Week 4

Today we began with a beautiful dreamtime story called Mermaid story (Dust Echoes) . There were no words just simple, soft music and it was the perfect was to start the lesson. It was about a man who goes walkabout and finds himself living with mermaids. He soon becomes lonely and wants to see his family. He must make a choice. He decides to go back to his family and that is the best choice. It is great for grade 5/6 and it will allow them to interpret the story to what they feel happened.

Our task today is to listen to a dreamtime story and using the ‘inspiration’ program, capture the key points and retell the story using images. This is clever way of doing an English retell and allows the students to use another method that will determine how they tell the story.

I really enjoyed this activity and I think that this is really important. If I have an interest and enjoyment then that will come through in my teaching and hopefully get the children enthused.

Counting M&M’s.

Using an M&M’s candy chart, there are many options for them. They can use mathematics by sorting the colours and counting and entering the data onto the chart. Due to food allergies that children may have you might have to resort to using fruit or vegetables such as peas or beans. From the chart they can then use Microsoft excel and place in a spreadsheet. However this does not mean that you can't use M&M’s. You just need to ensure that NO child is to eat them!.

I am ok with excel however having being shown again has just reiterated what I already know and refreshed my memory. Thanks Greg the activities that you have shown us today are things that I would never have thought of and are something that I think the students would really enjoy. It is different to their everyday routine and worksheets where I completely agree that they are not the best way for the students to learn. They need more stimulation and creation in their everyday education.

week 3

Design brief, the new design brief is set out as: Investigate/design, procedure....

The activity that we have to do in class today is to design a frog that jumps using ALL of the materials provided.

Those are: · Small portion of sticky tape

· frog picture

· piece of cardboard

· scissors

this is an excellent activity to get students thinking and creating. By having to complete a design brief it is moving towards higher order thinking skills and justify what they have created the ‘frog’ the in that particular way. It also allows for some healthy competition and encourages students to keep trying if it doesn't work the first time.

After much deliberation in our group we finally created a frog that jumps using all materials.

When having a look at how my peers had gone about creating the frog, it was interesting to see how many different designs can be created just with the same few materials. For those who finish early can always use larger pieces of card and design again.

Creating a game:

www.quia.com/web

Register for the 30 day free trial.

User name: alwiley10Create a Quiz.

Today it is a multiple choice quiz. If you would like to complete my quiz on animals go to http://www.quia.com/quiz/2513861.html

The next activity we have the choice of creating out own :) I have decided to do jumbled words.
These shorts of activities are a good way to increase student’s ability to spell and their literacy skills.

Week 2

Using MS Publisher:

First select 'Brochure' as this is the task that we are wanting to complete today.

The task is to create a holiday brochure. This is an easy task for me as I have always wanted to go to Egypt to marvel in the ancient architecture.

(Remember to allow at least 2 weeks for the children to complete this task as they should not spend too long in front of a computer.)

I was having some trouble using the program at first, however once you get the hang of it, it is simple to use. I found that when adding text to the brochure, the background remained white. After deliberations I realised that the text box was not necessary.

For the purpose of this task we made a brochure however it can have other benificial uses. If the students dont want to make a brochure on a travel destination, they can create a procudural text on something that is of interest to them.

I used the print screen function that we used last week in order to place my brochure into my blog.

Interview tips:

Being given tips on what to do and what not to do when applying for jobs was very helpful. Thanks Greg :) Even though some of the ideas were absured, they can be made!! There was alot however that I did not realise such as being given the quesitons that the panel will ask you. Write like mad and dont panic. During the interview take a breath and look down at my notes. Thats why they have given it to me.

Handy tip: once asked the quesiton, take a breath and start off slowly. If you then think you are rambling, ask if i have sufficiently as the quesiton. There is no harm in doing so. Also if you feel that you failed to mention a key point to a quesiton, at the end when they ask if there is anything to add, SAY IT! A little insight goes a long way and something I am going to need.

E-portfolio:

it is very important to have an E-portfolio as it will be a part of my interview and application process. it is a good idea to take photos of students and/or students work to demonstrate how my lessons reflect in the students work through their creativity and design.

Ensure when in the interview process, always leave your e-portfolio as although the may not have time to look at in on the spot, they will look at it and it will be the difference of getting or missing out on the job oopportunity.

Creating an E-portfolio on publisher:

This process is simple as publisher is easy to use. The hard part is entering the right information to show my skills and attributes for the interview panel.

This is just a sample of an E-portfolio that needs to be perfected :)