iPad

Guess what I got for Christmas this year?  Ok, the photos and title give it away so I think it is safe to presume I got an iPad.  I have been wanting one for awhile so I combined this years birthday and Christmas into one good present.

While I was on Practicum I made a note of a lot of apps that they used in the classroom.  I saved some to my wishlist in iTunes and downloaded a few when I got to the end of the month with data still on my internet plan.  I am such a planner when it comes to some things.  By the time I synced this iPad for the first time I had apps ready to go both for my study and teaching.

I took advantage of the Apple sale and bought an iPad and apple branded case together.  Because I am SUPER dorky I decided to use the free engraving option and I got the University of New England's' motto laser engraved on both the iPad and iPad case too.

I got an iPad 4 with Retina display with the WiFi and 32GB option.  I possibly should have gone bigger but I still have a lot of available space so think this one will be suit my needs for some time to come.

I will have to review some apps over the summer as I have found some really great ones that I think are a 'must have' item now.

About Face...

...Awhile ago I mentioned that I had transferred into BEDK12 so that I could be a qualified primary AND secondary teacher.   A lot has happened since then but the upshot of it is that I have elected to continue with BEDPRM and focus on primary.

When UNE sent a lovely person to visit me while I was on prac they expressed some doubts on the wisdom of spending the same amount of time studying to get a watered down version of two degrees.  The thought was I would be a better primary teacher if that is what I studied alone.

Another issue was that as much as I really wanted the extra English and History units offered in the new degree I was losing 7 units and adding up to a year of study.  This adds up, not only in extra units but also in extra time before I can be working.

Then the school I did my prac at offered me 6 months work next year.  I am really excited about this.  The course rules for the new degree would make taking this job very hard as pracs are built into units with very set times to complete them.  As it is now I have a large degree of freedom under the old BEDPRM rules to organise my pracs independently to suit work/study and family obligations.

So there you have it.  I am right back where I started but I am happy about that.

p.s. I bought some new text books from Amazon.  I love mail packages like this!

Trimester 3, 2012

 

The last week of my prac was also the first week for Trimester 3.  I was behind before I started but now, towards the end of week 3 I am caught up, mostly.

 

This trimester I am doing four units.  I decided to do as many units as I could given I lost some units when I changed degrees.  I am still determined to make up the lost time and complete my degree in four years or less.  I don't know if I will manage that, but I can hope!

 

My units are:

EDSP400 Inclusive and Special Education

EDUC403 Teaching for Cultural Diversity - NESB Students

ENGL101 Engaging with Literature

HIST111 Medieval History

 

The last two units are part of my major/minor units for secondary education.  So much reading, but so much fun.  Because the trimester has started I thought I would also take a photo of the business end of the texts, lots of notes, colour coded too.  I do enjoy this part of things!

Goodbye Prac

I feel so blessed to have had such a wonderful experience on my first prac.  This small school welcomed me from the first day and made me feel like I belonged here.  The students in the whole school, not just the class I taught made this experience wonderful for me.

 

 

I have learnt so much during the last 20 days, my confidence has grown as has my ability to manage a classroom and teach children.  I will always remember this class and all they taught me.  Thank you.

 

Postcard Art

 

For my last art lesson in the class I wanted to pick something quick, clean and fun.  I wanted to see the results that afternoon so I did not have to leave my ST with a lesson to finish after I had left.

 

I chose to do some postcard art.  I cut out pictures from magazines found in the storage room and let the children expand upon the various scenes using crayons.

 

They loved it!

Elmer - Art

In H.S.I.E we are doing a unit of work on 'who am I?' where we explore our differences and similarities that make us what we are.  I thought reading the book Elmer would be a good tie in and we made our own 'Elmer' parade for art.  The kids had a lot of fun with the paper, scissors and glue.  I put them all up for display in the hallway at the door of our classroom.  The idea came from Mrs Brown's Art.

World Teachers' Day

 

Friday the 26th of October is World Teachers' Day.  I was lucky enough to get a certifiacte and block of chocolate along with every other teacher at my school; I am grateful that I was included given I am not yet fully qualified but I was told that student teachers are just as important.

Water Cycle - Terrarium

To further our earlier lesson on The Water Cycle we again listened to the previously linked song via YouTube.  Then I loaded this interactive game of the white board and we all took turns to answer some of the questions as a whole class activity.

As a different way of viewing The Water Cycle in our classroom I decided to build a terrarium.  I had bought some plants at the school fete held the weekend before and I already had the rest of the equipment at home so there was little outlay. 

The kids LOVED this.  I let them all help put some rocks in the bottom so they had some ownership of this.  It now sits on the windowsill in their classroom and it attracts a group of students here and there as they look to see it working.  I love this, a lesson that stays with them throughout the week.

Water cycle

My year 1 and 2 class are studying water in science. We have been on a water walk around the school to identify where water is being used and how and we have assessed water using the 5 senses. In our latest lesson we looked at the water cycle.

