Patricia Karen Wilson
Principal Teacher Raising Attainment
Used Giglets weekly for 1-2 years
Nov 2021
I cannot find anything I don't like about Giglets. One of the most important points for our school is, that pupils can use Giglets very well. Working in a school for pupils with Additional Support Needs, teachers often find that pupils struggle with new technology and need a lot of practice to be able to use the technology correctly. This is not the case with Giglets. I trained my pupils how to use Giglets in three lessons. I have a very wide range of literacy abilities in my class and all pupils were able to use Giglets correctly to access books, complete reading tasks and use the chat feature (which they love). It is not often that this occurs. My colleagues who use Giglets agree that this is the same with their pupils. We hardly have any problems with the system and if there is a problem with a login etc then I as the administrator, can fix it easily and quickly. The Giglets Helpdesk is always very willing to help with problems and they are easy to contact. Seona has been very supportive regarding setting up Giglets initially and in informing us about training sessions for staff. In summary, I think Giglets really enhances pupils' learning.
Patricia Karen Wilson found Giglets:
- Significantly saves school money“The school buys less reading materials”
- Moderately reduces teacher workload“A good example of a reduction in teacher workload, is the Reading Test questions and Hots questions that accompany the reading books in Giglets. After reading texts, a teacher would have to create and produce their own reading tasks for pupils.”
- Moderately reduces attainment gap“I would say Giglets contributes to closing the attainment gap. For example, pupils in lower income areas have the same access to reading books and associated tasks as pupils in more affluent areas. I also believe that having access to online reading books at home encourages parents to become more involved in their child's learning. Technology appeals to people and pupils enjoy showing their parents how Giglets works.”
- Moderately improves parent engagement“I think Giglets does engage parents as it involves technology which is appealing to people of all ages. I also believe that for some parents who may have literacy difficulties themselves and cannot read a book with their child, will get pleasure in being able to listen to a book with their child and be involved in their child's learning.”
- Significantly improves attainment“I have seen improvement in reading ability in some of the pupils in my literacy classes. Even reluctant readers are keen to explore Giglets and see what it is like. The fact that the reading test questions are designed in such a way that they eliminate the need for a lot of writing, appeals to pupils who find writing difficult and laborious. With the thought of a lot of writing removed, the pupils seem to focus more on a story and enjoy it. Often pupils ' abilities of discussing a book are far beyond their writing abilities.”
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