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After giving a report on the SIPs monthly meeting to the school staff involved, I explained that our next module was to be Word Processing. I also told of the planned Parents’ Dissemination Night. The staff reaction was mixed, at times heated, largely I feel because of a genuine feeling of frustration. As one person put it, "we get one p.c. per class, and we’re expected to perform miracles". It was felt as though this one p.c. was too small a ‘carrot’ to dangle in front of an already overloaded teacher / class, and that expectations were too high. It was also felt that some staff members sensed that SIPS was dictating what was to be taught in the language class, although in fact as the month wore on, the teachers seemed to be happy enough with the chosen topic of "Our School". On the practical level, I again made out a step-by-step handout on Word Processing, which both pupils and staff found helpful. The pupils enjoyed this Module, particularly as there was an end product in sight, i.e. the Parents’ Dissemination night. The children printed out samples of the work and this was displayed for their parents. As a staff, we felt a bit under pressure to ‘produce the goods’ for this night. Each staff member involved put in a lot of hard work with the children, and the standard of work was very high. We all felt that the children gained a lot of experience from this Module. If they saw a classmate’s word processing sample looking nicer than their own, they very quickly asked how the pupil in question had produced a particular effect. It was nice to see the pupils learn from each other too! I feel that the skills acquired, how to format text, save a document, etc., are crucial and am happy that the children have succeeded in achieving them, whilst still having fun. (Teacher 1) This module I feel could be extended possibly by two lessons, as the skills learned will provide a basis for much of the work to be covered in the future. The children enjoyed manipulating text associated with the European vocabulary they had learned. It was an effective means of reinforcing and consolidating class work. Younger children needed extra time to complete their work due to their lack of typing skills. Perhaps the children could work in pairs for these assignments. The children also like to see their work displayed on notice boards in the Classroom. (Teacher 2). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||