Animation

I was actually not able to attend this workshop; however I was present for the lecture, so this week’s blog will be about the Lecture rather than the workshop. I really enjoyed this week’s lecture on using Animation in the classroom, as it encourages the student’s creativity whilst using programs that are attractive and fun to use for children. Many of the animation clips shown in this lecture were very clever, using logo, plasticine and many other mediums.

I believe that the point of this lecture is to once again show us that there are many different ways to teach a subject and that sometimes it is worthwhile to think outside the box! Not only will the teacher be able to assess what the children have learnt, but the students themselves feel great accomplishment after producing an animation using their own creativity. Animation will always be appealing to children, so their engagement level will be high for this type of activity.

Gaming & Frog Material Technology Activity

Today we had to design a frog that jumped! We were given a list of materials that we could use and had to use critical thinking (and engineering skills… or lack thereof in my case!) in pairs to try and make a paper frog jump. This was a very fun activity, and also had many benefits for developing children’s problem solving and critical thinking skills, which Greg outlined before we attempted the task. My partner, Abby and I may need to work on these skills a little more as our concept was not as inventive as some of the other groups. However the task was still lots of fun, and everyone in the class seemed to really enjoy it.

The last part of this week’s workshop was devoted to using the online program Quia to develop our own personal quizzes. This could be an extremely valuable tool in the classroom, as you could not only develop your own quizzes as the teacher for the students to complete, but also allow the students to create their own quizzes relating to the classroom topic. This tests their knowledge on the subject in a fun and inventive way that also focuses on a ‘gaming’ aspect to technology which is a large part of the modern day learner’s association with technology.

On a more personal note, I loved going around the room to my classmates’ computers and completing their quizzes. It was a great way to find out what is important in their lives, and promoted a greater sense of community, as everyone was very positive. This made for a fun learning environment. Although technology is not a strength of mine, I am really enjoying learning how to use these different programs, and can see how all of them could be used in the classroom. 

Technology across the curriculum

Today we were exploring how to incorporate using technology into different domains such as mathematics and English. We were using the program Excel to create a bar graph of how many of each coloured m&m there were in a single packet. This would be such a great learning experience for children, as it combines ICT with mathematics in a fun and interesting way, and of course would ensure the engagement of children with the m&m’s (if none of the children are allergic to chocolate!).

We also used inspiration to create snapshots of an Aboriginal story that was found on the ABC website. This is a great English task because it is encouraging the students to consider what the main points of the story are, whilst giving them the creativity to arrange them in the program however they wish. Other students in the workshop certainly had very interesting ideas! I also loved the cultural aspect of this task, which shows us that we can use technology as an aid to teach anything!

I loved the concept of using ICT to engage children when learning traditional subjects such as English and Mathematics! I can see that the children would get a lot from this process, and still be learning core curriculum.

Interviews and ePortfolios

Today we talked about going for interviews at Primary schools once we come to the end of our DipEd. This made me feel excited, but also made everything we have been learning for the past 4 weeks suddenly become ‘real’. Greg was very helpful in telling us what to expect in an interview, and I’m so grateful for his own personal reflections on not only being interviewed but also being the interviewer, as I feel this information will be invaluable once I start applying for teaching jobs. I was also introduced to Microsoft Publisher in this week’s workshop, where we began to work on our ePortfolios.

The process of creating my own ePortfolio makes me slightly nervous, although it is up to our own individual ideas about what we want to include, and what program we use, I still don’t feel that I have had enough experience to state my teaching philosophy, as I’m not even 100% sure what it is yet! However, I think the ePortfolio is a great idea, and when we were shown a sample one (of a student) in our lecture, I thought it was such a fantastic way to show their progress, and get the students point of view on their own work. I would imagine that this would also make it easier when it comes to writing reports, as the student’s progression through the year is all there in the ePortfolio.

Today in workshop we also played with making our own brochures in Microsoft Publisher. What a great idea for the children in class to use this program to present information they have researched in a different and exciting way. My brochure was on Ireland, and I really enjoyed experimenting with this program, although if I had more time it probably would have looked much more professional! I thoroughly enjoyed todays topics discussed in the workshop! :)

An Introduction to technology in the classroom

Today was our first workshop on using technology in the classroom. I really enjoyed this workshop; Greg (our lecturer/tutor) gave some great points on how 21st Century learners are far more knowledgeable on the use of technology than we might have thought them to be. They have been brought up with technology being a huge part of their lives, and as such will be a major contributor to their learning.

There are certain ideas about using different aspects of technology in the classroom which I had not thought of before, such as having podcasts, which is used by University students every day, but I never thought about it in a Primary Education setting. We were introduced to a program called Inspiration, where we made mind maps and a creative page about ourselves.

I thought the Inspiration program was incredible, I had never heard of it before, and I think in the classroom it would be a very effective tool in consolidating the children’s knowledge of a subject in a creative and individual way. The program promotes children to think critically about a subject, whether it is through making a mind map, or creating their own pages with images, photos and text. I myself ran out of time to do an in depth mind map, so the one shown here is quite simple.

At the end of the first workshop I was really inspired to incorporate technology into my pedagogy, why limit children’s learning to concrete materials when there is so much to be gained by using various aspects and programs in all areas of technology. The one thing I came away with was that the possibilities are endless!