Overview

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away (well, in Bathgate, West Lothian) the Primary 1 and 2 teachers in Windyknowe Primary School set themselves a huge task. They embarked upon a ‘Joining the Learning’ Fairyland activity that involved every one of the 100 Primary 1 and 2 pupils taking part in an Enchanted Forest project which culminated in them having a Glow Meet with a dragon!

Context

The teachers were keen to provide an engaging and enjoyable learning experience for the pupils and so did a lot of preparation and planning in advance of embarking on the 6-week project. Firstly, they visited other schools who had already been involved in the project to get advice and ideas from them. This allowed them to clarify the things they would like to do themselves.

They decided then that they would like to mix up the children from the P1 and P2 classes to enable them to select the activities they would like to take part in and so provide opportunities for personalisation and choice.

A letter from a Dragon!

The project started after the Easter holidays with a letter arriving from a dragon! This was accompanied by dragon dust (which strangely resembled glitter!), footprints on the floor and scorch marks on the letter itself. All of the 100 children were gathered together to be read the letter from the dragon. Immediately they were captivated.  In his letter, the dragon asked the pupils to turn the rooms into an Enchanted Forest. He left articles for the children and these were then used as a basis for the themes that the classrooms were given.

Initially the children went away and thought about the items that the dragon had left. They were asked to consider why he might have chosen these things. Each group of items was linked to a different classroom and each classroom had a different theme and colour scheme, so the pupils had to think about how the rooms and the items were linked. After learning more about the items, the pupils selected which room they would like to work in to find out more about that theme. They picked names for their chosen room, to reflect its theme. The rooms were then named The Armoury Room, The Waterfall Room, The Cottage, The Royal Room and the Great Hall.

The entrance to the area where the P1 and P2 classrooms are was transformed into an Enchanted Forest, just as the dragon had requested. In addition, the pupils then decorated their chosen room to reflect its theme. They undertook different activities in their groups within their chosen room throughout the week and in addition there was always one joint community activity each week.

Hear the pupils talk about the dragon and some of the different rooms in the following video clips:

Signs of the dragon (1:39)
Glow Meet with a dragon!- Early Years Fairyland topic
Which rooms were there? (2:19)
Glow Meet with a dragon!- Early Years Fairyland topic
The Armoury Room (0:43)
Glow Meet with a dragon!- Early Years Fairyland topic
The Royal Room (1:21)
Glow Meet with a dragon!- Early Years Fairyland topic
The Waterfall Room (0:36)
Glow Meet with a dragon!- Early Years Fairyland topic
Making Cinderella’s cake (1:01)
Glow Meet with a dragon!- Early Years Fairyland topic
Being a knight (1:01)
Glow Meet with a dragon!- Early Years Fairyland topic
 

Curricular activities

Each week, a new letter arrived from the dragon and this letter introduced a new fairytale to the children. The first was “The Princess and the Pea” by Hans Christian Andersen. To link with this, every pupil made a fabric square which the staff then lovingly sewed together to form a patchwork quilt. Each story that the pupils read was accompanied by a joint activity. For example, when they read “Snow White and the seven dwarfs” by the Brothers Grimm, they made a woodland freeze for the Cottage Room;  for “Cinderella”, each group made one tier of a cake which they then assembled to form one giant cake.

Other activities were also undertaken and used to embed learning from all curricular areas. For example

• The children wrote stories. The teachers were amazed at the length of the stories and the level of vocabulary that the children were using.  It was clear that they had picked up language from the fairytales that they had read.
• Spelling included words from fairytales – such as beanstalk!
• There was a huge amount of ICT usage incorporated throughout the range of activities – the children took photos and filmed what they were doing, as well as using the internet for research. They also became familiar with video conferencing and web cams through using Glow Meet.
• They learned about castles and in particular looked at Edinburgh and Stirling castles.
• In the Waterfall room, the children learned about the lifecycle of frogs
• The 7 dwarfs were used to help pupils learn number bonds as part of their numeracy learning.
• Outdoors, the pupils worked together in groups to build castles
• There was a lot of drama and role-play, with the children frequently dressing up as knights or princesses

There were some large-scale activities planned for the children too. There was

• a ‘Ball in the Hall’ where the children learned to dance
• a Knights challenge where the pupils who had chosen to work within the Knights room took part in tasks to becomes a knight. This then led to a knighting ceremony.
• a ‘Sleeping Beauty’ Assembly presented to the rest of the school
• an open day, when parents were invited in, by Royal Decree, to visit the enchanted forest. Over 200 parents and siblings visited.

 Who is this dragon?

Throughout the weeks, the dragon mysteriously visited the school and the children frequently spotted signs that he had been there. Tell-tale signs were seeing dragon dust, or footprints in the enchanted forest, or scorch marks in the playground!

The children were extremely intrigued by the dragon and whilst there were initially a couple of sceptics, after a while all of the children were hugely engaged in trying to discover more about him. They used books and the internet to research different types of dragons and the Primary 2’s even interviewed the staff to try to find out more. They were desperate to know if the dragon was a boy or a girl (as dragon dust had been spotted in both the girls and boys toilets!).

The pupils regularly declared that they had caught a glimpse of the dragon, either at the window or flying up in the sky. However, during the Ball in the Hall, the dragon finally did in fact make a real appearance! For just a second, he peeked in through the hall window. He was spotted by a few of the children, and the excitement that this generated amongst the entire P1 and P2 cohort was tangible. The teachers had carefully arranged it so that it was clear to the pupils that the dragon was not one of the teachers, as they were all present at the time he was spotted, and traces of dragon dust were placed outside by the support staff to confirm his presence.

Meeting the dragon

As it was nearing the end of the 6 week project, the teachers decided that now was the time for the pupils to finally see the dragon.

Another letter arrived from the dragon, suggesting that he would like to speak with the children. He explained that he was very familiar with Glow and that he would therefore like to use Glow Meet to see and speak with them.

One of the teachers arranged for her son to play the part of the dragon.

Since he had been hearing all about the dragon and the adventures that had been happening in the Enchanted Forest at home, he enthusiastically agreed!

A leafy backdrop was created in an area of the school separate from where the P1 and P2 classrooms are, and ‘the dragon’ sat there to do the Glow Meet.

The pupils had prepared questions for the dragon beforehand and took turns to speak to him during the Glow Meet. They even sang ‘Puff the magic dragon’ to him!

At the end, the dragon explained that his Kingdom was now ready for him to return to and that he would be leaving the children to move back.

This brought the entire project to a fitting end.

(The children did add one more activity of their own though, by making Goodbye cards for the dragon!)

