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Tech tools (CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8)

communication skills and is especially good in schools with a high proportion of students who have English as an additional language. If you do not enforce this ‘switch’ the dominant personalities in the group will end up hogging all of the computer time every lesson!

As we aren’t able to do much marking in ICT, your comments to the individual children will function as a proxy and so I always like to keep the learning intention in mind when I provide feedback. I try to get around the class three times or so during a one hour lesson, during which time some children will have had feedback three times and some only once, depending on my own judgement of who needs more input.

Giving personalised feedback in this way allows you to differentiate your lessons, as you will instantly be able to support those who need it by demonstrating what you have asked them to do in front of them, (“Now we go here to open up the formatting menu and change the font colour like this. We can also change the size of the text like this.”). Try asking the more able students to tie in skills they have learned in other lessons. (“Use the internet to find another poem written about summer. Compare what you wrote and what they wrote and explain which one is better and why.”)

Ultimately the best teacher assessment is the one that you, as a teacher, feel the most comfortable with. If you find the ideas above useful, great! Above all, keep planning those wonderful and inspiring ICT lessons.

Matt Bradley is a supply teacher working in schools all over London. He has taken on long-term ICT positions in a number of different schools. He is a member of the NUT’s Young Teachers’ Advisory Committee and a president of Westminster Teachers’ Association.