I started by playing the this clip found on YouTube.  In linking the video here it has added the whole playlist, I did NOT play the whole list, just the first clip that ran for 3:16.

The children all really enjoyed this clip and it had the added benefit of allowing the students who are lower level readers to hear terms such as 'precipitation' and understand it. We filled in a blank worksheet which had a water cycle diagram. I asked the students on spelling list one and two to write 'rain' instead of precipitation and 'cloud' instead of condensation so it was suited to all levels in this class. The other students on higher spelling lists wrote the bigger words.

It was a big lesson for them as after we did this we went outside with my watering can which I used to simulate rain and we investigated and compared the effects of rain on different surfaces; sand, dirt and cement. It was fun. I only had one watering can so I told the class I was looking for my best listener at each point to help be the 'rain'. Worked well :)

Crayon Resist Art

For our last art lesson I did crayon resist art.  I knew my year 1/2 class had done that before so it would not take a lot of explaining in regards to technique.  Because in science we are studying water I set them the task of creating an underwater scene.

I found an example of this at Mrs. Browns Art:

picture

To challenge them I spoke about perspective and how drawing something in a different size can make it look further away.  I stood up in front of the class and showed them how tall I was, then I walked to the other end of the class and they all said 'you look smaller!'.  They had fun with that concept and I loved some of the pictures they drew.

 

RS 2012

Handwriting

I find it hard to write neatly on the blackboard.  I can't even show a picture of my writing on the Interactive White Board (IWB) until I practice more.

At the end of each week after the spelling test we make up a passage using spelling words from the four lists for that week.  Each student then writes this passage and illustrates it as part of their weekly handwriting task.  It is nice to have a task that includes all the students' together even though they have differing spelling lists and abilities.

List 1: wish, us.

List 2: near, each.

List 3: quietly

List 4: cicada.

I love the old blackboard still in this year 1/2 classroom.  It reminds me of my days at school and I am glad that even though there are now Interactive White Boards (IWB) in every classroom that some of the old things still remain.

Adjectives

I taught a lesson on adjectives to my Stage 1 class last week.  I started by describing what an adjective was and then I played them this Schoolhouse Rock clip called unpack your adjectives.

 

 

They loved it!

We had been looking at books written by Lynley Dodd so I based my worksheet on the book Hairy Maclary.  I put a picture of each dog on it and asked the students to 'unpack' their adjectives and describe each dog.  Because there was a few Hairy Maclary posters in one corner of the classroom I asked the lower reading group to sit in that corner so they could refer to the posters for help with spelling and ideas.

 

It was a fun lesson and to finish up I played another clip on the IWB that is full of adjectives, The Wonky Donkey.  This was a great way to finish as I know they are singing The Wonkey Donkey in music so they loved seeing the video.  I hope they think of adjectives everytime they are singing that song from now on.

 



Numeracy Warm Up

picture

 

Race to 100: The students worked in pairs and took turns to roll two dice, they had to add the total from their roll and then use the base ten blocks to record their score.  Each player had to add and trade up as their score got bigger with each roll of the dice. 

It can be a race to 50, or 100.  If addition and trading up is going well you can direct the class to start subtracting so that they have to trade down as well.  A simple activity that can be fun while students use mental strategies to trade while showing an understanding of place value.

Less than or Greater than: Still in pairs, students roll the dice and write down the number rolled in the thousands column of their laminated sheets, they roll again for hundreds, tens and ones.  They either model this number in MAB blocks or write it using a whiteboard marker.  Get them to read the number out loud to their partner and then work out whose number is greater than and whose number is less than their partners number.

Science & Water Lesson: What I Learnt.

If you give students a map to plot the points water is found around the school AND an iPad to take photos of some of them the maps will get ignored in favour of taking photos of the toilets.

Water is more fun if someone is getting wet.

If you are not very specific students will run with a concept, but not necessarily in the direction you would have chosen.  

Just because you are told the iPads are synced and ready to go does not mean they are.  This added an extra element of 'fun' to the beginning of the lesson.



PREX901: Week 1

 

 

I have just finished my first week of prac at a small Catholic school in rural New South Wales.  My class is a combined year 1 and 2 class with 23 students.  There are a range of students in the class, some with learning difficulties. 

 

They are a rowdy bunch of students and at times the class is loud and active which does require a range of various strategies to get their attention.  Counting down works well; the count gets their attention and they know at the end there will be a 'shhh' or a 'zip it' which they then attend to.  Sometimes the teacher claps a rhythm and the students listening repeat it, after 2 or 3 quick repeats of this the whole class is usually joining in and quiet.

 

I have taught some of the small groups in both reading and maths and I have read to the class and organised them for various activities.  I did a book review with each reading group using their PM readers which was a great activity as using the same template it was suitable for all the levels depending on their abilities.  My maths group was working with numbers 1-20.  We played 'teen memory', 'number before bingo', 'floor walking' and 'dot patterns'.  All pretty simple stuff, but challenging for this group of students.  I did plenty of marking to help my ST.