Watch excerpts from the Glow Meet with the dragon in the following videos:

Question and Answer session with the Dragon (8:47)
Glow Meet with a dragon!- Early Years Fairyland topic
Singing ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’ to the Dragon (2:44)
Glow Meet with a dragon!- Early Years Fairyland topic
 One pupil tells us her thoughts about meeting the Dragon (0:19)
Glow Meet with a dragon!- Early Years Fairyland topic
 

Curriculum for Excellence Experiences and Outcomes

The topic enabled the teachers to cover an extensive range of Experiences and Outcomes with the children. Amongst many others, they covered:

Literacy and English

LIT 0-01b / LIT 0-11b I enjoy exploring and choosing stories and other texts to watch, read or listen to, and can share my likes and dislikes.
LIT 0-01c I enjoy exploring events and characters in stories and other texts, sharing my thoughts in different ways.
LIT 0-04a I listen or watch for useful or interesting information and I use this to make choices or learn new things.
LIT 1-20a / LIT 2-20a I enjoy creating texts of my choice and I regularly select subject, purpose, format and resources to suit the needs of my audience. 
LIT 1-21a I can spell the most commonly-used words, using my knowledge of letter patterns and spelling rules and use resources to help me spell tricky or unfamiliar words.

Mathematics and Numeracy

MNU 0-03a I use practical materials and can ‘count on and back’ to help me to understand addition and subtraction, recording my ideas and solutions in different ways.  

Expressive Arts

EXA 0-01a / EXA 1-01a / EXA 2-01a  I have experienced the energy and excitement of presenting/performing for audiences and being part of an audience for other people’s presentations/
EXA 1-02a  I have the opportunity to choose and explore a range of media and technoligies to create images and objects, discovering their effects and suitability for specific tasks
EXA 0-10a  I have opportunities to enjoy taking part in dance experiences.
EXA 1-10a  I am becoming aware of different features of dance and can practise and perform steps, formations and short dance.
EXA 0-12a I have the freedom to choose and explore how I can use my voice, movement, and expression in role play and drama.
EXA 0-16a I enjoy singing and playing along to music of different styles and cultures.  

Technologies

TCH 1-03b I can access, retrieve and use information from electronic sources to support, enrich or extend learning in different contexts.
TCH 0-04a I enjoy exploring and using technologies to communicate with others within and beyond my place of learning.
TCH 0-04b I enjoy taking photographs or recording sound and images to represent my experiences and the world around me.
TCH 1-04a / TCH 2-04a I explore and experiment with the features and functions of computer technology and I can use what I learn to support and enhance my learning in different contexts. 

Ingredients

The teachers used a school Glow Group called the Enchanted Forest to host their Glow Meet. Assisted by another teacher in the school, Laura Gingell, the Glow Meet web part was added to the Glow Group and a Meeting Room created within it.

In order to provide the experience of the Glow Meet with the Dragon, the teachers needed the following:

• A Glow Group
• A Glow Meet web part added to the Glow Group with a Meeting room created in it
• Web cams – for the dragon and for the room where the children were congregated
• The computer in the children’s room to be connected to a projector to display the Glow Meet on a whiteboard for all to see
• Microphones, for the dragon and for the children
• Speakers for the dragon and the children

In the following videos we will learn how to replicate some of the elements of the Enchanted Forest Glow Group, in particular, the Glow Meet elements:

How to set up a Glow Meet in a Glow Group (5:36)
Glow Meet with a dragon!- Early Years Fairyland topic
How to join and take part in a Glow Meet (3:38)
Glow Meet with a dragon!- Early Years Fairyland topic
How to use the video, audio and chat facility within a Glow Meet meeting room (6:19)
Glow Meet with a dragon!- Early Years Fairyland topic
How to record a Glow Meet (2:09)
Glow Meet with a dragon!- Early Years Fairyland topic
How to play back a previously recorded Glow Meet (3:22)
Glow Meet with a dragon!- Early Years Fairyland topic

Impact

There were many benefits realised from this project, both for the pupils and the staff:

- The children developed in confidence, mixing easily with pupils from the other P1 and 2 classes. This was evident during the school concert when they performed in front of an audience with far more confidence than they had previously
- Their ability to work in groups and share was improved and they played together very well, as they had to get to know one another.
- They became more independent
- There was more of a community feeling within the P1 and P2 area in the school as they worked as one, rather than as separate classes
- The children had the benefit of regularly working with a range of teachers instead of just their own class teacher
- The pupils were very engaged in their learning
- The inclusion of the dragon was an extremely motivational element throughout the project. Any mention of the dragon sparked great interest and proved to be a great way to encourage the pupils to do things – they were happy to do it if the dragon asked them to!
- The language work that the pupils produced was incredible. The length of the stories they wrote and the vocabulary they used was far beyond what the teachers would normally see from P1/2 pupils.
- When a new letter arrived from the dragon, the pupils were very good at suggesting ideas about what they should do to meet his requests. 
- Their interest in reading has been sustained and the children regularly choose to read a fairytale from their reading corner.

During the project the six P1 and P2 teachers all worked extremely well together. They all offered and shared their ideas and planned joint activities as a group. Through their discussions, the ideas evolved that were then implemented throughout the project. All of the staff loved the experience of the project and were completely enthused. This enthusiasm was most certainly passed on to the children. One of the teachers involved in the Fairyland topic, Michelle Skene, said of the project: “we’ve loved every minute of it, maybe even moreso than the children!”

The Glow Meet itself had a great impact on the project. It gave a way of bringing the topic to a conclusion and allowed the children to see the dragon that had consumed their thoughts for the previous six weeks.

The children still talk about the dragon now, weeks after the end of the topic. They also still incorporate other areas of their learning from the Enchanted Forest into their everyday work.

The staff and pupils all loved the project and having a Glow Meet with a dragon is something they would most definitely recommend!

Overview

Fiona Tato is a P2/1 teacher at Strachur Primary School in Argyll and Bute. At present the upper and middle school pupils have been actively using their class Glow Groups.

In this cookbook we will look at how Fiona and her class used Glow Meet to link to a webcam in a bird box, and how this developed into being a stimulus for an interdisciplinary project.

Context

In conjunction with the Strachur Primary School’s Green Flag Projects they received a bird box with a web cam from Generation Green. Initially the National Park Ranger, Jim Downie set up the web cam in the bird box which was displayed to the pupils on the class SMARTboard. Fiona then came up with the idea of having the web cam connected to Glow Meet, as this would allow the pupils to watch the bird box from home, and they could show their parents. Also it allowed all pupils in the school and Local Authority to become involved in this project. Fiona used this project as a stimulus for Literacy, Art and Science lessons.  The pupils also had a hide where they could go and watch the birds and take photos using a digital camera.

Click on the video to see a pupil talk about their bird watching hide. (0.38)
Strachur Birdwatchers

Click on the video to see one of the pupils show us where the bird box is located. (0.16)
Strachur Birdwatchers

Listen to Fiona tell us how the project started. (0.57)
Strachur Birdwatchers

Listen to Fiona explain why she decided to use Glow for this project. (1.15)
Strachur Birdwatchers

How was the Strachur Nestbuilders Glow Group set up?

