Be Funky In Your Classroom
Who doesn't want to have fun in the classroom editing photos? David Eldridge, the Headteacher at Hawes Community Primary School, recently posted a blog entry about their BeFunky experience in one of his classes. We asked him a few questions to help other educators do something similar.
BeFunky: David, which lesson did you use BeFunky for?
David: This lesson was a cover day for my 12 year 4 children aged 8-9. Our school wants to develop the children's communication and collaboration skills. We also started to blog at the start of January. This day enabled us to explore many areas and end up being able to post something for a wider audience.
How many students did you work with at the same time. Was it easy to get everybody started using the application? How did you manage that?
I had 12 students and 4 cameras, children worked in groups of three. I would have been happy with up to maybe 24 children if I had 6 cameras. We based ourselves in an ICT suite, so there was a PC for each child. It would have been fine with one between two or three children. I had previously printed off a few examples of what 'BeFunky' could do. Right from the outset all the children were completely engaged. We chose a playground activity theme. The interface is so exceptionally easy that there were no problems getting children involved in producing a range of work. Perhaps I was keen to focus on 'art' and 'photo' effects. I think the children given absolute freedom would go for all the other added icon effects (Goodies)! I am sure they will have done so at home.
How was the children’s reaction to the application?
The children's reaction was excellent. A full five hours of work and we could have kept going. The children clearly felt a sense of achievement. This will be reinforced by displaying some prints of their work in school and also publishing their work on our blog. In addition we plan to go to one or two local schools and show them what can be done, 'Befunky ambassadors'!
What were the difficulties you had during the class?
We didn't have any difficulties. It is necessary to know how to facilitate the downloading of pictures from the camera to the school system and to have the confidence to allow the children to select their own photos. It really is an ideal beginners activity because you get such great and varied results.
What were the objectives of this lesson and what are you assessments at the end?
I achieved all that I had hoped to. Quality photography and ICT skill development. Quality art work and good collaboration within the group. We also achieved an end product for us all to be proud of.
We have no ICT specialists in our school, but we are excited by what we have achieved. It is quite unusual in England to have a school blog and this type of work makes an exciting addition for us to post and share with others. I cannot fault this activity either as a one off, or as something to build a larger topic around. People might like to visit our blog at hawesps.posterous.com.
We hope that this post helps and inspires all teachers and educators out there. If you have any questions or ideas, let us know in the comments section below.
Want to read another story of BeFunky's educational use? Check out Jose's class here.
Or click here to start BeFunky application now.
