Trimester and Semester 2, 2013

This year is just flying by.  It is already half way through Trimester 2 and I realised I had not posted a unit update yet.  This trimester will see me finish the last of my elective Key Learning Areas (KLA's) as I am doing my fourth HSIE unit and my second English unit. I have enjoyed the electives a lot and am sorry to only have core units left, even if it is nice to tick more things off the list.

ENCO310 - Picture books and Fantasy

HIST151 - Modern Australia

EDLT217 - Planning and Assessment for Learning

EDLT320 - Differentation for Talent Development

In other slightly exciting news I was accepted into the University of Newcastle to study Post Graduate Theology through the Broken Bay Institute concurrently with my UNE education undergrad degree.   I am only studying one unit at a time which should see me graduate both degrees at the same time at the end of next year.  Things are busy, but manageable.

THEO6002 - Origins and Development of the Early Church

This unit covers the period of time before HIST111 - Medieval Europe; as such I am really enjoying studying this period in greater detail.

Professional Development

Professional Development (PD) is important for teachers who have to demonstrate a number of hours each year in the name of keeping up to date with teaching philosophies and technology.  As a preservice teacher I think it is a good chance to undergo some extra training which may set me apart from my peers when I start to apply for jobs while at the same time helping me become a more informed teacher when I next step into a classroom.

To this end, I have compiled a list of free and online PD courses which I have either undertaken or intend to. I hope there is something on the list that you like the sound of.  If you know of any other good courses please leave a comment and share.

  

The Australian Sports Commission.  

The Australian Sports Commission offer a number of online courses:

• Beginning Coaching General Principals
• High Performance Motivation
• High Performance Goal Setting
• High Performance Decisions
• Member Protection Information Officer Training
• Complaint Handling
• Play by the Rules
• Introductory Level Officiating General Principles

Cousera

Cousera have so many options ranging from 4 week courses to 10 week courses.  You can search for topics such as 'education' which I did.  See the results linked here.

CyberSmart: Connect.ed

Cybersafety Online Learning Programme. Having attended a Cyber Bullying workshop yesterday I know this is a big issue that our students face.   There are teaching resources available here too.

Football Federation of Australia

Football, or Soccer as I used to call it, is very popular at school.  The Football Federation of Australia (FFA) offer a number of coaching courses to suit both community level coaches and the more advanced level coaches.  Most of these are paid courses but the Grassroots Football Certificate is free.  I have done this course and found it very informative and it included a book of drills and recommendations to help you get started.  Keep an eye out for when one is next scheduled in your area.

UNE OPEN

These UNE OPEN courses are a lot more detailed which is fine given they give you credit towards a degree.  This may make them a bit of a commitment if you are already studying or working but they are free and run by the University of New England so worth a mention.  There is nothing specifically education related as yet but that may change in the future.  

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership

Better suited for those that have their teaching number, the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (aitsl) have a number of professional learning programmes.  When I get my number (I am counting down the days!) I will do the Supervising Preservice Teachers training.

edit 26/9/13: 

FutureLearn

Similar to Coursera mentioned above, FutureLearn offers a series of short courses from leading universities.  I know some of my fellow UNE friends have some courses penciled in over the summer.

Cyber Safety

I recently attended a Cyber Safety workshop at school.  Technology is an increasing part of our lives so I thought it was worth sharing some of the the take home messages that resonated with me:

• Using the internet should ALWAYS feel good.  If you feel nothing, frightened, sad, confused or angry something is wrong.
• Make the same good choices online that you would make in real life.  We treat strangers a certain way for a reason; they do not need to know our personal details.
• We protect ourselves when we make good choices.
• Cyber-bullying is about people, not technology.
• You own your identity on the internet; don't share it.

Image

It is our responsibility to teach children about cyber safety in an age appropriate way.  There are a lot of resources available to help.  Technology is an exciting tool that opens up the world; but care must be taken because as we know, the world can be a big and sometimes frightening place.