There are a number of areas within this Glow Group:

Noticeboard

On this page there is a title for the Glow Group, which was uploaded using a Text Editor Web Part. There is a link to a Discussion Board, which was put on the Noticeboard to encourage visitors to the group to leave comments about what they had seen. The Noticeboard also contains the Glow Meet Web Part and a Document Store which gives advice on how to use Glow Meet.

What can you see?

This page contains a Discussion Board where visitors can leave comments about their observations during the Glow Meet. There is a link to this page on the Noticeboard.

Calendar

A Calendar web part is used on this page. This allowed Mrs Tato and the class to add key events so the class had a record of what happened, for example when the project started , the size of the chicks at various times, etc.

Strachur Primary

This page used Image Web Parts to display various Literacy and Art projects the pupils had taken part in during lessons.

This topic has covered many Early and First Level Curriculum for Excellence Experiences and Outcomes:

LIT 1-22a I can write independently, use appropriate punctuation and order and link my sentences in a way that makes sense.

LIT 1-24a I can present my writing in a way that will make it legible and attractive for my reader, combining words, images and other features.

LIT 0-02a / ENG 0-03a As I listen and talk in different situations, I am learning to take turns and am developing my awareness of when to talk and when to listen.

LIT 0-04a I listen or watch for useful or interesting information and I use this to make choices or learn new things.

SCN 0-01a I have observed living things in the environment over time and am becoming aware of how they depend on each other.

EXA 0-04a/EXA 1-04a I can create a range of visual information through observing and recording from my experiences across the curriculum.

HWB 0-05a / HWB 1-05a I am learning about where living things come from and about how they grow, develop and are nurtured.

Ingredients

What did Fiona need to set up the Strachur Nestbuilders Glow Group?

1. Glow Group at an Authority Level
2. Web cam placed in a bird box
3. 4 Pages within the Glow Group
4. Text Editor Web Part
5. Glow Meet Web Part
6. Document Store
7. Multiple Image Web Parts
8. Default Discussion Board
9. Calendar Web Part

Recipe

In the following videos, we will take a look at the Strachur Nestbuilders Glow Group and find out how to replicate some of its structure and content.

What does the Strachur Nestbuilders Glow Group look like? (2.46)
Strachur Birdwatchers

How to add, delete and rename pages. (1.49)
Strachur Birdwatchers

How to add a Text Editor web part and an image. (2.24)
Strachur Birdwatchers

How to add a Glow Meet Web Part and configure a Glow Meet room. (1.52)
Strachur Birdwatchers

How to create a Document Store and upload a document. (1.35)
Strachur Birdwatchers

How to add an Image Web Part and edit the image. (2.18)
Strachur Birdwatchers

How to add content to a Discussion Board. (1.29)
Strachur Birdwatchers

How to add a Calendar Web part and edit the settings. (2.00)
Strachur Birdwatchers

Impact

Fiona feels this project has a huge impact on learning and teaching. The pupils were able to collaborate with another school in the area, which allowed the pupils to ask each other questions about their observations. It has given the parents an insight into how Glow can be used to collaborate with other pupils within their school and the local area using a safe and secure area. It allowed for numerous cross-curricular opportunities. The pupils have an excellent understanding of bird classification and also the importance of nature conservation.

Listen to the pupils explain what they have seen via Glow Meet. (0.56)
Strachur Birdwatchers

Listen to pupils explain how they can watch the birds. (0.44)
Strachur Birdwatchers

Listen to the pupils discuss what class activities they have taken part in related to this topic. (0.40)
Strachur Birdwatchers

Listen to Fiona explain the impact on learning this project has had.  (0.46)
Strachur Birdwatchers

Click here to visit the Glow Group.

Overview

Cathy Francis teaches P6/7 in St Thomas’ Primary school in Keith, Moray. She is the school’s coordinator for the Comenius project and has established links with schools from across Europe over recent years. In March, Cathy visited one of St Thomas’ partner schools in Germany as part of the Comenius project.

St Thomas’ is one of four Primary schools in Moray currently taking part in the Comenius project. To help them work together, a Global Education Glow Group was created at Local Authority level, with a sub Group within it specifically for the Comenius project.

Context

Cathy and St Thomas’ are half way through a 2-year Comenius project which links them with schools in Germany, Romania, Poland, Greece and Italy. She has made excellent use of the Comenius Glow Group to help connect all of these schools during this project.

Each of the Comenius coordinators in the foreign schools has been given a guest account for Glow and has been given membership of the Comenius Glow Group. During a visit to Scotland in February, the coordinators were given some basic introductory training on how to access and use the Glow Group by Allan Reid, who was then one of Moray’s Glow Development Officers. The training session really tested Allan’s foreign language skills (!) but he did a great job and all of the teachers found the session helpful.

Cathy has visited Germany twice recently as part of the Comenius project. On both occasions she has used Glow Meet to enable the pupils in Germany to link up with the St Thomas’ pupils back in Keith.

In October last year, Cathy used Glow Meet from Germany to link up with her own P6/7 class back in Moray. The pupils in both schools used the shared whiteboard in the Glow Meet meeting room to upload and display photos of where they live. They then asked each other questions about them. The conversation then took on a life of its own! The pupils in Germany were intrigued to see that the pupils in Scotland were all dressed the same, and asked why they wore a school uniform. The pupils from St Thomas’ gave excellent responses, explaining that wearing uniform keeps everyone the same and also means that they do not need to wear out their ‘normal’ clothes by wearing them to school. Cathy was extremely impressed with the way her pupils thought out and explained their answers and how clearly they communicated these with children whose first language is not English.

Health and Wellbeing project

Recently, Cathy made a second trip to Germany.

The schools involved in the Comenius project with St Thomas’ undertook a collaborative project to do with healthy eating. Teachers from Romania and Poland joined Cathy in Germany and they each made a healthy breakfast, typical for their country. (Cathy made porridge).

Cathy saw this healthy food exercise as a great opportunity to link up once again via Glow Meet with pupils back in Scotland. This time, however, she decided to link up with the Nursery pupils in St Thomas’.

The nursery children and pupils from the school in Germany used Glow Meet to link up. They had arranged to have a joint activity which involved making fruit kebabs.

In each of their own classrooms they prepared and talked about the fruits they were using. Pictures of the fruits – grapes, strawberries, bananas, and kiwi fruit were uploaded to the shared whiteboard and the English and German words for each fruit were typed up, enabling pupils in both countries to see them. The nursery children in St Thomas’ learned the German words for the fruits and noticed the similarities between the English and German words for banana (banane) and kiwi fruit (kiwi)

The St Thomas’ children made their kebabs and held them up to the camera for the German children to see. The pupils in Germany then copied the pattern of the fruit and made the kebabs for themselves. They pointed to each fruit and said its name in German and in English.

The Glow Meet was recorded and added to the Comenius Glow Group, giving a permanent record of the event and enabling people to watch it back at any time.

Watch excerpts from the Glow Meet between St Thomas’ nursery and Germany in the following video:

Scottish/German links: Making fruit kebabs via Glow Meet (6:33)
What’s the German for strawberry?

