What started as overheard chatter from two excited six-year-olds quickly turned into a valuable learning tool for Daviot Primary School.
Teacher Stuart Prentice laughs as he recalls the moment he discovered his primary 2s had taken learning into their own hands.
“I could hear some chatter from them and when I went in to have a look at what they were doing, they were talking across a table to… well it looked like nobody,” says Stuart.
“But they were presenting very well and talking about a range of things including what they’d been doing in school. When I asked them what was going on, they said ‘We’re vloggers.'”
Like many other mini YouTube fans, Tommy and Amelia had their whole routine nailed. “They said ‘Hi, we’re Tommy and Amelia. Welcome to our channel. Please remember to like and subscribe,” says Stuart.
Daviot Primary School has kindly let the P&J have a copy of the pupils’ fantastic vlogging premier. The total video runs to 20 minutes, but our highlights edit is guaranteed to brighten up your weekend.
Sparking conversations at home
Daviot is a rural primary school south-east of Inverness. With just 13 children in the school, it’s a multi-composite with pupils from P2-7 all taught in the same class.
The school encourages pupil-led activities alongside more structured learning and play. When teachers give pupils a little freedom, the magic happens.
In the case of our vlogging stars, Stuart was impressed with the level of engagement he saw. “It gave them a way to talk about their learning and demonstrate some of the things they’d been doing,” he says.
“Because they were enjoying this whole idea of being vloggers, they were able to share their learning in a way that had more energy, enthusiasm and engagement than if we had just asked them about it.”
Keen to nurture that enthusiasm, Stuart got the pupils some Chromebooks and set them up to record.
Their efforts quickly drew the attention of the older pupils too, who started thinking about how they could apply it to their own learning.
Daviot has recently moved to online learning profiles, allowing parents an insight into what their kids are up to in school. Vlogging could be another tool in bridging that gap.
“As a parent myself I know what it’s like trying to spark conversations at home,” Stuart says. “If parents have already watched it on their profile it gives them something to ask about.”
Skills for the future
The school is also thinking about adding a monthly video to their school blog.
However, Stuart stresses that the joy lies in keeping it pupil-led.
“If I as teacher turn round and say ‘right we’re vlogging again’, they’d probably be like ‘oh, again’. We need to figure out how to teach around it.
“With everything that’s happened in the past couple of years – Covid and lockdown – communicating and sharing resources online has become massively important,” he adds.
“That has happened at a younger age than we anticipated. It’s accelerated everything and caused a shift in our thinking.”
The vlogging itself introduces a range of skills, including technology, literacy, presenting, listening and collaborating.
Stuart observes that social skills like team-work and turn-taking seemed to happen more naturally in this project than in teacher-led activities. (Shout out to Tommy who scolded Amelia for being “bossy”!)
But the wider context of creating online content can open up important conversations too.
“We can start them thinking now about how to access online content responsibly, and differentiate between what’s real and what’s embellished,” says Stuart. “These are the skills that will be forefront in the kids’ futures.”
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