Exams

It is that time of the trimester again where we are starting to worry about exams.  I posted some advice on another forum and thought I would put it here as well in case it helps.  Exams can be stressful but there are things you can do to help:

• Make sure you eat breakfast on the big day, even if you don’t want too. Something healthy and low GI like rolled oats and banana will serve you well.
• Pack a water bottle to take in to the exam. If you snack while you study at home take snacks into the exam too; just make sure you don’t have anything that will rattle or crunch and upset fellow students.
• Take in tissues, panadol and cough lollies. You will get the urge to sneeze, cough or develop a stress induced headache when you do not want one.
• Be organised, have spare pencils/pens etc. Have a clear pencil case to store it all in; this will satisfy the person who is supervising that you are not smuggling in any notes and you will be able to see at a glance if the kids have taken your lucky pen.
• Double check the time and venue of you exam now just to make sure you know when and where you should be. If you don’t double check you will wake up at 2am in a sweat worrying about it.
• Don’t worry. Take a deep breath. Read the whole paper jotting down any notes in the margin or paper supplied as you think of them. If you don’t know something move on the the next question and come back to the ones you don’t know or are not sure of at the end.
• When you are finished read over your paper and proof read. You may have thought of something else to add or see a silly mistake.

I wish I could offer advice of study preparation but I have left everything to the last minute so I need to work on that side of things.  At least I know I will be organised on the day

Trimester 1, 2013

Trimester 1 at UNE started at the end of February so I am a little behind with this post.  In addition to having started casual work this year I am still studying full time.  This has had its challenges but so far I am happy with the way things are coming together.

I am studying:
HIST150 - Colonial Australia
EDSS324 - Teaching HSIE/SOSE
EDPE247 -Teaching PE in Primary PDHPE
EDME258 - Maths: Space, measurement and number

My favorite unit so far is PE.  This may have something to do with having just been away for the intensive school which was a lot of fun but also because I value the role of physical education both in schools and homes.  I have also been enjoying the History unit.  I am more of an ancient/medieval history fan so there have been large gaps in my knowledge that are slowly filling in with this unit.

Intensive School

These school holidays have been a little bit different in our house.  I packed up the car and drove to Armidale for the EDPE247 intensive school at UNE.  I had been looking forward to this for so long!

The New England district in New South Wales is so beautiful in autumn; such a wonderful time of year to visit and the weather was glorious while we were there.  I loved seeing the autumn colour.

Booloominbah is such a wonderful building.  I had afternoon tea here one day and spent a bit of time wandering around the gardens.  This is the lawn where they hold the graduation ceremony so I am looking forward to the day I stand here in a more official capacity.

During the week we participated in creative arts and music, dance, games, gymnastics and also did a coaching workshop for Soccer.  I enjoyed it all so much and have decided to further my soccer skills through an FFA training course.

Our group was amazing.  We had known each other online through our studies but for many of us this was the first time we had met in person.  We had such a great time and I know many of this crowd will be long term friends as we finish our studies and start our teaching careers.

The day the intensive school ended they had a trivia night at the uni bar.  To mark the occasion I went for a quiet drink and had some fun.  It was a nice way to wrap the official work even though I did stay on campus an extra two days to get some more work done.

Term 1 of School Starts as Trimester 3 of Uni Ends

During the Trimester break I called in on campus to pick up text books for the next lot of enrolled units.  I took both children with me.  We ran into Blake from Student Support and he gave them both Chuppa Chups and stress balls (and stress brains).  The combination of a water fountain to splash in and free Chuppa Chups has both small children planning to head off to university without delay as obviously it is a lot of fun.

I have settled in to work well and am enjoying it a lot.  It is fun to have my own area and I like working working with a diverse range of children in both ages and abilities.  It can be hard to keep the larger group on track at times and still have fun but luckily I had some of these same children while I was on practicum at this school last year so I picked up some behavior management strategies that I know they respond too.