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Suitable for all ages and abilities
‘Triptico is a great learning tool because it encourages co-operation and the whole class works as a team. Everybody gets a chance to participate and it is often the highlight of an English lesson.
My favourite resource is word magnets; they are easy to use, but still super effective.’
Jon Brettell, Whitley Bay High School
The Triptico resources are freely available from the Internet and from the feedback on the website http://www.triptico.co.uk they are clearly well used and valued. To find out more I spoke to David Riley the creator of the resources and Jon Brettell an enthusiastic user.
The creator
The resources were created by David Riley. David taught English at a secondary school in Newcastle for a number of years, before leaving to pursue a career in e-Learning.
What are the Triptico resources?
The Triptico resources add interactivity to a classroom. The majority of the resources were created for use in my own classroom. I began sharing them with teachers around the world via my website and have recently repackaged the resources in the form of an application which teachers can download directly to their desktop. The application has proved to be very popular since its launch earlier in the year. It has been downloaded over 30,000 times by teachers in almost 100 countries.
Why did you create them?
The first resource I created was 'Word Magnets' – I created it as a means of encouraging my literature students to be inventive with their language choices when writing poetry. The resource allowed students to drag together random words and to comment on the effect. The resource encouraged experimentation, largely because students knew that there was no right or wrong answer and that word combinations could quickly be dragged apart if they didn't work.
Who should use the resources? What age, subject and ability?
As each resource is easy to edit and adapt, teachers can use them in many different ways and with many different learners. Teachers from around the world have found them easy to use. They can be saved for future use and shared with colleagues
As an example, the resource mentioned above – Word Magnets – is used across all age groups, ability ranges, subjects and languages. The teacher has complete control over the activity and can customise it to suit the specific needs of their students. The resource is used at university level to label complex diagrams and at pre-school level as an aid to reading.
In addition, students can use the resources to create their own activities. Designing a quiz for the class to play on the IWB is a great way to learn, discuss and revise a topic – and a great way for teachers to add to their ever-increasing library of resources.
What benefits do pupils get from them?
Pupils benefit from participating in engaging lessons which encourage interaction. I do not look to create resources which replace the teacher – I look to create resources which can be used as an aid to effective teaching. I also look to create resources which are 'open-ended' – where there is no right or wrong answer and where the goal is to encourage independent thought, collaboration and constructive debate.
To this end, I have always resisted calls from teachers to add a button to the aforementioned 'Word Magnet' resource to check if the magnets have been arranged in the correct order. I feel that it is the teacher's role to check, to ask questions and to make suggestions to extend the activity in a way which further develops the learning.
How can teachers access them?
The desktop application is completely free to download. All teachers need to do is register with my site. Once downloaded, the application will check for updates regularly and will automatically inform the teacher if new resources are available to be downloaded.
What support do you provide?
I offer training and workshops which provide lots of advice and innovative ideas for making the most of technology in the classroom. I hope that the fact that I have not only taught with interactive resources – but also created them – will be valuable to teachers. The easiest way to contact me is via my website.
What are your plans for Triptico in the future?
It is wonderful that the resources I have created are proving to be so popular around the world – and I hope to build on this success and to create new resources for teachers and students to enjoy. I also hope to further develop the training I offer in order to share my ideas, to learn from others and to generate new ideas for future resources.
The user
Jon Brettell has taught English and Media Studies at Whitley Bay High for 2 years. The resources are used with Key Stage 3-5 pupils of all abilities; it is easy to adapt the resources to meet the needs of any class. The English department have weekly ‘Making English Better’ meetings where they share useful resources, this means everyone in the department knows about and uses Triptico. Some teachers are less confident than others but the resources are easy to use and very flexible
The resources aren’t limited to English though, they could be used in other subject areas and there are maths specific resources. The resources were used in recent demonstration to 15 head teachers and deputy heads who were impressed by how animated the pupils were when using them.
Why do you use these resources? How do pupils benefit?
It is very important that pupils play an active role in learning. It’s easy to forget that pupils may be in their fifth period of the day having sat through 4 lessons already; they want to get up and be involved.
Pupils do like the gimmicky aspect, they are easily impressed, but the resources encourage deeper learning and close observation. Collaboration is improved with all pupils engaged and involved. The resources are bright and attractive and this is important, often activities on the whiteboard can be dull or very wordy.
Other resources can take a long time to set up, with Triptico pupils can set up the activity as part of the lesson. All pupils are very keen to do this and are disappointed if they aren’t picked.
Which resources do you use?
Word Magnets is a favourite, you can change the background image, type in the words you want to use and get the pupils to analyse the image and select the appropriate words. Other popular resources are the interactive spinner, seating plan and multi team scorers.
What do pupils say about the activities?
'The word magnet activities got our whole class involved and vocal about the subject we were studying.'
‘Triptico is a really fun activity to use on the board, it helps us as students remember different vocabulary and gets us involved in lessons.'
'' As a class, we loved using Triptico as it started a lesson off and got everyone more energized.'
How do teachers benefit?
The resources are simple but help teachers to gauge the pupil’s understanding, they also allow the whole class to see and celebrate the successes of individual pupils. They are very useful for categorising ideas and exploring multiple interpretations. Paper versions of the resource are useful for pupils to record their work. Using the resources encourages teachers to think creatively and to structure their lessons for greater impact.
They widen the set of ‘tricks’ all teachers have, the things they rely on in class. They support creative planning and help in more ways than may be obvious as they encourage deeper thinking and learning.
The resources are updated all the time with new ones added, they keep getting better.
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