Curricular impact

The activity allowed the Nursery pupils in St Thomas’ to engage with a range of Early Level Curriculum for Excellence Experiences and Outcomes: Amongst others:

Health and Wellbeing
HWB 0-30a Together we enjoy handling, tasting, talking and learning about different foods, discovering ways in which eating and drinking may help us to grow and keep healthy.
HWB 0-35a I explore and discover where foods come from as I choose, prepare and taste different foods.

Literacy and English
LIT 0-02a / ENG 0-03a As I listen and talk in different situations, I am learning to take turns and am developing my awareness of when to talk and when to listen.
LIT 0-04a I listen or watch for useful or interesting information and I use this to make choices or learn new things. 

Mathematics
MTH 0-13a I have spotted and explored patterns in my own and the wider environment and can copy and continue these and create my own patterns.

Technologies
TCH 0-04a I enjoy exploring and using technologies to communicate with others within and beyond my place of learning.  

Ingredients

So what did Cathy need to do to have the Glow Meet between Moray and Germany?

- Have the Local Authority create guest accounts for the German teacher
- Make the German teacher a member of the Glow Group
- Send the URL of the Glow Group to the teacher in Germany
- Add the Glow Meet web part to the Group and create a meeting room
- Have a web cam, microphone and speakers

For the fruit kebabs Glow Meet, since Cathy was in Germany, she actually logged on to Glow herself to do the Glow Meet. Another member of staff in Moray then logged on in St Thomas’.

In the following videos we can find out how to set up a Glow Meet, record it and make it available for playing back.

How to add Glow Meet to a Glow  (5:36)
What’s the German for strawberry?
How to join a Glow Meet (3:38)
What’s the German for strawberry?
How to use the video, audio and chat facility within a Glow Meet meeting room (6:19)
What’s the German for strawberry?
How to use the shared whiteboard in a Glow Meet meeting room (8:25)
What’s the German for strawberry?
How to record a Glow Meet (2:09)
What’s the German for strawberry?
How to play back a previously recorded Glow Meet session (3:22)
What’s the German for strawberry?

Impact

The children in both Scotland and Germany thoroughly enjoyed the Glow Meet. They had the opportunity to speak to people in another country and learn new words in a foreign language, in a relevant and realistic context, giving them a real purpose for their learning.

The nursery children really took in everything that happened during the Glow Meet, as they still tell their parents the German words for the fruit even now!

Cathy found the Glow Meet a really useful and convenient way of keeping in touch with her own school whilst on a trip abroad. She has also found it useful for communicating with teachers in other countries when she is at home in Scotland and really improving the collaborative links she has with the other schools.

Overview

‘What’s it really like living on an island?’ That was the question being asked by the Primary 1 pupils in Bannockburn Primary after reading some of Mairi Hedderwick’s ‘Katie Morag’ stories. To help answer that question, one of the school’s Primary 1 teachers, Jenny Shineton, decided to use Glow Meet to enable the pupils to speak to children who do live on an island.

Context

Bannockburn Primary is a fairly large school, with a roll of approximately 400 pupils. This session, there are three Primary 1 classes, taught by Jenny Shineton, Theresa Dandie and Claire Baillie. The teachers work closely together to plan rich learning experiences for their pupils.

© Mairi Hedderwick published by Red Fox Used by permission of The Random House Group Ltd

Part of this session’s learning was based around pupils’ engaging with the Katie Morag Stories, “Katie Morag delivers the mail”, “Katie Morag and the two grannies”, ‘Katie Morag and the Big Boy Cousins’, ‘Katie Morag and Tiresome Ted’ and “Katie Morag and the wedding”.

 A wide range of rich, engaging, cross-curricular learning activities were undertaken using the content of these stories as a stimulus.

© Mairi Hedderwick published by Red Fox. Used by permission of The Random House Group Ltd

As part of the language work being explored, pupils looked at and talked about photographs of islands, including Coll, the island that was once home to Katie Morag author Mairi Hedderwick and the inspiration for the stories. The children were asked to discuss what it might be like to live on an island, such as Struay – home to Katie Morag – and to compare this with living in Bannockburn.

It was this exercise that inspired Jenny to make enquiries about making contact with pupils who actually live on an island, to really bring the topic to life.

Hear P1 teacher Claire Baillie explain why they decided to do this (0:15)
Bringing the Katie Morag stories to life using Glow Meet

Through making enquiries with the National Glow Team, Bannockburn was put in touch with Eigg Primary School. Eigg is one of the small isles, lying off the coast of the West Highlands. It is about 160 miles away from Bannockburn.

The Headteacher of Eigg Primary school is Hilda Ibrahim. Hilda was introduced to Glow as part of Highland’s pilot with the Mallaig ASG, and she was keen to explore its potential and the added experiences it could bring to her pupils. She was therefore delighted to be able to collaborate with Bannockburn.

Preparation and Planning
Initial contact was made and the schools corresponded by email to make arrangements. A Glow Group was created at Stirling’s Local Authority level. As well as the Bannockburn teachers being given membership, the teachers on Eigg were added as members and then sent the URL of the Group, since they did not have automatic sight of it, not being part of Stirling Council. The link to the Glow Group was then added as a web link on Eigg’s Glow school site for ease of access.

In preparation for the link-up, Bannockburn held a practice Glow Meet between two classes in the school. This allowed them to add the Glow Meet web part to the Glow Group and practise using the Glow Meet shared whiteboard. Eigg, being remotely located, had already made great use of Glow Meet as a means of communication with other schools in their ASG.

The Glow Meets
After the arrangements had been made, the first Glow Meet then took place. The sixty pupils from Bannockburn’s three Primary 1 classes were excitedly sitting in one classroom in the busy central belt. All of the pupils from Eigg Primary school sat in the classroom in their school, on the peaceful west coast island.

‘How many is all pupils?’, you ask – just nine! Those nine pupils range from P2 to P7, and although they were linking with Primary 1’s, Hilda was keen to have all pupils on Eigg sharing in the experience.

The first session was mainly used to introduce the pupils to Glow Meet and to make use of the shared whiteboard, which they wrote on. There were a few issues with sound feedback, but this was overcome by each school only switching on their microphone when it was their turn to speak.

The second Glow Meet was more structured. The P1 pupils in Bannockburn had discussed and planned the questions they wanted to ask ahead of time and took turns to come up to the webcam and microphone. Each pupil began by telling the Eigg pupils how things were for them, then asked how it was in Eigg. For example, they would say things like, “We walk to school or come by car. How do you get to school?” The pupils on Eigg would then respond.

Theresa Dandie, one of the Bannockburn teachers remarked that her pupils were amazed to hear about what life is really like on an island. They were surprised by the differences between their school and Eigg Primary. Hearing, for example, that Eigg Primary school does not have a dining hall, was a revelation!

