomes can be found on all of the Novel Study pages within the Glow Group, on the non-fiction, story writing, Maths and Environmental Studies page. The pupils are obviously used to this familiar structure when using Glow to extend their learning.
For illustration within this Cookbook I have chosen to concentrate on where text editor web parts have been used for Learning Intentions and Curriculum for Excellence Outcomes on the first Novel Study page within the Group entitled Why the Whales Came. What did Robyn need to do in order to share Learning Intentions and CfE Outcomes with the pupils?
• A Class Glow Group for P6
• Set pupils with membership at any level
• Create a new pages in the Glow Group for the Novel Study elements
• A text editor web part listing the Learning Intentions for Reading
• A text editor web part with information from a Curriculum for Excellence and a link to the CfE site
Recipe
The first video below shows a short compilation tour through the pages of the class Glow group in which Robyn makes use of the text editor web parts for Learning Intentions and CfE Outcomes. The videos that then follow show how these elements can be recreated on one particular page. Details are:
The Use of the Learning Intentions and CfE Outcomes web parts throughout the Group
How to add text editor web parts to a page
How to edit a text editor web part to include the text for Learning Intentions and CfE Outcomes
Impact
Emily, Caity and Michael
Robyn feels that the pupils are far more aware of the language of Curriculum for Excellence and their personal targets through sharing the Learning Intentions and CfE Targets with them in this way. Learning beyond the classroom can be extended to home use and allow for better information to be shared with parents and carers. The combining of these web parts with discussion boards allows for strong evidence of learning to be stored.
Robyn Moonie speaks about having Learning Intentions and CfE Outcomes shared with the pupils on Glow
Michael, Emily and Caity speak about the Novel Study pages
Head Teacher, Lorna Galbraith speaks about P6 using Glow at Glencairn
North Lanarkshire Glow Development Officers Eileen and Scott speak about Robyn’s Group
The P6 Glow Group at Glencairn as a whole
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Visit the other Glow Cookbooks on Glencairn Primary School:
Using Glow for Responsibilities and Achievements in Glencairn Primary School
Using a Glow Group for Novel Study at Glencairn Primary School
Maths is Fun at Glencairn Primary
Links to Curriculum for Excellence
In Health and Wellbeing Across Learning the Planning for Choices and Changes section says:
“Learners need to experience opportunities which are designed not only to raise their awareness of future choices but also raise their expectations and aspirations. They develop the skills for personal planning and making decisions in the context of curriculum, learning and achievement which will prepare them for next stages in life.”