When reading through fellow students blogs on my Word Press reader, I came across a blog titled Cyber Quiz. I decided to undertake the cyber safety quiz that was linked within the blog. I was surprised to receive 24 out of 25. The question that I got incorrect was that I did not think it was suitable that a child should use their first name when entering details online. Alike my fellow student blogger, I too thought this was a fantastic resource that could be implemented when educating cyber safety within the classroom. I also decided to use this quiz with my own nine-year old daughter, as she has recently started playing online games and using her I-pad to watch demonstration videos on you tube for her school work and home projects. I was shocked to see that she only received 20 out of 25 as I am constantly talking to her about the importance and how to be safe when online. I was mostly shocked that she said she would join two of the websites that were not safe sites!! This quiz has taught me that I need to be researching and talking more with my own child about cyber safety, as well as the importance of teaching my future students about the dangers as well.
Reflecting on Prac
When reflecting on my professional placement I must say there were no negatives to my experience at all! I was extremely lucky to have a fantastic mentor who made my time relaxing and a very educational and positive experience. The children were such a delight to teach and get to know. On my last day I was also very lucky to attend a school field trip to the “52 Story Tree House” in Toowoomba. The live performance was fantastic, all the children were thoroughly hooked and enjoyed talking about their favourite parts of the show all the way home. Leading up to the live performance, years 5 and 6 were required to read the 52 Story Tree House and write blogs about the different chapters using the classroom blog. I was very lucky to have two of the year 6 students show me how they use their individual blogs, as well as how they provide constructive feedback to their peers regarding their blogs. Was a great learning experience to view and would love to use this idea if I ever become a teacher in an upper primary class.
Modelling Your Grade
Week 15’s learning path asked us to work out what mark we need to receive in our remaining assessment piece to gain the result that we want to achieve for the course. I am very pleased to say that I only require one more mark to pass this course not including the one mark that I should receive for professional placement. As I am aiming for a Distinction, I will need to receive 25/40 for my assignment 3. Hopefully that should be attainable seeing 10 of those marks are for the learning journal and lesson plans. However, I alike other fellow student bloggers still have so much to do on this assignment!!! Since completing placement I have been extremely busy with my full time job and catching up on the learning paths and blogs, that I haven’t had much time to sit down and concentrate on assignment 3. In saying that, I should probably use this time to work on it and get it completed!! Good luck to everyone who is still working on theirs or have other assessment pieces or exams due over the next few weeks : )
Class Do Jo App
During my professional placement I found that I had very little issues surrounding behaviour. I believe this was largely due to the dynamics of the group of children I was teaching and the behaviour management tools that were already in place. One of the behaviour management tools that I observed and already use as a part of my daughters schooling was the Class Dojo App. Class Do Jo app is a simple and safe to use classroom management tool that:
- Creates a positive classroom culture by helping students build important skills like teamwork and persistence
- Share a timeline of wonderful moments to let parents be a part of their child’s classroom
- Saves teacher valuable class time through promoting a positive classroom environment
After reading through my Word Press Reader I quickly found that many other fellow student bloggers also experienced Class Dojo when on professional placement and also blogged about how effective it was at keeping behaviour under control. If you want to learn more about Class Do Jo check out their website to find out more.
Book Creator
During my professional placement, I was required to teach year 1 English. The children were required to recreate texts imaginatively using drawing, writing and digital forms of communication. To do this I decided to download the app Book Creator onto the student I-pads. I found this to be an excellent app as it was easy enough for all the year 1 students to use and because it is a free app. The children were also highly engaged in the learning experience. They thoroughly enjoyed listening to their story retells and were able to identify what they needed to do to improve their retell when listening back. The children also enjoyed listening to each other’s retell and giving feedback to each other in pairs. Once completed the children welcomed their families to come and view and listen in the classroom. The children were all very excited to show their families their story retell and families were very impressed! I was hoping to upload to the classroom blog but was unable to due to technology upgrades that were happening at the time. This will be a lesson plan that I will continue to use as a teacher in my own classroom.