Curricular outcomes
Alongside the many other experiences and outcomes that the pupils in Bannockburn were able to engage with as part of the Katie Morag topic work, preparing for and using Glow Meet allowed the pupils to take part in learning activities to support the following Early Level experiences and outcomes:

Literacy and English
LIT 0-01c I enjoy exploring events and characters in stories and other texts, sharing my thoughts in different ways.
LIT 0-02a/ENG 0-03a As I listen and talk in different situations, I am learning to take turns and am developing my awareness of when to talk and when to listen.
LIT 0-04a I listen or watch for useful or interesting information and I use this to make choices or learn new things.
LIT 0-07a/LIT 0-16a/ENG 0-17a To help me understand stories and other texts, I ask questions and link what I am learning with what I already know.
LIT 0-09b/LIT 0-31a I enjoy exploring events and characters in stories and other texts and I use what I learn to invent my own, sharing these with others in imaginative ways.
LIT 0-19a I enjoy exploring events and characters in stories and other texts, sharing my thoughts in different ways.

Technologies:
TCH 0-01a I enjoy playing with and exploring technologies to discover what they can do and how they can help us
TCH 0-04a I enjoy exploring and using technologies to communicate with others within and beyond my place of learning.
TCH 0-04b I enjoy taking photographs or recording sound and images to represent my experiences and the world around me.

IngredientsWhat did the teachers in Bannockburn Primary School need to do to set up and take part in the Glow Meet with Eigg Primary school?
• Have a Glow Group where teachers from both schools were members
• Send the URL of the Glow Group to Eigg
• Add the Glow Meet web part to the Glow Group
• Have a web cam, microphone and speakers for the Glow Meet sessions

In the first video below we will hear from the Headteacher from Eigg talking about the Glow Meets, then find out in the rest of the videos how to replicate these elements.

Eigg Headteacher Hilda Ibrahim talks about the Glow Meet link (1:35)
Bringing the Katie Morag stories to life using Glow Meet

Now Learn how to do it yourself in the following videos:

How to make people from two schools members of a Glow Group (6:57)
Bringing the Katie Morag stories to life using Glow Meet
How to set up a Glow Meet in a Glow Group (5:36)
Bringing the Katie Morag stories to life using Glow Meet
How to join and take part in a Glow Meet (3:38)
Bringing the Katie Morag stories to life using Glow Meet
How to use the video, audio and chat facility within a Glow Meet meeting room (6:19)
Bringing the Katie Morag stories to life using Glow Meet
How to use the shared whiteboard in a Glow Meet meeting room (8:25)
Bringing the Katie Morag stories to life using Glow Meet
How to record a Glow Meet (2:09)
Bringing the Katie Morag stories to life using Glow Meet
How to play back a previously recorded Glow Meet (3:22)
Bringing the Katie Morag stories to life using Glow Meet

Impact

For the P1 pupils in Bannockburn, linking up with the pupils on Eigg has really brought relevance to their learning. What started off as a story, became alive, by being able to ask questions of people who could tell them first hand what island life is really like.

Using Glow Meet has given pupils in both Bannockburn and Eigg the opportunity to speak to people that they would otherwise never get to see or talk to, opening up their learning opportunities.

The Glow Meets had a really positive  impact on pupils’ talking and listening skills. The P1 pupils really had to think about what the wanted to ask the children on Eigg and gained great confidence from speaking to an audience.

Claire Baillie tells us about the impact she feels the Glow Meets had for he children (0:25)
Bringing the Katie Morag stories to life using Glow Meet

For the teachers involved, a great deal was gained from the experience too.

Theresa Dandie admitted that she knew almost nothing about Glow before Jenny Shineton proposed the Glow Meets. Having taken part, Theresa says that she feels far more confident in using Glow now and can see a lot of potential for using it as part of her learning and teaching. She tells us why she enjoyed using Glow in this video clip:
Theresa Dandie – Why I like Glow (0:07)
Bringing the Katie Morag stories to life using Glow Meet

On Eigg, the impact of not only this Glow Meet, but Glow Meet in general has been enormous. It has opened up a whole new world to the pupils, who normally only have a very small community of people to interact with. Using Glow Meet has enabled them to link up with Bannockburn and other schools in the Mallaig ASG.

Using Glow Meet has enhanced the learning experiences of all of the pupils involved in this collaboration.

Interested in doing something similar and need a school to link with?
Why not head to the Collaborative Projects National Glow Group and start to make some connections!

Overview

Joyce O’Fee, Depute Head Teacher in Clepington Primary Dundee had been ‘Glowing’ for about 9 months when she saw the potential to use Glow to further develop her Nursery – Primary Transition Project.

This cookbook will look at how Joyce added practitioners from other establishments into her Glow Group.  It will also look at how she used the Image web part to make her project more visual for the younger learner.  We will also have a tour of the Transition Glow Group looking at the type of content Joyce made available to her associated Nursery Establishments through the use of Glow.

Context
When Joyce was first introduced to Glow she immediately saw the potential to develop good practice. Her already successful Transition Project would fit perfectly into Glow and indeed enhance communication between the school and the 12 Nursery Establishments. Joyce with the support of Lorraine Munro from the Dundee Central Team spoke to each Nursery and asked for their thoughts on joining her Glow Group for the project. Their response was very positive as they thought that Glow would enhance the programme and increase communication. Given the green light by the nurseries, Lorraine made sure that all EYP’s and the teachers involved had their Glow Usernames and Passwords.

Joyce hoped that the Transition Group would encourage Listening and Talking not just amongst the staff in the discussion forum but amongst the pupils as they looked at the different images of school life posted on Glow. Joyce identified the following Outcomes from the Early CfE guidelines as the basis of her Glow Group.

As I listen and talk in different situations, I am learning to take turns and am developing my awareness of when to talk and when to listen.

*Responsibility of all

LIT 0-02a/ENG 0-03a

I listen or watch for useful or interesting information and I use this to make choices or learn new things.

*Responsibility of all

LIT 0-04a

Joyce had always used ‘Simon the bear’ as her stimulus for Transition.  Simon and his Logbook would be sent off to each Nursery and whilst there, the children would play with him and record the events of his visit.  This allowed the children to feel a little more comfortable when visiting the school for the first time as Simon would be there waiting for them.  Keen to continue using Simon, Joyce straight away with the help of Crazy Talk put a flash file of Simon talking into her Glow Group.  The children loved to see Simon each time they logged in and he would often cause a great deal of discussion, especially when pictures of them playing with Simon was posted on a variety of pages within the Glow Group.  Instead of just using the Logbook to record events, Joyce now used the Image web part to display images of Simon and the children.

This gave the children the opportunity to see each other before they met.  The image web part was also used to display helpful information such as School Uniform and People who work in our school.  More examples can be seen in the ‘Tour of the Transition Project’ video clip.

Ingredients

(What did Joyce do to get started?)

• Created a Glow Group in Clepington Primary
• Set the membership and permissions of the EYP and Teachers and made the Glow Group available for them to access
• Became familiar with the Image web part

Joyce also made herself familiar with an Image Resizing tool as she wanted her images to fit perfectly into the Image web part.  For the purposes of this cookbook www.webresizer.com will be used.

