Schola Europaea European School Brussels II

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PANORAMA
Advantages for Teachers
There are not only benefits for pupils, but also for teachers.
Teachers are able to access pupils’
word processed work and edit it with
the child, during the draft stage so that
timely learning takes place.
Teachers are able to share one pupil’s
work with the whole class through
a beamer to share good ideas and also
to enable all pupils to suggest ways
to improve the written work. Such
suggestions should be made with
reference to the success criteria for that
particular piece of writing. It is important
that the teacher and pupils refer to the
THE USE OF INTERACTIVE TEXTS AND
RESOURCES
Interactive texts include web pages and
CD-Roms and are non-linear texts. Pupils
are highly motivated by such texts and this
increased level of motivation should be
taken advantage of.
Given the nature of web pages and CD-
Roms, pupils are able to take various
routes through the text and experience
graphics, sound and text at the same
time, thereby bringing the subject to
life. Reading such texts requires similar
skills, but also different ones, to reading
a static text.
Pupils need to be taught how to
navigate through a web-based text, but
once learnt pupils are very capable at
moving around the text with ease. They
can simply click on ‘next’ or ‘back’
for example. Indeed, pupils develop
a radial approach to reading where
skimming and scanning become very
important when accessing a web page
for the first time.
By looking at a number of web pages,
pupils are able to compare the way in
which a variety of texts are presented,
key features of the genre and success
criteria for the task to evaluate the
effectiveness of a piece of writing. The
pupils are then able to see how such
improvements can be made to their own
writing.
Teachers are also able to focus pupils’
attention directly on different aspects
of the text by highlighting, underlining
or using bold font. This is an effective
tool when used in a timely manner with
dialogue between the teacher and pupil.
focusing on content, structure, style,
lay-out and purpose. Of course these
objectives can also be met using books.
Importantly, pupils learn specific
searching strategies and are able to
locate resources for a particular task.
They need to be selective and make
judgements as to the relevance of
the information found. This ability to
undertake web based research proves
particularly useful in cross-curricular
subjects. Pupils are able to find relevant
information by using a variety of skills
such as accessing drop-down menus,
hyperlinks, skimming and key words.
Pupils are also able to locate information
by using search engines efficiently and
asking appropriate questions.
Another benefit is that pupils are able to
develop a critical appraisal of websites,
being able to evaluate the value and
relevance of information found.
There are numerous websites available
for teachers to use with pupils. In
addition, there are specialised websites
which enable teachers to quickly locate
other websites or resources.