 

We had two WET and COLD days.  The children were stuck inside and it was CHAOS.  There is no multi-purpose hall so we split the children between two of the classrooms and watched them inside.  The noise level was frightening and the mess was mega to say the least.  That first wet day was the only time I have questioned my abilities to be in charge of a classroom!  Thankfully the next day was not wet, just very cold so we did get out to run and play tee-ball and things were much better.  Maybe everyone was too busy shivering to be rowdy!  We also had school photos on one day which did add to the confusion.  Next week will be a normal week, and hopefully without rain; I feel guilty wishing for no rain as the crops around here need it badly.

 

They are such wonderful children, if a bit of a handful at times.  I am ready for next Monday when I have more reading and maths activities as well as the whole class for science.  I have organised a 'water walk' where we talk about how water is used and then walk around the school with a map and plot the areas where water is found.  We are taking the iPads so we can take photos for the water word wall and their science journals.  The principal (my supervising teacher) looked over my lesson plan and said it was great. I can't wait!!

 

Changing my Degree?

When I chose to do a Bachelor of Education (Primary) in 2011 the thought of University study was daunting, exciting and unknown.  I looked at my options and choose Primary for a number of reasons.  I love small children, I have small children so I can relate to that stage of learning and also because it was new and I lacked confidence in my own ability; Primary seemed like the best fit for me at the time.

Fast forward to now.  In 2013 UNE have a new degree; Bachelor of Education (K-12).  I thought about this, looked at the units, thought about it.  I would lose 6 units by changing my focus now but I have changed since I started this process.

Our local school is a K-12 school.  Losing 6 units now is a lot easier to absorb than adding a post-grad study option down the track.  I am increasing my options and while those 6 units would not count towards the K-12 option I have the benefit of the experience and knowledge from having completed those units.

I applied to transfer and accepted the offer when confirmation came in that my scholarship would not be affected.  I have elected to major in English and Minor in History.  I am really excited!

Trimester 2, 2012

EDCX246	Society and Education
EDSS223	Teaching HSIE/SOSE in Primary School 1
EDEE212	English Teaching 2: Reading and Viewing
EDME369	Primary Math 2B - Stats, algebra and number

Four units again this Trimester, and all very different in terms of both content and teaching style.  Some units have video lectures, some only have topic notes and some only have a list of required readings and seemingly strange assignments.  I am trying to think about the different teaching styles and how I feel about them as a student in the hopes I remember what it feels like to be on the receiving end once I am a teacher.  It is all a learning opportunity and I am trying to get the most out of the experience that I can; it is not always easy.

I have had a very slow start to this Trimester and am only just now finding my feet.  Assignments are due in a few weeks and things are starting to get busy.  I need to get organised and tick the jobs off the list each day. Small steps are still progress.

UNE Awards Presentation

This year, I was lucky enough to be awarded a scholarship by UNE.  This is such an honour and one I am determined to live up to by being the best student I can, and as a result, the best teacher I can in years to come.

I travelled to UNE for the awards ceremony.  Armidale is so beautiful in Autumn and I had a wonderful day wandering around the UNE campus.  I bought text books for my Trimester 2 units from the United Campus Bookshop; such a novelty to do this in person.  I also spent some time in the gift shop buying a UNE hoody style jumper and then did a little work in The Dixon library.  I was determined to make the most of my time on campus.

I managed to have lunch with a friend who lectures at UNE and I then met Ed from Student Support who has been an important part of my UNE study and support network to date.  UNE excels at offering support for their external students and it makes such a big difference to us as it is easy to feel left out when you study from home.

That evening was the official ceremony.  It was a wonderful experience that I am very grateful for.  I don't have any of the official photos that actually have me in them; I should try to get a copy for my records.

Thank you UNE.

Trimester 1, 2012

Changes at UNE this year.  They have moved into Trimesters instead of Semesters.  This means each teaching period is a little shorter as are the breaks in between, but also that there is now scope to further fast track your studies by doing more over what used to be the even shorter Summer Semester.  Right now I am very pro fast tracking and have organised my units so that I may be able to do 12 full units this year alone along with my first prac placement.  I do not know if this is sustainable, but I will try while keeping an eye on census date each Trimester.

I am currently studying the units:

EDIT124	ICT Across the Curriculum
EDAE124	Creative Arts Curriculum
EDLT115	Learners and Learning
EDEE112	English Pedagogy in Primary Curriculum

Slowly but surely ticking all the boxes.  At the end of the last year I had a 'credit' study average across my units.  I would like to move this into a 'distinction' average but I do not know if this is a realistic expectation given I am also running around after children and their activities as well as the various committees that go along with these activities.  I am trying to be a reflective practitioner who looks for ways of improvement while looking to balance the study/family/farm commitments I have; it isn't always easy.