Kinaesthetic Classroom Observation
As I am completing a Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood), I was required to observe one upper primary class per week. I was so very glad that I was required to undertake this as I have never been in an upper primary classroom and thoroughly enjoyed it. During one of my observations, the teacher asked me to be one of her class pupils so that I could get a real feel for her teaching methods. The thing I most loved about this teacher was that she had a kinaesthetic classroom. Rather then having the students sitting at tables using chairs, the classroom was filled with pedal desks, exercise balls and balance boards. Every 15 minutes the students are required to rotate around the room to a different area. I was amazed at the high level of engagement from the students during the one and half hour English lesson! As an acting student I too found myself highly engaged in what was being taught and loved every minute of it! Definitely something I’ll be researching and exploring more with when I become a teacher in my own classroom. If you want to learn more about kinaesthetic classrooms and products click on this link
Bee Bots
During my professional experience, I was very lucky to have a wonderful mentor who bought 8 bee bots for me to use. This was my first time using and interacting with bee bots and I must admit that I will definitely be using them in my own classroom. I had a very differentiated group of learners including a mixed year group (preps and year 1’s), as well as three children with ADHD, two with language and learning disorders as well as two gifted children. Using the bee bots were such a success when teaching children location and direction, as they were easy to use, engaging and because I was able to easily differentiate the learning goals for each child depending on their abilities. The more capable students were challenged by having to follow and give more complicated directions while the less capable children were able to work at a level more appropriate for them and still have success. The children also very much enjoyed challenging each other using the Bee Bot app. The more capable children worked at a higher level and wrote down their directions before programming. There are also heaps of great downloadable resources including lesson plans and bee bot mats that are easily accessible via websites including Communication 4 All.
Speech, Sound, Pics
Today I was introduced to Speech, Sound, Pics and I was blown away at what a fantastic program it is for spelling and reading. So what is speech, Sound, Pics? It is a program that has been designed to teach children the different sounds in the English language. It is a fun, child centred approach that is differentiated and fully resourced. I was blown away with the results they seen from the children and just how engaged all the children are in the brain training videos and activities. Children with even the most basic language skills were achieving success and most of the year one students are already on PM readers over 20!!! If you are interested in reading more about Speech, Sound, Pics take a look at the two links I have included below
What is SSP? (The Speech Sound Pics Approach) Wiring Brains for Reading
First Day Done and Dusted
Day one is done and dusted and what a fantastic day it has been!! I was extremely nervous leading up to today due to the fact that it was my first professional placement in a school setting, therefore I had no idea what to expect. Thankfully my mentor was very kind and allowed me to observe all of today without teaching, so I could gain an understanding of the routine and get to know the children. Tomorrow however will be a different story as I will be taking groups during morning rotations and teaching my first lesson after morning break. Alike another fellow student blogger, the computer systems are all down due to upgrades occurring so tomorrow and probably for the next few days I will not have access to the computer lab. Therefore, it was decided that I borrow her laptop to operate the IWB and use I-pads instead in order for me to integrate ICT to enhance student learning. As my lesson will be teaching prep and year one students location and direction, I already have a few ideas that involve taking photos of toys in the playground in different locations and directions… Seeing its already getting late, I better stop blogging and hurry up and get planning!! Hope everyone else had a great first day as well : )
Week 9: Fears and Challenges
Week nine asked students to think about their biggest fears and challenges that they may have leading up to professional placement. When reflecting on this question my biggest fear I currently have is that I will be terrible at teaching!! I say this, as this will be my first professional placement in a school setting! Even though I have worked with children aged 0-5 for the past 13 years, I am still feeling extremely nervous. A fellow student blogged about their fears and concerns leading up to their professional placement, regarding embedding ICTs and how to keep up with the workload. Alike my fellow blogger, I too am feeling extremely anxious about embedding ICT into my lesson plans and the workload that will be expected. Up until commencing this subject, I had very rarely embedded the use of ICTs in my lesson designs, nor have I had much luck in using them myself. I am very concerned that I will have many failures and/ or not include enough ICTs that will successfully transform students learning. During prac I will also have a 60% assignment due for another subject, as well as still required to take on roles in my workplace and manage being a single mum. To top it off I will be completing my professional placement 50km away, eek, I am certain that I will end up beyond exhausted! To ensure that my fears and concerns wont be as big of an issue, I have decided to set myself many goals and a schedule prior to commencement to help with the workload, and will continue to reflect on my choices of ICTs I use.
The Web log of Jane Edwards 