Use of ICT in serial placement school

I recently spent a week in a school in order to complete my serial placement. During the course of this placement the year two class I was with used ICT minimally in a hands on sense, although it was drawn on a lot by the teacher as a tool for teaching and presenting information.

The main form in which ICT was used in this classroom was through the Interactive Whiteboard whihc the teacher used to present lessons, play film resources and other interactive activites such as annotating pieces or writing paragraphs. The hands on aspect of this whiteboard use was however all undertaken by the class teacher, and although the interactive nature of the whiteboard and the activities held the childrens attention - particualrly the film clips, it would have been nice to see them operating more themselves and taking more ownership of the ICT usage. The only hands on experience on the computers the children had in the week was word processing a story they had written, taking turns to use a limtied number of availiable laptops.

Other forms of ICT availiable in the schoool included the internet, a Wii console and a digital camera. The camera was used in one drama lesson to document the childrens work, but this was operated only by two children as a reward for good behaviour, meaning the rest of the class again simply watched its use and viewed the products. The Wii and the internet stations - two computers in the classroom were only used by the after school clubs and during earned priveledge time.

It seemed the ICT resources availiable in this school were of a good standard, but needed to be used more commonly by the children themselves, not just as a treat but as a regular part of their education.