Week 4 Dreamtime Stories and M&M Activity

Today workshop we looked at the "Dustechoes" website: http://www.abc.net.au/dustechoes/. I found this website was quite interesting and good resources to use when teaching about Aboriginal culture. The website focused on Aboriginal culture and exploring their dreamtime stories. I selected a story called the "Morning Star" and viewed the video. After viewing the video I then captured the image and pasted it into the Inspiration software and retell
the story in my own words. The activity took me quite a while to understand what to do. Firstly I didn't really have good knowledge about Aboriginal culture, having to read and retell the story in my own words was quite confusing and time consuming. I noticed some students in the class were also confused.
This is a good activity to do considering if students have prior knowledge and have some lessons on Aboriginal culture before hands. More time should have been provided to help those students who were not skills in ICT.

The second activity was sorting and graphing the colours of M&M. I brought to class a bag of M&M and sorted out the colours. Once the M&M get sorted I then graph the result using Microsoft Excel. There were different template of graph you can use. I chose the vertical bar graph and filled the colours corresponding to its name (see the picture below). Some images of M&M characters were inserted to make the graph looks more interesting.

I was very engaged with the M&M's Activity and would recommended this activity to everyone who want to use it for numeracy and ICT lessons. This activity can be found at http://www.m-ms.com/us/

Week 3 Games Development, Technology Design Process (IDPE)

Today workshop, we were asked to work pairs using the Technology Design Process 'Investigate, Design, Process, Evaluate(IDPE)' to make a frog jump. The only resources were a picture of a Frog, a piece of cardboard, a rubber band, scissors and glue. My idea was to hold the rubber band around my thumb and index finger. Folded a piece of cardboard in half with a picture of the Frog glued on it. Put the folded cardboard around the rubber band. Holded and pulled the cardboard back as far as I can then released it.
I wasn't really impressed with my creation because it was more like a flying frog rather a jumping frog. Another concerns brought to my attention was safety issue. Students might get hurt if they don't know how to handle the rubber band probably. It might get into someones eyes, face etc... Few groups had came up with grate ideas.
I found this activity was very helpful. It helped to show student that ICT is not necessary to do with computer. It can be involved in a piece of cardboard like what I did today. This activity will help students to develop a higher Order Thinking Skills. Of which they will need to investigate and design how to make the frog jump. What have they produced and finally analyse and evaluate their design.

I can see this type of activity can be done with grade as low as Prep. They can draw on the paper of their ideas etc... It is recommended to run at least once a week.


Quia website

Then I created some games online using the "Quia". I went into the "quia" website: http://www.quia.com/. Created user name and password.


The first activity was to create a quiz with no more than 5 questions. However I didn't get it right and stuffed it up so I didn't have any quiz games. But I will try it again next time.

Then I created a Jumble Words game base on animals. Click this link to play the game: http://www.quia.com/jw/386805.html

Next activities were Hangman game; http://www.quia.com/hm/667575.html. I need to be very carefully here (if I am in school environment) as some student might be scared with the hangman. Select something appropriate.

Lastly was Possum Magic Pop up game: http://www.quia.com/cz/347237.html.

I found "Quia" program was very useful to have. It is free for 30 days. It is engaging. Students can do some research about a topic first. They can then put it into games. Student can learn through playing approach.

Week 2 ePortfolios and MS Publisher

In the workshop we discussed about ePortfolio, Interviewing Process and created a Brochure using MS Publisher.

Discussion about ePortfolio, how important it is to get a job. Greg showed an sample of student's ePortfolio. Introduction of ePortfolio should include a simple paragraph of your Philosophy of Education, List of Awards and Achievements, CV, Personal Interest and Reflections about Practicum. The ePortfolio can be created using MS Publisher.

Beside having to create an ePortfolio for myself as required for this subject, I had no ideas why I have to do it and what are the benefits. Not until I read Newsletter from Smart QLD "Learning with digital portfolios", I realised how valuable it is for 21st Century learning. It is a form of assessment that brings students and teachers together. Its features inclued working spaces for creating, collaborating, enquiring and building new knowledge through reflective practice.

Greg also suggested some great hints of what to do and not to do when applying for the job.

• Do not put referees in if they don't like you or they don't know you well enough. If they asked for 3 referees then only to put down 3.
• Application of Theories to Classroom Experiences
• Always meet their criteria
• Use appropriate font sizes
• Don't write up your resume in the last minute.
• Ask someone to read through your resume.
• Check your spelling
• Talk about your strengths "I am very keen to be part of the team"
• Let people know if you are taking up another school.
• Don't smoke in a car.
• Dress appropriately
• Have a good knowledge about the school. Look up MySchool website.
• School might hand out questions, write over the sheet. Highlighting any important words or sentences.
• Look at the person interviewing you.
• Ask the question to be repeated to you if you are unsure.
• Shake their hands.
• Know the panel members names.
• Always have some questions to ask them. Who is my mentor? What is her/his position?
• What is my year level? Never talk about money or position at this time. If they call you for the position. Ask who is your mentor, salary, position, who you work with etc.. Example of work. What is important, things that is relevant for the school you're applying for.

Sample of the brochure that I have created

After the discussion, I learnt how to create a Brochure advertising a holiday destination using MS Publisher (see above samples). MS Publisher has many templates which were simple and easy to follow. I imagined how engage this activity would be to students. Students can discuss and share back their brochure with the class. Why do you think they have the graphics here? Students can compare their work to the real brochure. Brochure can be displayed in the school's foyer. How exciting!!!

References:

Smart QLD, 2010, Learning with digital portfolios, http://www.education.qld.gov.au/smartclassrooms/pdf/smart-newsletter.pdf