Learning Learning Learning!

Hello again my faithful readers!




So today in class Greg showed us all an interesting animation clip from Dust Echoes called Mermaid Story. It had no dialogue, just background instrumental music to highlight the story that was being portrayed within the clip. The animation was a little abstract. Like something Tim Burton would create. But the message behind the story was good. Greg explained that along with these stories are synopses, study guides, lesson plans and activities based upon them, however, the slips need to be suitable for the age they are being shown to as some can be quite emotive.





We then were able to get onto the Dust Echoes site and explore the site's detail.

http://www.abc.net.au/dustechoes/

After lots of time and hard work I was able to create a diagram display using Inspiration based upon one of the dreamtime stories. I chose The Curse story. Here is a picture of the diagram I created:

I'm pretty stoked with my ability to create things within such a minimal time frame. I checked out what others had done as well and they are all really good! I would definitely use this activity in a classroom situation. You could do it with any topic, it's great!

I am aware that in VELS level 4, indigenous studies becomes a topic from the Humanities strand. Knowing this site is available, this would be an effective/ educational resource to expand students knowledge into the concept, particularly in relation to The Dreamtime.

No time to relax, moving on to the next thing... M&Ms!!

Oh No! I think we're going to be using EXCEL! I do not have a lot of knowledge with regards to using this program, compared to other Microsoft programs such as publisher and powerpoint.

I have to admit though, after scanning through the programs and utilizing the mathematical tools, the graphs that the program can produce from inserted data aren't bad at all!

The ideas Greg is talking about are great in relation to chance and data collection, with also touching on the importance of awareness of food allergies within the classroom, as sometimes the use of M&Ms, although being a fun and delicious form of engagement, in some cases may be a health issue. In this way, other coloured lollies may be appropriate, otherwise coloured counters are always available within the classroom! I have a good knowledge of anaphylaxis and I am really aware of the importance of teaching children about allergies, and applying the information in a graphic way would be really beneficial.

I had no idea that so many educational domains could be applied when referring to M&Ms! Maths, Literacy, Interpersonal Learning and even Science (design and development)

Anyway, this is the graph I created defining the number of different coloured M&Ms in a pack:

I love it!! And I am so surprised at how easy it was to create! I think creating a graph this way is a quicker, easier and more coherent way of expressing data visually. All you need to do is insert in the data into the different rows, label the row, then select Graph and from there you can use a range of formating tools to present the data colourfully, in any style of graph you choose. I chose to create a bar graph as I find these the easiest to read.

I think children would really benefit from being able to produce a graph in this format, as rather than them focussing most on manually colouring in a tangible graph, they can quickly create one and analyse the data straight away, which will also ehance their knowledge and skills of ICT.

Let's Play!!

So here we are in class learning something I thought I never would... or could for that matter- How to create an online game!!

This is turning out to me fun. We need to create a new QUIZ using our new QUIA account. The website html link for this site is as follows:
http://www.quia.com/

To sign up, we just needed to register using our names and details as well as why we require the use of the site. After resistering, we clicked onto Create a quiz.

From here comes the tough part... What is my quiz going to be about?

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So my passion in life is definitely my football team.. therefore this is my quiz i created based on my beloved Hawthorn Hawks Footy Club. However, the great thing about this site, is that you can select any topic you wish, therefore, it is easy to make it relevent to the class you are teaching. Eg. If I was teaching a unit on space for example, I could create a quiz on this particular topic and students could complete the quiz. This would challenge and enhance their own knowledge of the subject area, as well as provide a task which is fun and stimulating as well as further helping them develop compter skills and Internet navigation techniques.


I really enjoyed this using this program. I also enjoyed completing my peers quizzes.



Greg, I challenge you to click on this URL and complete my sweet quiz!!

http://www.quia.com/servlets/quia.web.QuiaWebManager?tagModuleType=104&rand=7935015















Games, like quizzes, are another fun and interactive taks students can compete using this site to enahnce knowledge and skills.
Now I have just created my very own Hangman Game using this website.

(and yes I did stick with the theme of my beloved football team).


Test your skills on my game... Good luck!!

http://www.quia.com/hm/668083.html?AP_rand=682964037&playHTML=1


















Hangman, is a fantastic game to play in the classroom, especially in relation to the development of literacy/ spelling skills. These sorts of games could be used for just about any subject area that a generalist primary teacher would teach in the classroom.

