Using Reader Rabbit in a 'match and name' exercise about colours and shapes
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Teacher profile
Lorraine has been teaching for two years in two different schools. She has been working at Kersland School for a year and is currently teaching pupils aged 5-18 years with learning difficulties. Before becoming a teacher, Lorraine worked for 15 years as a retail IT Manager. Wanting a change of career, she decided to go into teaching. She began as a classroom assistant while studying at Glasgow University to gain her qualification. Lorraine is the ICT coordinator at Kersland. She has attended several courses run by the local education authority, covering topics such as web development and Lotus Notes. Lorraine has also developed her ICT skills by attending Scottish Education and Teaching with Technology (SETT) conferences and by keeping up to date with new technology in her own time. She uses ICT daily in her teaching and finds it a very useful tool, which enhances learning for pupils with special educational needs.School profile
Kersland School, for pupils with moderate to complex learning difficulties, is situated in Paisley, to the west of Glasgow. There is a main building with five classrooms and an annexe with two classrooms. The school also has a swimming pool, a soft play room, a multisensory room and a leisure room (where older pupils can play pool, listen to music and read magazines).
There are 70 pupils in the school, all of whom have free school lunches. In the last two years Kersland has been awarded the Chartermark, the Schools Curriculum Award and the Motorola Award for Excellence in Work Experience and Enterprise.
There are 30 PCs in the school, with at least two in each classroom. There is an ICT coordinator, but this is not a full-time position. ICT training is available for staff with New Opportunities Fund (NOF) and European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) training courses and other in-service programmes.