Recipe
The videos below show

1. A tour of the Transition Group
2. How to add a member from another establishment and share the group
3. Resizing and adding an image to Glow
4. How to add another image web part into Glow
5. How to rename an image web part to make it more personal

*A Tour of the Transition Group
Nursery – Primary Transition Project

*How to add members from another establishment and share the Glow group
Nursery – Primary Transition Project

*How to add an image web part
Nursery – Primary Transition Project

*Resizing an Image and Adding it to Glow
Nursery – Primary Transition Project

*How to rename an image web part
Nursery – Primary Transition Project

*Joyce O’Fee – Introduction
Nursery – Primary Transition Project

*Joyce O’Fee – Organisation and Impact
Nursery – Primary Transition Project

Product

(Impact of using Glow in the Transition Project)

Using Glow had a definite impact on the level of communication between the school and the associated nurseries. There has been a marked increase in the communication between the nurseries and the school. This good communication was enhanced through the use of discussion boards and will continue to be enhanced through GlowMeet.
Children were able to access Glow Group at anytime and become familiar with staff pictures, uniform and school life.
Joyce will now be able to add to this group each year as the basic template is in place, cutting down on level of work each year.

Overview

Chatting about a message for the discussion board

P1 pupils in 5 schools in 3 local authorities started using Glow to facilitate a book project on the subject of Julia Donaldson books. Initially St James’s Primary school in Paisley, Renfrewshire, had wanted to undertake a literacy project and thought Glow would be an interesting way to open this up and make links with other schools at the same time. Athelstaneford Primary school in East Lothian was also interested in taking this forward. Through the teachers collaborating within the national Collaborative Projects group within Glow, schools in Renfrewshire, East Lothian and East Dunbartonshire decided to work together over a period of 6 weeks. Although there are many aspects we could focus on for this group, in this Cookbook we will learn what was involved in bring a Picture Library web part onto the page and configuring the settings of this to allow pupil work to be shared across the schools. There was much pupil work that came as a spin-off from the project which wasn’t expected by the teachers involved. In other Cookbooks on this project additional aspects will be investigated.
Although the group was developed as the project continued for the teachers involved, a similar project could be done with very little customisation of a Glow group and very little information added. Throughout this Cookbook we will concentrate on the simple usage of the group for the purposes of making use of the Picture Library web part, although there are obviously options for further development which were taken within this particular group.

Context

Gruffalo Masks at St James's

Anne Louise Nicholson had originally wanted to work on a literacy project with P1 which could have a different dimension from other projects, she wanted to be able to extend outside of the classroom. Having used Glow for groups within the whole school previously this seemed like the logical next step. Through participation in the National Collaborative Projects group Ms Nicholson had made contact with Lynne Lewis from Athelstaneford Primary in East Lothian who was keen to take this forward with her.
The project was expanded by Anne Louise Nicholson and Lynne Lewis to other schools from East Lothian, Sarah Boyd at Longniddry Primary and Emma Kerr at Pencaitland Primary and also Laura Kerr at Lairdsland Primary in East Dunbartonshire. Eventually the project comprised of 5 different P1 classes across 3 different local authorities. Within the main, each class used only a teacher machine with web cam/microphone and speakers, although St James’s (Paisley) in Renfrewshire arranged for the pupils to use computers individually to contribute to Discussion Boards and to upload their work to be shared. Ms Nicholson at St James’s took the responsibility of setting up the Glow Group with the required web parts.

Naomi's work from the Picture Library

In the main regular web conferencing, or Glow Meet sessions were held with all schools participating. Each of these was led by a different school and the teachers had planned what the content and context of each session would be. All of this was building towards the final Glow Meet session where the schools would join with the author Julia Donaldson. Over a period of a number of weeks pupils were motivated to undertake work outside of the Glow Meet sessions to share with other pupils. Anne Louise Nicholson was surprised by how eager they were to share their work with the other pupils. In this Cookbook we will look at the way an additional page in the group was used to allow the pupil work to be shared with all the schools. The whole project had already taken place when we spoke to the teachers which allowed us to have a complete view of how the entire project had gone and its impact on the pupils and teachers involved. We will concentrate on St James’s (Paisley) in Renfrewshire for illustration in this Cookbook.
In discussion with Ms Nicholson we learned that the project had set out to address many experiences and outcomes from Curriculum for Excellence but we have selected a few of these pertinent to our concentration on using the Picture Library web part to share work:
Experiences – Listening and Talking
• LIT 0-01b– I enjoy exploring and choosing stories and other texts to watch, read and listen to, and can share my likes and dislikes.
• LIT 0-01c – I enjoy exploring events and characters in stories and other texts, sharing my thoughts in different ways.
• LIT 0-04a – I listen or watch for useful or interesting information and I use this to make choices or learn new things.

Experiences – Reading
• LIT 0-07a / LIT 0-16a / ENG 0-17a– To help me understand stories and other texts, I ask questions and link what I am learning to what I already know.

Ingredients
• 5 P1 classes
• Each teacher needed a computer with an internet connection
• Each teacher needed a Glow username and password
• Membership of the National level group which had been set up for the project
• Screen to project onto to enable whole class to see for web conference sessions
• New page added to Glow Group
• Picture Library web part added to the page
• New document web part created and added to the page
• Julia Donaldson books for each class
• Several Glow Meet or web conferencing sessions with all the schools involved
• Participation from the author Julia Donaldson for the last session
• Planning documents for the project shared and agreed on by each teacher

In the next sections, we’ll learn how to recreate the elements of the Glow group that the teachers used for the project. In particular, we’ll find out how to add a new page to a group, add a Picture Library web part and configure this and also how to create and add a new document library to the page. Each video lasts for around 2 minutes and you can choose which section to watch at any time.

Recipe

The Other Work page of the Glow Group

The videos begin by quickly showing the Glow Group with the additional page for “Other Work” added and then develop into explaining how a page can be added to a Glow Group and then move through adding a text editor web part for information and then adding the Picture Library web part and changing the settings of this to allow comments to be displayed. We will then look at creating a new documents web part and adding this to the page to provide a different way for pupils to upload and share their work.

