Monday 18 May 2015

powerpoints and referencing

Just like Jill I need to plan a lesson regarding how to reference. However, I won't be using an online tool to do this because my class will not be referencing any of the normal 'things' so its just easier to do it by hand. Also, they've never done it before.

So my first day on prac was great, but holy moly the teachers (and the students) LOVE powerpoint. Fortunately they've given me lots of resources to be able to plan (using powerpoint) but I would argue that for one of my classes we could use so much more. However, my yr 10's seem to learn best by 'read-write' through powerpoint. The are so 'spongey' they just soak up all the information and are able to do so much with it, to the point where we had a good 15 minutes of not doing much in the class because they had all finished. - sigh, they're amazing, talented, extension kids.

anyway, I think its time for bed. I'm teaching 2 lessons tomorrow :) wish me luck!

Saturday 16 May 2015

laptop trolleys on prac

On my last prac, every student had a laptop, we were using ICTs for teaching and learning every single lesson (except for maths in some cases). At my school on Monday, for every class we need to book laptop trolleys to use ICTs, (which to me actually feels like I'm stepping backwards in terms of what I can show I can use with ICTs). Not to mention that I feel like I'm going to be hogging the laptop trolleys if I want to use them every lesson because they only have a limited amount available. Anyway, because I haven't really had much experience with laptop trolleys except once or twice at my first prac school and before then not since I was in grade 9, I thought I should read up on some tips. This blog provides some tips.

Obviously when I'm planning my lesson using laptop trolleys I will need to consider how I will manage the students to make sure each of them gets a laptop etc.

I need to ensure I am monitoring their use of laptops. I also need to make sure I have a back up plan. I need to make sure my mentor books them for me they day before.

At my old prac school where students had laptops with them all the time, they all got into the habbit of coming to class and immediately going on to them and not focussing on the lesson first, so I probably wont have the issue of having to tell the students to shut their laptops before we even start the lesson.

But mainly, I need to make sure I'm organised, give direct instructions, make sure students know what to do when they have their laptops to ensure they don't start to use them innapropriately.


lets use all the apps!

I want to give a holla out to Laurenn's blog here  where she talks about using the AITSL app.

Just wanted to let you guys know as well, ACARA has an australian curriculum app. BCE has a religious education and religious life of the school curriculum app. They are all really handy tools. Khan academy has apps for certain things.

Other apps that may come in handy

- tuner apps for music teachers
- calculus formula apps for maths teachers
- mindly mind map app for all teachers. (kind of like padlet and poplet).

Theres heaps, so many. But I've found that there appears to be more apps for primary teachers than secondary, but you know, we can't have everything.

But definitely, we should all have the AITSL and ACARA app. - just saying, they are amazing.


PD for all you kiddies

Everyone in education should be at QUEDREX on the 25-26th of July

Check this link for more info. 

Positives about it:

It's free (now when I say free, the workshops are free, the registration is free, and a lot of the resources are free, BUT the food is expensive and I suggest you bring some pocket money in case you want to buy some books and stuff).

The workshops are great. Last year one of our own lecturers at USQ spoke there. There was an ICT workshop (I can't remember exactly what it was on, only that they had tech issues setting up). 

Its run by educators, for educators, and the people who showcase there provide their products to educators.


The only negative about it, is that its very 'primary/early childhood' focused. 

Its easy to get to by train, they give you a lovely bag to stash stuff in. 
So I shall see you all there :)


PRAC! - What else would I be talking about?

Some of you I know haven't got placements. Some of you I know hate the fact you can't work. Some of you I know are bummed about being in a religious school when you aren't religious (I on the other hand, have the opposite issue, having one of my teaching areas as religion, and NOT being in a religious school... but whatever, I got a school, any experience is good experience, I can't complain). So yes, I've flicked through all the other posts about prac including This one and I thought you would all like some cheering up with some RESOURCES!!!
 
After talking to my two amazing mentors (yes I've already formed an opinion), they mentioned that the students at the school I'm going to really enjoy interactive powerpoints, and they've already given me heaps of resources to have a look at. But one of my teaching colleagues showed me Neapod! I suggest you check it out. Its 'basically' a powerpoint generator.. but its so much more. You can add quizes, polls, vidoes, images, draw on it, sound, get the students to log in and collaborate on it. AND its free (weooo yeh free stuff!). 

Hope you enjoy!

Saturday 9 May 2015

religious education and ICT

ICTs are difficult to come by in the world of RE. I reckon its because most of the resources are books.

But I've found this. Its a handbook for RE and ICT. They basically say that use it when its going to benefit the learning and meet the objectives. use it for speed. use it for information. use it to communicate. use it for assessment and presentation of work.

Which is what I've pretty much done in the past :). So thats a good sign that I'm on the right track with using ICTs in my RE classroom.

Instagram and self esteem

Well, today was interesting.

I went onto Instagram and decided to check out what your average teenager is doing on Instagram. I saw things that I didn't want to, but I guess its a reality check thing. I saw a lot of photos of young people cutting. A lot of self hate. A lot of body image issues. A lot of social anxiety. A lot of depression. A lot of attention seeking. And all that from starting with #anxiety. Just google (images) "self harm instagram" and you will understand what I mean.

I think we need to make social media a tool for positive self esteem, self loving, etc.

I'm going to critique the cybersmart PD that we did here. I think there wasn't enough emphasis on how to teach students to be positive in their Internet use. I just want to clarify here. By positive I mean, not not negative. (Ok that sentence got away from me a bit). not negative is ignoring the positive. Just being positive and teaching students how to use social media in peace might be a step in the right direction.

Just for some information. Youth beyond blue  is a handy website with information about self harm in particular.