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.