I had a really good time going around and checking out my classmates' games as well. This is a fantastic resource to have, and I would definitely use this program in a classroom as it is so easy to use and online games are a fun and effective way for students to learn.

A New Concept: Design Briefs

In today's lesson we are going to complete a task that sounds kind of fun. We are going to create a Design Brief. Greg has mentioned that the process of a design brief has been altered according to VELS in recent years. He spoke about the positives of completing a design brief and the appropriate ways to deal with stationary in the classroom.

Today's design brief is to Make The Frog Jump. These are the materials required:
A small piece of cardboard
A rubber band
Some sticky tape and
a tiny paper frog


(apparently later on in this session we will we learning how to create online games... excellent!!)

Anyway, here we go... in our pair, Chanel and I will attempt to make our little froggie jump!!


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The Outcome...

After much careful and deep thinking, Chanel and I completed out Design Brief document and used the information to successfully make our frog jump using only the materials provided.

Our Design Brief looked like this:

Problem to be solved:
We need to make the frog jump

Resources:
paper frog
cardboard strip
sticky tape
elastic band

Investigate/ Design:
Fold cardboard several times to make it spring. Cardboard needs to have air within the bends in order to allow a spring motion to occur. We need to use the elastic band to enhance the severity of the spring motion, being elastic, it is reasonable to think that if wrapped around the card it should assist the spring to create a higher flight. Obviously human power and control will need to be included to allow the motion to initiate.

Process:
We bend the card only once having one side longer than the other and placed the cardboard laying on the shorter length side to allow the raised longer side to act as a tab. The elastic band was wrapper long-ways around the card to assist with the spring. We push downwards the tabbed card side and let go to create a spring motion.

Analyse/ Evaluate:
Our frog did jump successfully and was able to spring quite a height and distance due to the design we produced.

I found this design technology activity to be fun, interesting and interactive. Students would enjoy completing this kind of task, as they are able to challenge their problem solving skills and really work hard as a group/team to create their design. If this is used as a lesson in class, it also assists students in their literacy development as they are required to use these skills to compete the actual design brief as part of their invention production. I hope to be able to apply an activity like this one in my next teaching round.

In addition, I was really pleased with our efforts, and it was great to go around the room to see other groups' designs and see how their frogs were able to jump. I didn't realise there would be so many ways! In the classroom, this would be a great opportunity to introduce the students to peer assessment whilst completing this activity and viewing / assessing other group's designs.

Interviews... EEEEEK!

Wow, the interview process definitely sounds intense! I am so glad Greg took the time to go through it all with us. I can speak on behalf of my fellow peers that this talk has been highly anticipated and definitely worthwhile. I am really thankful to now at least have a few pointers to take on board for when it comes to employment time. Luckily I had my notepad to hand to jot down notes to refer to. It's amazing how many aspects of the interview process I didn't realise were so important. I will absolutely take on all this advice to increase my chances of securing a position next year.

Workshop 2- Making Progress

Hi Readers!!

Excellent!! Today we are using Microsoft Publisher, a program I have been familiar with for a number of years!! This should help my ICT development and hopefully I won't fall behind like in the previous class. We are using this program to make a Travel Brochure of a chosen destination. I chose to do my brochure on my home town of Echuca (which is located on the border of Victoria and New South Wales). I think it turned out pretty good. A bit rushed, but hey, not bad for just a few quick minutes of publishing.

I found using Microsoft Publisher to be quite simple. Although i have had experience with this program in the past, I would think teaching students to use this program would be relatively simple, especially is they have had experience with programs like Word etc in the past.

There are so many different formats you can choose to design things with. We did brochures, however, that is just one of many options the user has. This is really beneficial, especially since in literacy classes, students from all VELS levels should gain experience in how to write for different purposes. This program allows students to present literary projects in their most suitable formats, rather than just regular Word documents which are generally suitable for narratives only. Students can use Publisher to type up Book Reports, Letters, Invitations, Recipe/ Instruction Booklets, just to name a few.

Moving on now to the concept of EPortfolios...

Greg is showing us some ePortfolios of past graduate teachers. I have to admit, it seems pretty tricky. Up until this week in the lecture Greg took, I didn't have a clue how in-depth ePortfolios were. For students as well as teachers. They appear to be a great resource anyhow and one that could really assist you during interviews. ePortfolios contain these elements:

Personal information

Current resume

Philosophy of teaching

Practical teaching experience reflections

References.