Videos

The finished Other Work page (2:20)
Primary 1 Literacy – Julia Donaldson Books – Pupil Work

Adding the Other Work page to the group (1:43)
Primary 1 Literacy – Julia Donaldson Books – Pupil Work

Adding a text editor web part and adding information and instructions (3:28)
Primary 1 Literacy – Julia Donaldson Books – Pupil Work

Adding the Picture Library web part and changing the settings to allow description and comments (9:55)
Primary 1 Literacy – Julia Donaldson Books – Pupil Work

Creating a new document web part and adding this to the page (3:20)
Primary 1 Literacy – Julia Donaldson Books – Pupil Work

Impact

The videos finish with a longer tour through the Glow Group and an interview with Anne Louise Nicholson on how the project came about, why they needed a page for “Other Work” and how they used this. Anne Louise explains that her pupils were very motivated to work on activities outside of the actual Glow Meet sessions taking place. They were very motivated by the thought of an external audience and this led them to concentrate more fully on the content, the presentation and layout of their work.
Videos
Tour through the finished Glow Group (8:35)
Primary 1 Literacy – Julia Donaldson Books – Pupil Work

Interview with Anne Louise Nicholson on unexpected pupil work (1:44)
Primary 1 Literacy – Julia Donaldson Books – Pupil Work

Additional Interview with Ann Louise on unexpected pupil work (2:20)
Primary 1 Literacy – Julia Donaldson Books – Pupil Work

Interview with Anne Louise Nicholson about how the project began (2:10)
Primary 1 Literacy – Julia Donaldson Books – Pupil Work

Morgan's finger spaces in the Picture Library

Further information on using the Picture Library web part can be found in a number of places: searching on Glow Help at the bottom of every page will bring you information; clicking the Learning about Glow link on the left-hand navigation bar will take you to a menu where you will be able to access a Glow training guide on Glow Groups which contains a section on this web part.

Overview

Julia Donaldson Literacy Project – A Glow Meet with Julia Donaldson

P1 pupils in 5 schools in 3 local authorities started using Glow to facilitate a book project on the subject of Julia Donaldson books. Initially St James’s Primary school in Paisley, Renfrewshire, had wanted to undertake a literacy project and thought Glow would be an interesting way to open this up and make links with other schools at the same time. Athelstaneford Primary school in East Lothian was also interested in taking this forward. Through the teachers collaborating within the national Collaborative Projects group within Glow, schools in Renfrewshire, East Lothian and East Dunbartonshire decided to work together over a period of 6 weeks. Although there are many aspects we could focus on for this group, in this Cookbook we will learn what was involved in creating and adding a Glow Survey web part which the teachers and pupils used to vote for their favourite Julia Donaldson book ahead of the final Glow Meet session. In other Cookbooks on this project additional aspects will be investigated.

Although the group was developed as the project continued for the teachers involved, a similar project could be done with very little customisation of a Glow group and very little information added. Throughout this Cookbook we will concentrate on the simple usage of the group for the purposes of making use of the Glow Survey tool, although there are obviously options for further development which were taken within this particular group.

Context

The Julia Donaldson Literacy Project Glow Group

Anne Louise Nicholson had originally wanted to work on a literacy project with P1 which could have a different dimension from other projects, she wanted to be able to extend outside of the classroom. Having used Glow for groups within the whole school previously this seemed like the logical next step. Through participation in the National Collaborative Projects group Ms Nicholson had made contact with Lynne Lewis from Athelstaneford Primary in East Lothian who was keen to take this forward with her.

The project was expanded by Anne Louise Nicholson and Lynne Lewis to other schools from East Lothian, Sarah Boyd at Longniddry Primary and Emma Kerr at Pencaitland Primary and also Laura Kerr at Lairdsland in East Dunbartonshire. Eventually the project comprised of 5 different P1 classes across 3 different local authorities. Within the main, each class used only a teacher machine with web cam/microphone and speakers, although St James’s (Paisley) in Renfrewshire allowed the pupils to use computers individually to contribute to Discussion Boards. Pupils were logged on individually to respond to the “Book Factor” survey. Ms Nicholson at St James’s took the responsibility of setting up the Glow Group with the required webparts.

In the main regular web conferencing, or Glow Meet sessions were held with all schools participating. Each of these was led by a different school and the teachers had planned what the content and context of each session would be. All of this was building towards the final Glow Meet session where the schools would join with the author Julia Donaldson. Over a period of a number of weeks pupils voted for what their favourite Julia Donaldson book was using Glow’s Survey tool ahead of the final Glow Meet with Julia Donaldson herself. The whole project had already taken place when we spoke to the teachers which allowed us to have a complete view of how the whole project had gone and its impact on the pupils and teachers involved. We will concentrate on St James’s (Paisley) in Renfrewshire for illustration in this Cookbook.

In discussion with Ms Nicholson we learned that the project had set out to address many experiences and outcomes from Curriculum for Excellence but we have selected a few of these pertinent to our concentration on the Glow Survey tool:
Experiences – Listening and Talking
• LIT 0-01b– I enjoy exploring and choosing stories and other texts to watch, read and listen to, and can share my likes and dislikes.
• LIT 0-01c – I enjoy exploring events and characters in stories and other texts, sharing my thoughts in different ways.
• LIT 0-04a – I listen or watch for useful or interesting information and I use this to make choices or learn new things.

Experiences – Reading
• LIT 0-07a / LIT 0-16a / ENG 0-17a– To help me understand stories and other texts, I ask questions and link what I am learning to what I already know.

Ingredients
• 5 P1 classes
• Each teacher needed a computer with an internet connection
• Each teacher needed a Glow username and password
• Membership of the National level group which had been set up for the project
• Screen to project onto to enable whole class to see for web conference sessions
• New page added to Glow group
• Glow Survey created and web part added to Glow group
• Julia Donaldson books for each class
• Several Glow Meet or web conferencing sessions with all the schools involved
• Participation from the author Julia Donaldson for the last session
• Planning documents for the project shared and agreed on by each teacher

St James's pupils and the Funny Face Song

In the next sections, we’ll learn how to recreate the elements of the Glow group that the teachers used for the project. In particular, we’ll find out how to add a new page to a group, create a Glow Survey and add this web part to the page. And also how pupils can respond or vote in the survey and how the teachers can change the view options at different times on the survey. Each video lasts for around 2 minutes and you can choose which section to watch at any time.

Recipe
The videos begin by quickly showing the Glow Group with the additional page and the survey added and then develop into explaining how a page can be added to a Glow Group and then move through creating the Glow Survey web part, adding this to the page along with a text editor web part. We will also look at configuring the web part, pupils responding and a graphical summary being displayed for pupils on the page. The videos finish with a longer tour through the Glow Group and an interview with Anne Louise Nicholson on why and how they used the survey tool.

The Book Factor Page of the Glow Group

Further information on using the Glow Survey tool can be found in a number of places: searching on Glow Help at the bottom of every page will bring you information; clicking the Learning about Glow link on the left-hand navigation bar will take you to a menu where you will be able to access the Glow Groups training guide which has a section on surveys.

