Schools are starting to think about Napline Online which will be trialled next year and then rolled out more widely the following year. Teachers are starting to feel a little anxious about what this may mean in terms of the preparation they might need to do with students – especially in Yr 2 and 3. My overall feeling is that schools that have approached the General Capability of ICT effectively and mindfully will be well equipped to manage the requirements of Naplan Online without much more effort. Using ICT in meaningful ways across the curriculum will prepare students not only for Naplan but for the digital futures they will walk into.
Here is a blog I wrote about 18 months ago related to typing and keyboarding: https://osstechenablinglearning.edublogs.org/2015/02/07/keyboards-and-ipads/
Here is a link to a PDF of a keyboard that can be printed and contacted to desks.http://www.teachnet.com/graphics/powertools/neattools/keyboard.pdf
Typing is familiarisation with where the keys are – much can be achieved though the use of a paper keyboard on each desk. In this way children can be practising their spelling or strive words for example. You can also reinforce the use of punctuation by getting them to virtually type a full-stop when you finish a sentence.
I can not emphasise enough the need for skills such as typing in the lower years to be in context. Building it into classroom routine is another key tip.
Much of the work our key staff are already doing in Prep – Year 2 is a perfect example of the work that can be supported and extended by classroom teachers in order to continue our work with ICT as a General Capability and the Digital Technologies Curriculum. Through our continuing work in these two areas – children will be placed in varied, relevant and meaningful situations – supporting them to be Napline Online ready.
Examples include:
1. Literacy rotations – many Naplan Online readiness skills and typing skills can be reinforced through the use of Soundwaves Online, Maths Online and Reading Eggs. Galaxy Maths is another example.
2. Typing something every week from their English study and making this part of their routine.
3. Having a device at the door and getting them to sign or type their names (Prep). Getting them to type a sentence about how they feel (older students) or a greeting to you- they could do this on particular days of the week so you have only 5 students a day. Get them to include an emoji for fun. This survey monkey (as an idea) took me 2 minutes: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GPT5LNX
4. As part of their entry routine , can you as the teacher write a sentence in emoji form and get them to type what they think it means.
5. Literacy rotations – a progressive story. Can they read the sentence last written and add another.
6. Can you create a survey monkey weekly quiz that requires them to fill in boxes and type (if this was shared – each teacher per yr level only does 3 a term).
7. Use Book Creator as part of their normal weekly routine to type something about a photo that depicts a learning activity from any curriculum area.
8. Book Creator – simply annotating an image using typing rather than writing will reinforce any number of other curriculum areas.
9. Book Creator – creating a poster about a learning episode which includes typed descriptions. You simply use your own iPad to take photos and air drop them to the class set.
9. Explain Everything – use the typing tool to annotate photographs, book characters, people etc etc.
10. Using other apps like Scratch Jnr in which they type speech bubbles.
Games to include in rotational situations