Week 5 - Making Movies!!

Today was about making movies and being creative in the classroom using ICT. This blog is going to outline some of the websites we visited and some examples from them. The above is a movie I made using the website http://www.dfilm.com/. It was really fun and exceptionally easy to use, but probably not suitable for primary school children as some of the characters were a bit inappropraite. I have never made any sort of movie in my life so today was a really valuable experience for me.

The second movie I made was using the website http://www.zimmertwins.com/ It was a great website and very child friendly. It was very structured and very easy to follow and is a website I can definitely see myself using in my own classroom.  My movie 'Where is Eva' can be found at the following link http://www.zimmertwins.com/node/1051218?designated=new . I have included a clip of it to the right. 

The movie websites that we used today can and should be used in differnt subjects at school. They are really creative and being creative is absolutley critical in classrooms today. Children of all ages and abilities can use these websites and achieve an outcome that they can be proud of.

We also explored other creative websites that can be used across a whole range of subjects in the classroom. Again these websites are suitable for children of all ages and abilities and are a wonderful way to get children engaged in their learning.

http://www.buildyourwildself.com/ is a beautiful website where children have the chance to build a character using a range of parts and pieces. The image to the left is the creature I created. The picture below is an example of a lego character I made. Today was a very worthwhile lesson which opened my eyes to some of the wonderful possibilities ICT has to offer.

Week 4 - The importance of graphs in society and the classroom

The first thing that Greg said to me today that really made sense is that all subjects can be explored through ICT. We happened to look at Maths using ICT for the first part of the lesson. The first activity that we tried was counting M&M colours. We had to open a packet of M&Ms and sort the colours into groups. We then turned this into a graph representation using Microsoft Excel. I think this is the first time that I have felt comfortable in this class because Excel is a program that I actually feel good about using and feel that I have a good understanding of! Below is my example of the graph I made in Excel, representing the number of each colour of M&Ms in the packet.

I think that this activity is good because it is very versitle and could be adapted to other topics such as childrens hair colour, eye colour or perhaps car colour in the car park. I think the main point that Greg was trying to get across in the first part of the lesson is for us to understand the role of graphs in both the classroom and society.  Graphs are great for children to use. They have the opportunity of being creative and can add fun pictures and interesting backgrounds at the end to make their graph unique.

Above we used Inspiration to re-tell a story from the abc website. The website can be found at http://www.abc.net.au/dustechoes/dustEchoesFlash.htm The first thing I had to do was select an aboroginal story to watch. The stories had no words but instead music and traditional aboroginal language. Our task was to re-tell the story in our own words using inspiration. We cut and paste still shots from the animation story and then added text to create our story.  I enjoyed this activity and think it is a great idea for older children in the classroom. I can see myself using this in my own classroom as a comprehension activity. I would probably not use the activity in the same context as we did, but I would consider using it for other topics.  I think it would be a great idea to have children come up with their own story, or perhaps re-tell one of their own favourite stories. Activities like this one help make classrooms stand out, be interactive, creative and alive. In other words a fun place to be!!

Week 3 - Games, games games!

This week was about the all important topic of games! We specifically looked at children's games and after playing around for a while, I discovered that they are actually quite complex and sophisticated and I don't think that teaching has quite caught up yet. The games I played in the lab would be second nature to children today, but I think that some teachers (myself as a pre service teacher included) would have trouble with them.

The first activity we did for the day was the jumping frog activity. Using a paper frog, piece of cardboard, rubber band, sticky tape and scissors, we had to make the frog jump using only those resouces. I found the activity to be very frustrating as myself and Rachel could not figure it out! I think I have lost my creative edge so to speak but I doubt this would be a problem for students. Infact I think that this activity is something that students would thouroughly enjoy. The activity is a great way to get children discussing and thinking as well as using motor skills. A great thing I found about this activity is that it could be used for children of all ages. Older children could incorporate writing and literature skills into the activity by filing in a desgin brief.Younger children could also do this type of activity by using pictures and drawings to fill in their design brief, outlining how they made the frog jump.