Videos

The finished page in the group (0:53)
Primary 1 Literacy – Julia Donaldson Books – Book Factor

Adding a new page to a group (1:36)
Primary 1 Literacy – Julia Donaldson Books – Book Factor

Adding a text editor web part for instructions (3:10)
Primary 1 Literacy – Julia Donaldson Books – Book Factor

Creating the Survey web part and adding it to the page (4:48)C
Primary 1 Literacy – Julia Donaldson Books – Book Factor

Configuring the survey web part and responding (3:19)
Primary 1 Literacy – Julia Donaldson Books – Book Factor

Impact
Primary 1 Literacy – Julia Donaldson Books – Book Factor

A tour through the finished Glow Group (8:35)

Interview with Anne Louise Nicholson about how the project began (2:10)
Primary 1 Literacy – Julia Donaldson Books – Book Factor

Interview with Anne Louise Nicholson on the Glow Survey Tool (1:12)
Primary 1 Literacy – Julia Donaldson Books – Book Factor

Overview

St James's pupils and the Funny Face Song

P1 pupils in 5 schools in 3 local authorities started using Glow to facilitate a book project on the subject of Julia Donaldson books. Initially St James’s Primary school in Paisley, Renfrewshire, had wanted to undertake a literacy project and thought Glow would be an interesting way to open this up and make links with other schools at the same time. Athelstaneford Primary school in East Lothian was also interested in taking this forward. Through the teachers collaborating within the national Collaborative Projects group within Glow, schools in Renfrewshire, East Lothian and East Dunbartonshire decided to work together over a period of 6 weeks. Although there are many aspects we could focus on for this group, in this Cookbook we will learn what was involved in adding the Glow Meet web part, in joining a Glow Meet session and how this culminated in the author herself joining the schools in a live session. In other Cookbooks on this project additional aspects will be investigated.

Although the group was developed as the project continued for the teachers involved, a similar project could be done with very little customisation of a Glow group and very little information added. Throughout this Cookbook we will concentrate on the simple usage of the group for the purposes of using Glow Meet, although there are obviously options for further development which were taken within this particular group.

In the recipe section of the Cookbook you will find several videos to take you through the process of setting up your own Glow Group should you wish to undertake a similar project. At the very end of the Cookbook there is an impact section containing a video interview with one of the teachers involved in the project.

Context

Anne Louise Nicholson had originally wanted to work on a literacy project with P1 which could have a different dimension from other projects, she wanted to be able to extend outside of the classroom. Having used Glow for groups within the whole school previously this seemed like the logical next step. Through participation in the National Collaborative Projects group Anne Louise Nicholson had made contact with Lynne Lewis from Athelstaneford Primary in East Lothian who was keen to take this forward with her.

Athelstoneford Puppet Show for Julia Donaldson Project

The project was expanded by Anne Louise Nicholson and Lynne Lewis to other schools from East Lothian, Sarah Boyd at Longniddry Primary and Emma Kerr at Pencaitland Primary and also Laura Kerr at Lairdsland in East Dunbartonshire. Eventually the project comprised of 5 different P1 classes across 3 different local authorities. Within the main, each class used only a teacher machine with web cam/microphone and speakers, although St James’s (Paisley) in Renfrewshire allowed the pupils to use computers individually to contribute to Discussion Boards. Anne Louise at St James’s took the responsibility of setting up the Glow Group with the required webparts.

Lairdsland Primary Julia Donaldson Glow Meet

In the main regular web conferencing, or Glow Meet sessions were held with all schools participating. Each of these was led by a different school and the teachers had planned what the content and context of each session would be. All of this was building towards the final Glow Meet session where the schools would join with the author Julia Donaldson. The whole project had already taken place when we spoke to the teachers which allowed us to have a complete view of how the project had gone and its impact on the pupils and teachers involved. We will concentrate on St James’s (Paisley) in Renfrewshire for illustration in this Cookbook.

In discussion with Anne Louise Nicholson we learned that the project had set out to address many experiences and outcomes from Curriculum for Excellence but we have selected a few of these pertinent to our concentration on Glow Meet:

Experiences – Listening and Talking

• LIT 0-01a– I enjoy exploring and playing with the patterns of language and can use what I learn.
• LIT 0-01b– I enjoy exploring and choosing stories and other texts to watch, read and listen to, and can share my likes and dislikes.
• LIT 0-01c – I enjoy exploring events and characters in stories and other texts, sharing my thoughts in different ways.
• LIT 0-02a / ENG 0-03a – As I listen and talk in different situations, I am learning to take turns and am developing my awareness of when to talk and when to listen.
• LIT 0-04a – I listen or watch for useful or interesting information and I use this to make choices or learn new things.
• LIT 0-09a – Within real and imaginary situations, I share experiences and feelings, ideas and information in a way that communicates my message.

Experiences – Reading

• LIT 0-07a / LIT 0-16a / ENG 0-17a– To help me understand stories and other texts, I ask questions and link what I am learning to what I already know.

Ingredients

• 5 P1 classes
• Each teacher needed a computer with an internet connection
• Each teacher needed  a Glow username and password
• Membership of the National level group which had been set up for the project
• Simple web camera
• Speakers
• Microphone
• Screen to project onto to enable whole class to see for web conference sessions
• New page added to Glow group
• Glow Meet web part added to Glow group and configured
• Julia Donaldson books for each class
• Several Glow Meet or web conferencing sessions with all the schools involved
• Participation from the author Julia Donaldson for the last session
• Planning documents for the web conferencing sessions shared and agreed on by each teacher

Julia Donaldson Literacy Project Glow Group

In the next sections, we’ll learn how to recreate the elements of the Glow group that the teachers used for the project. In particular, we’ll find out how to add a new page to a group, add a Glow Meet web part and configure this and join a Glow Meet session. Each video lasts for around 2 minutes and you can choose which section to watch at any time.

Recipe

The videos begin by quickly showing the Glow Group with the additional page and the Glow Meet web part and then develop into explaining how a page can be added to a Glow Group and then move through adding the Glow Meet web part, configuring it and onto joining a Glow Meet session. The videos finish with a longer tour through the Glow Group and an interview with one of the teachers involved.

What does the group with the additional page and the Glow Meet web part look like? (0:25)
Primary 1 Literacy – Julia Donaldson Books – Glow Meet

Adding the new page to the Glow Group (1:18)
Primary 1 Literacy – Julia Donaldson Books – Glow Meet

Adding the Glow Meet web part (1:22)
Primary 1 Literacy – Julia Donaldson Books – Glow Meet

Creating the Glow Meet room (2:53)
Primary 1 Literacy – Julia Donaldson Books – Glow Meet

Joining the Glow Meet (1:57)
Primary 1 Literacy – Julia Donaldson Books – Glow Meet

Where to get additional help with Glow Meet (1:47)
Primary 1 Literacy – Julia Donaldson Books – Glow Meet

An extended tour of the Glow Group (8:35)
Primary 1 Literacy – Julia Donaldson Books – Glow Meet

Further information on using the Glow Meet tool can be found in a number of places: searching on Glow Help at the bottom of every page will bring you information; clicking the Learning about Glow link on the left-hand navigation bar will take you to a menu where you will be able to access the Glow Meet training guide or the Glow Meet online tutorial.

Impact

In this section you will be able to view a short excerpt of an video interview with Anne Louise Nicholson from St James’s Primary school (Paisley) in Renfrewshire. Please see other Cookbooks on this project for interviews with Anne Louise on different aspects of the project.

Interview with Anne Louise Nicholson on the Glow Meet sessions (1:36)
Primary 1 Literacy – Julia Donaldson Books – Glow Meet