TECH SAVVY TEACHING
Teacher Louise Porter tells Live Ribble Valley how the use of technology in the classroom can improve learning
A young Ribble Valley teacher is one of just five award finalists in the UK to be recognised for her Outstanding Use of Technology in the Classroom.
Twenty-six-year-old Louise Porter of Chatburn is a teacher of English and Media Studies at Ribblesdale High School in Clitheroe. She was nominated for the Pearson’s National Teaching Awards, which cover England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, by the school’s Headteacher Stephen Cox and Assistant Headteacher Georgina Partington.
Louise, who graduated with her teaching degree from Edge Hill, has been teaching for just two years. She recently went to the House of Commons where she and the other four national finalists received a silver plaque ahead of the ‘gold’ finals in London in October.
Having always had an interest in technology, Louise naturally took an interest in the use of technology within a classroom environment when she first started teaching: “When I started at Ribblesdale, technology was really up and coming and I was quite forthcoming in wanting to pilot any new ideas that involved technology in the classroom. I like to get to grips with it and when I saw the children benefit and learn from it, I realised it was something that I definitely wanted to do more of!”
Louise who grew up in Chatburn where her parents Mandy and Mark Paul run the renowned Hudsons ice-cream shop, adds: “At Ribblesdale we now use one-to-one devices for several year groups when teaching English and it works extremely well.”
With Ribblesdale being a Microsoft Training Academy and Showcase School, Louise has been successful in becoming a Microsoft Innovated Education Expert when she first started teaching there: “In terms of teaching I use OneNote, which basically means my entire Year 7 and Year 8 lessons are on one notebook.
“It enables me to access pupils’ work, see their ability and give them instant feedback. I can write my observations on my screen and they will instantly see my comments. It also encourages dialogue with parents as I can speak into my device and if pupils take their devices home they can play it back to parents and likewise, parents can talk into their child’s device giving me feedback too. It works incredibly well.
“As a school they have really let me roll with it and embrace up and coming technology. I have also delivered Continuing Professional Development (CPD) to other staff members to make them more confident in using technology within the classroom and they are now much more open to it.”
Louise also uses Microsoft Teams, which allows members of staff to communicate via their devices.
Online technology has also allowed Louise to deliver a GCSE revision lesson to pupils during the school holidays: “I told pupils when to log on and I delivered an online lesson before their GCSEs. When they log on they can see and hear me and ask questions. It was hugely successful.
“Around a dozen logged on for the first lesson and that shot up to 20 for the second. It was a totally new experience for them.”
She is also a big fan of Sway, an interactive ‘presentation’ app similar to PowerPoint that allows users to keep videos, music and images all in one place.
“Parents have been particularly supportive of technology in the classroom,” she adds. “They like the fact that they have instant access to their child’s work and their teachers too!”
The pupils at Ribblesdale have embraced Louise’s enthusiasm for learning through technology as she explains: “The children love it! It has been fantastic in terms of engaging them, they can get quick instant feedback on their work, and boys who are notorious for not particularly liking English as a subject, are suddenly enthusiastic as it involves technology.”
