Third and Final week of Professional Experience

My third and final week of professional experience was finally upon me, just as I had finally gotten into the swing of things, learnt every students name and voice by heart I was about to leave. I really enjoyed my final week of prac and using ICT in the classroom to enhance student learning. I learnt a lot about the students and their abilities. The students were fantastic at using the iPads during literacy rotations, however were still struggling using computers. They could not successful log onto a computer so any time we used the computer labs I had to pre log onto the computers before the class arrived to save valuable teaching time. This made me realise that the children are successful users of ICT’s when they are related to their real world, many students would use their parents phones or iPads/tablets while at home to play games, however the computers really stumped them… how easy it would be for them to turn on the computer with a swipe of their finger. I was so proud of my progress throughout my professional experience and will be glad to return to this school next semester for another placement.

My Second week of Professional Experience

My second week of professional experience started out much the same as the first. I was still building relationships with the students and trying to come up with brilliant ways to teach the students using the Independent Learning Materials and making it as ICT rich as is beneficial. This week I introduced the students to interactive PowerPoints and used the wireless mouse and keyboard for a variety of activities to engage the students and enhance learning experiences. A PowerPoint might not seem like too much work but to successfully implement them in a whole class setting to engage rather than just show the students was a difficult task. I needed to make it fun, interactive, engaging and introduce exciting new topics all through the use of the interactive PowerPoints. I got there in the end and the students really enjoyed taking the reign’s during class time. And I had finally built the important relationships with the students for me to really start enjoying my class.

First week on Professional Experience

My first week on professional experience seemed very daunting, I had not taught at this end of primary school previously and I soon learnt that I was over planning my lessons. Apart from building positive relationships with each and every student, I needed to learn, and quickly, the abilities and learning styles of each and every child. It was a very hard week when on top of normal classroom routine, I needed to think of exciting and engaging ways to use ICT’s to transform learning within a classroom with limited access to ICT’s. There was no such thing as a whole class computer set and even in the specialised computer lab there wasn’t enough computers to go around. Throw in a class full of kids who are not ICT savvy and it was a mixture for melt down.

Interactive PowerPoint Presentations

While on prac I was in a year 1 classroom, as this prac was based around information and communications and their integration within a classroom setting, I knew that I needed to make my lessons as ICT rich and engaging as possible. I however did not just want to use ICT’s just for the sake of it and decided that the best way to engage students in ICT rich learning experiences was through interaction. My classroom had quite a few limitations when it came to ICT’s. The resources I had at my disposal were a teacher’s laptop, a projector, wireless mouse and keyboard and 4 classroom computers. In order for me to engage the students in ICT rich experiences, I decided on using interactive PowerPoint presentations where students could click on the links and transform their learning through ICT’s.

Module 2 completed!!

Week 10 of my ICT’s journey has been a whirlwind of new information and skills. After completing Module 1 and 2 I am now a more confident user of web logs, bookmarking tools and a more efficient uses of the ICT’s I engage with regularly. I have not only learnt what PLN’s and PKM’s are, we have now learned about planning units of work incorporating ICT’s. We have delved into the world of theories and pedagogy relating to ICT’s within a classroom setting and approaches for ICT learning. I am looking forward to starting week 11 and commencing practical experience in less than 2 weeks. Im counting down the hours until Sonia releases out placement information.

Australian Curriculum

My unit of work for assignment two was planned using the Australian Curriculum, Science foundation to year ten documents. My chosen year level was one and the science focus was biology. The following content descriptors informed my planning

Living things live in different places where their needs are met (ACSSU211)

And the science as a human endeavour descriptor- use and influence of science

People use science in their daily lives, including when caring for their environment and living things (ACSHE022).

The Australian Curriculum Information Communication Technologies (ICT) capabilities also informed the planning of my unit of work.

digital cameras for recording observations

Using technology to record student observations was one of the main learning experiences within my science unit of work. The students used digital cameras to take photos of living things in different habitats which contributed to the class blog. I am very keen to try this when I eventually finish my degree, but there will probably be a plethora of new ICT’s by the time I graduate next year. I finally feel confident with blogging and how to apply that in a classroom setting, I wonder what they will think of next????

constructivism and the 5E’s

Throughout my assignment two unit of work I constantly referred to the 5E’s approach and its links with constructivism… my favourite model. I really value the overarching ideas of constructivism in primary education and in particular teaching primary science constructively. I came across a great resource for explaining the 5 E’s approach without heavy curriculum links which enables you as a future educator to explore your own creativity and imagination. You can view the resource by following the link here.

Astonished

I was reading a classmates blog and I came across a post about a school boasting its ICT use within the classroom, this was my old high school, I remember that the only computers we used before I graduated in 2007 were the ones in the computer labs (used specifically for ICT classes) and the ones in the library we used to complete our assignments. 2007 was only 7 years ago but boy has technology and its use in the classroom come a long way since then. Even at my causal job I work with high school students who all have their own laptops provided by their schools to complete homework. My younger brother was telling me the other day that all of the websites that were restricted while I was at school (youtube) are easily accessible to students now because of their educational value. Here I was thinking I was young and informed at 23…..

The need for better Australian resources

Throughout the duration of my assignment I endlessly searched for resources with Australian animals that would match the Science elaborations in my unit of work. I found some fantastic resources but a lot of the animals were ones that I am sure Australian younger primary students would never have heard of take a look here. There are great resources for different purposes but to incorporate ICT into my assignment for this particular purpose would have been a waste of time. Back to the old cut and paste activities for me (which is fine because there are so many skills children can learn from hands on experiences). Thins links with a post I saw about not having ICT for every learning experience, which I believe can improve the learning of students who have different learning styles.