Now back to the games. Online games are a great way to engage kids in ICT. Kids can learn lots from these games by making their own or by doing each others games. You can make many types of games online about endless topics and could relate it to the topic being taught in the classroom. Today we made our own games using the website www.quia.com/web  The first game I made was a quiz about horses consisting of 5 multiple choice questions. Once we were all finished we then got to play each others quizzes which was lots of fun and I found that I actually learnt a lot from them! My quiz can be found at the URL below
http://www.quia.com/quiz/2542493.html?AP_rand=770959945

After playing with all the quizzes, I used the website to created a hangman game. My theme was under the sea and instead of the traditional hangman format I chose to use the bear and balloon format. Below is a snapshot of my game. You can find this game of mine at the URL http://www.quia.com/hm/671845.html

Week 2 - E portfolio

This week we explored the importance of E portfolios. I am beginning to understand that they are an important resource for both students and teachers. My E- portfolio will become an important tool for me in my future interview process. I had never heard of an E-portfolio before our second lecture but after seeing all the examples Greg gave us, I can see that they are a very hand tool. I think that E-portfolios are something that I can see myself using as a teacher for both myself and my student's. E-portfolios would be fun and interactive for children to create as well as allowing them to build on their computer and presentation skills. I think children would enjoy picking what to include in their portfolio and the idea that it is a progressive document gives them the chance to add to it at any time. I think that having students present their portfolios to the class could be a positive presentation for them to do. It would give the student's a chance to learn thing about each other as well as working on their presentation skills.

The next thing we discussed really got me thinking. Interviews!!
Of course I believe that interviews are critical and that first impressions could be the make or break of the chance of me getting a position. However, I dont think I had put quite enough thought into them. It never occured to me for example to get my first aid certificate. As soon as Greg mentioned it I thought of course!! what a fantastic idea! I understand that I need to make myself as attractive as possible to schools out there to give me the optimal chance of being employed. Greg gave us some wonderful pointers on interviews and I am definitely going to take them all on board! Little thing such as ringing a school that short lists me could be the difference and little boost that I need.

Today's task in the lab was to create a brochure using Microsoft Publisher about a destination that I would like to travel too. I chose to do Croatia. I am generally familiar and confident with most of the Microsoft programs but like last week with inspiration, I had never used publisher before!! I found the program quite easy to understand and easy to navigate around. I enjoyed the brochure activity and can easily see how I could include it into my classroom activities with my students. The possibilities with brochure's is endless. Student's could create them about destinations or animals, planets, book reports, the list goes on. I think they are a wonderful idea because they require students to use a range of skills such as reseach skills, creative skills and language skills. Below is a copy of the brochure on Croatia that I made.

Week 1 - Inspiration

I must admit, when I first heard that one of our many subjects for Semester 1 was technology, I was scared. Me and technology dont mix. I dont have an i-pod, or an  i-phone. I have never written a blog and I dont use You tube! I feel like I must be one of the only 24 year olds in the world who doesn't feel comfortable with technology. So for me this subject is a blessing in disguise. As a student teacher I understand that technology and ICT are wonderful resources that my students will want to use and explore. I need to ensure that my skills are up to date to enable me to be able to engage my students in the wonders of technology. I need to help create students for the 21st century and this is going to include more then just word processing and gathering information from the internet (McAnear, 2003).  ICT will play a huge role in education and the way I run my classroom when I become a teacher. I am going to utilise this subject to the best of my ability to ensure that I have the knowledge and skills to help children with ICT right across the curriculum.

Today I explored a program called inspiration. I had never heard of it before but after just 30 minutes I discovered what a truely wonderful program it is. It is such a useful program and I can see myself using it in the classroom as a learning tool for students of any age. I specifically enjoyed exploring the mind map application.  It is a fantastic opportunity for students to organise their thoughts about any topic they are learning about. Below are examples of work I produced in insrpiation. I actually had a lot of fun making the mind map and the image of "things that I like!"

I will finish this entry with a quote by Arthur C. Clarke. "We need to educate our children for their future, not our past."