Week 5 - Awesomely Animated

Well I am most impressed that the technical issues I had, I have just resolved and I no longer have two different versions of My Mini- Mizer http://www.reasonablyclever.com/ due to a code error. WOW and to think I fixed it. I have come a long way!

This week Greg impressed us with clay and other forms of animation that can be done with the use of ICT. The process while fairly simple in itself, is time-staking and would be a great achievement for students. I like his idea that we should integrate ICT in these most creative forms into the curriculum. I think ideas such as these could really bring literacy and numeracy to life for students. The challenge however will be in justifying the time spent on projects like this versus content. The freedom we actually get to explore these processes, I guess will vary from school to school.

BUILD YOUR WILD SELF
http://www.buildyourwildself.com/

This site on building your wild self was so much fun and I imagine students would love this program and the variety it gives them to individualise themselves. I can see how it could easily be a stepping stone into then exploring through literacy, your wild self and habitat, characteristics and use this to write different types of text.

SKETCHSWAP:
http://www.sketchswap.com/

The sketch swap site below is one where you can draw freehand and then send your picture out into cyberspace for one in return. The problem with it is that despite my harmless drawing, the one I received back was not really appropriate for primary school children and therefore is a program I would not use at school. What it does do though is open my eyes to the scope for how many programs there are that I can begin to look at and explore.



Well I must say it was so much fun working on our own mini movies at dvolver, despite the inappropriateness of the site for primary school students. You can see the scope for using such programs within the classroom though and how the process of writing and then editing your own short films would be filled with merit and much enjoyment for the students. I will definitely look into finding something that is suitable to be able to do this with the children.

www.dvolver.com/live/home.html - Cached



As I reach the end of my blog, I must admit that I have learnt a lot. This whole ICT business no longer seems so daunting or I, so out of touch. I guess that's why life's journey is just that ... a journey and not a destination. There is no doubt that ICT in the classroom is the way of the future and that for us all as educators, it is imperative that we are on board and embrace it as a wonderful and innovative way to inspire our students to learn.

Au revoir, Angelique :-D

Adventures Online

http://www.netagency.co.uk/keyedin2/adventure.html

Had a little play tonight and found this great math website while I was researching area and perimeter. There are so many great resources online that I hadn't been aware of.

Holiday Highs and the AEU Conference

I must say it is hard to not enjoy this small sabbatical from the hectic pressures of the final practicum round, with the endless lesson planning and skipped lunches... although how much of a break it really is with pending assignments and teacher conferences to attend is debatable :-D

Today I attended the AEU conference and an ICT session run by Michael Miller, a teacher who specialises in it. He talked about the fantastic ways he has incorporated ICT into his school and showed us a clip of the daily news service that his students research and then present for others at the school.

The session focused on teaching us how to create a “Digital Picture Story Book, in which students write and then edit a story for publication; and guided us through the process. He explained how with the use of Microsoft powerpoint, a student can type up their story, and then scan and insert their illustrations to create a picture book. He introduced "Flip" video recorders, (which I had not seen before)and which plug into the computer via a usb port.Students can use these to record their voices and add it, so that each page can be read out loud. I thought it was a wonderful idea and will definitely have to track one of these flips down for myself.

It was wonderful to see how easy it is to incorporate ICT in the class and inspired me to think of ways to follow ideas like this through and not be the teacher who just doesn't make time or thinks it too hard...

Practicum - The Pressures and the Pleasures

Practicum ... that final test for us all ... and I guess, the chance, for us to make sure that this calling is one where our hearts lie (for the moment anyway). I mean, after all, isn't teaching supposed to be a path as of the sun through the heavens? An uplifting experience in which our successes make a difference, touch people, change people. One can not argue that practicum is designed to test our strengths and reveal our weaknesses; to challenge the way we cope with this crazy, busy, tricky, loud, exciting and rewarding journey of educating the young minds of the future.

I must say, it is hard to look at the six computers in my room and not hear Greg's voice telling me to turn them on as I enter each morning. As it is not my classroom, I leave them switched off and keep quiet at the missed opportunities during the day for even a quick interaction with them. It's not that they aren't used - they are, but only for the inane and unstimulating tasks of publishing a finished piece of work, that has finally met the high standards required to do so. It would seem that even a totally dedicated mentor teacher, like the one I have now, doesn't realise the opportunities they could bring to his teaching. It shouldn't frustrate me I know, but it does. It makes me realise how many missed chances there are to teach... and reminds me to not forget that.

And so, when it comes time for me to give a lesson ... the computers go on, and I have students google a phrase or a word we aren't quite sure of the meaning of ... I challenge them to not only come up with their own two word anagrams but also to find the best anagrams on the internet. I set up the data projector and share images and powerpoints to help them understand ideas of the explanation texts we are studying, to bring context to the content of what it is I am trying to teach.



Here are some of the images that formed part of the powerpoint I used to teach them about the explanation text on The Jurassic Period ...


I know it is just a start, but at the very least it is that. When I have my own room, my own students ... I envision it will be different... that daily blogging and web based learning will be an integral part of the way in which I teach. For now, that is enough...

Week 4 - Dust Echoes and Chocolate Dreams

So, today I learnt that excel can be fun ... especially if there is chocolate involved!
In fact ... I would suggest "ONLY" if there is chocolate involved!

Our task here was to take a pack of M&M's and organise them according to colour. With the M&M's candy colour chart sheet provided, we coloured a block for each M&M that we drew from the pack to thus create a bar graph of our findings. This bar graph could have then been represented in a variety of ways, using the Microsoft Excel program (bar graphs, pie charts etc.,) and the activity extended by incorporating further exploration. For eg: combining whole class findings to create new data; looking at costings of the product; exploring what the packaging says about the product; using prediction techniques.

As a future teacher however, I am well aware of the healthy food policy that most schools have implemented, and so of course would possibly suggest using fruit or coloured wooden blocks for this exercise .... if I had to ...

Nevertheless, at the end of a long day, with my teacher's cap hung on it's hook by the door ... again, I vote chocolate ;-)

" Dust Echoes is one way that we are bringing everyone back to the same campfire - black and white."

Ok, so today we also had to use the program 'Inspiration' to create a diagram which retells one of the dreamtime stories from the website: http://www.abc.net.au/dustechoes/.

From this website filled with stunning images and stories, I chose "The Curse". A tale of the spirit of Namorrodor, who is summoned by the witchdoctor man and terrorises the camp.

Although the task at hand was about taking the story and retelling it, I decided to approach it by looking at the main parts of storytelling. I focused on character, setting, problem and resolution, while also making sure to include the history and culture which surrounds this tale.
I chose to use a mix of different style text bubbles and images to complete my diagram, which although is not text heavy, is to me at least, aesthetically pleasing :-D

The beauty of such a program is that there are many ways in which a student could approach this task. This caters perfectly to multiple intelligences in the classroom and the different methods children could apply, to ensure that they are learning in the most productive way for them. This is a site and a program I will definitely remember for my own classroom.

Week 3 - Frogs and Blogs

Well, who would have thought that a postgrad degree could involve cardboard, rubber bands and frogs. How interesting? Which is how I would describe today's 'Design Brief' activity.

The challenge was to take a piece of cardboard, a picture of a frog and a rubber band
and to make the frog jump using these materials.

Although at first it seemed rather simple, for me, the tricky part was putting the idea I had in my head, into actuality. Instantly, I wanted to somehow hold the cardboard, with the frog on top of it and attach the rubber band so that you could flick it from underneath and the impact would send the frog flying off the cardboard. But when it came down to actually attaching the rubber band to the cardboard, in a way that you could pull it down and let it rip, without injuring yourself - I was stuck.

The design process itself is structured into four parts:

1. Investigate
2. Design
3. Produce
4. Evaluate

This process of producing, testing and then evaluating is wonderful in that it encourages children to re-assess designs and make changes, rather than presenting their design as a failed attempt.


1. To investigate we talked about the ways in which energy could be generated with the materials we had to achieve our challenge.

2. In design, we talked about the best way of using our materials to achieve this.

3. For producing we folded our cardboard so that the rubber band was in the middle of it, and put the frog on top. Despite my best efforts though, I did more to injure myself than to make my frog jump.

4. For analysing and evaluating we looked at what had perhaps been good in our design and attempted to change it (without much success I must admit ;-)

Eventually I worked out that the best way for the frog to jump was to just throw the bloody thing ;-p



During this session I also played with a program called Quia, which was fun, although a bit tricky to navigate at first. It's a great site that allows you to design activities, quizzes, calendars and so much more and to share all your resources with other educators. I used it to create a hangman game.
http://www.quia.com

Week 2 - Pina Coladas and Microsoft Publisher

"The Ultimate Escape from the Dip Ed" !!! ... pina coladas, luau's and sunsets on the beach - COUNT ME IN ... once I conquer Publisher that is ;-)

And so, another lesson which reminds me how much fun it can be for a student to learn, when they are given the opportunity to work on something in which they have an authentic interest in.

This is certainly how I felt when Greg proposed that we could create our very own travel brochure to anywhere we wanted in the world. Images of far away places and exotic destinations filled my mind. All the places I long to go but have not yet journeyed ... Shantaram's Mumbai, India and the Ajanta and Ellora Caves; the great pyramids of Giza; the Mayan ruins in Belize; the beaches of El Salvador, the Carribean, Mont St Michel and the small country towns of europe... places that call to me to with whispers of the unknown.

And yet, how could I create a brochure to do justice to those places not yet traversed? Impossible and so I chose instead to recreate a simple Hawaiian adventure, and perhaps convince others to play hooky and join me on another trip there?

And behold, I discovered while in the throes of creation that I was at the same time taking even more baby steps towards a new and improved technological me. This soon to be ICT specialist - well versed in internet jargon and up to date on the latest web 2.oo progams. (Ok, well maybe I'm getting ahead of myself :-). But it is exciting isn't it? I mean, especially for us (no doubt about it) mature aged students who sometimes feel a step behind the Gen Y's when it comes to all this ICt stuff....

Have been having fun working on my webquest this week. We have chosen a "Survival Quest" which I must admit was inspired by CBS's Survivor Series. Yes, I'm a survivor junkie - could be worse ;-) Hey I even managed to attach the theme music to our quest, which I was most impressed about - I can tell you that.

Who would have thought I would be talking widgets and files all on my own? And understanding what I was saying at that. I actually love the idea of webquests as a teaching tool and know this one will be my first of many.... I just hope I can bring as much fun to the students who do the quests as I have had designing them...

As far as the e-portfolio goes, I seem to keep getting stuck. I have tried doing it in Publisher but the templates are a bit on the lame side and I can't figure out how to do a button down the side that changes pages when I click on it. Have also tried in powerpoint, but I'm having the same button issues. I know there has to be an easy way, I just have to find out what the hell it is... and how the hell I fix it... will keep plodding along :-)