Another excellent Edublogs.org weblog
TO BECOME A TEACHER!
Hi, I haven’t written to you in a long time. How are you?
After 3 and a half years I am nearly a fully-fledged teacher (one last gruelling 8-week Practicum to go). As experts in the same field I would love for you to share your most prized teaching possession. What materials, organisation, behaviour management strategies, technologies, or advice could you NOT have gone without during your first year of teaching?
The more particular they are, the better!
Interactive Whiteboards
This week’s final, or should i say finale’ presentation was on Smartboards. The girls did a great job presenting. They walked us through lessons we could use from the Notebook gallery and gave us a chance to produce our own word wall. There are soo many resources and lessons ready-made in the gallery: time, weather, phonics, handwriting, geography, stories…. It would be so easy to browse through this gallery and find something to use or modify… “Here’s one I prepared earlier“.
I think IWBs are a great interactive learning tool for the classroom. Their limits are endless. They’re like a combo technology meal. Projector + Video + Learning Materials + PC+ Internet + with a serving of Whiteboard on the side.
The following link shows how whiteboards and chalkboards could be replaced:
Clickers
Clickers are an added feature for interactive whiteboards. They are a great technology which show student responses to interactive tests and quizzes in real-time. As educators we are usually concerned at the level of engagement we provide in our lessons. But with clickers we can enhance the level of interaction and engagement in presentations and communicate between the presenter and audience.
The one thing we must be careful about when using these TV-remote type things is being able to ask the right question. Whether it be True/False, Multiple Choice, Numerical, or other.
How many IWBs or Clickers can we have in a school? What’s their cost? In some American schools the students are expected to buy their own remotes. I’m guessing it may take a bit longer for clickers to be introduced in Aussie schools. Has anyone actually seen these being used in a tertiary or PUBLIC primary education setting?
The happy Google family have come up with bigger and better ideas. Recently Jess and I did our presentation on a small part of the Google family – Google Docs and Groups.
Firstly, Jess asked the class to join a Google Group. Most people posted something and other smart cookies uploaded photos of themselves to their profiles. Jess got some really great feedback straightaway. People thought it was a good idea for communicating with students and parents. However, some were concerned about how often it should be checked. Hourly, daily, weekly, monthly??
Google Groups could be used in a communicative way for working parents to connect with the school.
The second part of the tutorial centred around Google Docs. After learning about this topic I can really see the educational value of it in the classroom. It’s a great way for students to learn how to effectively collaborate with other peers. It’s also limitless in the tasks you can set; Newspapers, magazines, creative writing pieces, portfolios. It can even be useful for teachers for marking, attendance records, schedules.
What are your thoughts on Google Groups/ Docs? Would you use them or are they a waste of time?
Finally, something I would use!!
Google Earth is a great visual aid for teaching. It provides opportunities for students to explore the globe in an interactive way. It would be an exciting and motivating teaching tool for Geography.
I recall seeing this technology being used for the first time in a Primary school I was on Practicum. The school had recently been awarded an Interactive Whiteboard for their Library. The teacher on detention-duty was showing a naughty student how amazing it was. If they had that on offer back when I was attending school, I wouldn’t have minded going to detention either!!
The possibilities of using this technology are endless. You can explore cities, make buildings 3D, click on informative text, check out sunrises/ sunsets in different cities, “swoop” into cities using the joystic, enjoy a flight simulator, check out your street view, etc, etc, etcetera.
Using Google Earth in the classroom would hugely facilitate learning. I could see it being integrated throughout the curriculum: Geography, S&E, Literacy, History.
Are there tutorials out there to help noobs like me, or is the best way to discover it for one’s self? Recommendations anyone?
The minute I saw Second Life I immediately labelled it for NON EDUCATIONAL purposes.
Second Life is an online interactive game where players participate in numerous activities in a virtual environment.
Jess and Hayley’s presentation was highly informative and gave us an insightful look at this ‘virtual world’ but it certainly did not convince me to use it in the Primary Classroom.
How does one go about creating a profile?
Firstly, ANYONE can join. When you sign up you must create an avatar of yourself; a digital representation of you. You can look like anyone. Second Life is an online utopian world where you can trade in your pimples and baldness for beautiful looking skin and gorgeous long locks. It’s a world where tans and make-up is effortless; just a click away. You can be as hot, tall or as gorgeous as you like! Did I mention ANYONE can join?
Are you in a maximum security prison? It doesn’t matter, with Second Life all you need is internet access and you can create a new identity for yourself. Did I mention ANYONE can join?
A video Hayley and Jess showed us really didn’t help sell it for me. The video explained different aspects of Second Life that could be used in an educational setting. Towards the end of the video it talks about a room students can access and be fully “immersed” in Schizophrenic behaviour, the VIRTUAL HALLUCINATION room. AWESOME! That’s just what you’ve always wanted for your 6-12 year olds. Exposure to something far beyond their level. Not to mention it’s ability to participate in and view pornographic material. Which is also, highly unsuitable for children.
There are many considerations and downfalls of even thinking about using this technology in the primary classroom. How would a teacher monitor students? If ANYONE can join, how would a teacher know who their students are talking to? How would teachers explain this type of technology to parents? A lot of parents understand the shift into the technological era, but I’m sure they wouldn’t allow their children to participate in this type of technology.
Again, I really think this is a technological tool for educators, not students. Any thoughts?
Matt and Kate showed us how to set up a
account today. What is twitter, you say? Twitter is similar to updating your Facebook status. Here’s a simple video explaining twitter:
Would I use it in a primary classroom? Probably not. Matt and Kate took us through the pros and cons of using twitter in the classroom. It seemed the NOs won: other educators commented on how difficult it would be to monitor all students.
It’s not suitable for the Primary Classroom, but can be used for other.. more mature.. people. People who can make a twitter network for the people they trust.
Although twitter’s not really my thing, there are some interesting facts about it.
In Matt and Kate’s tutorials we each set up a Twitter account. I don’t check it very often but you can follow me on twitter by searching raquirk.
Tell me your thoughts about twitter. Do you totally disagree with me? Can twitter be effectively implemented in the Primary Classroom?
Having proof a dog did NOT eat your student’s homework? PRICELESS.
Ok, so I’ve finally got my head around this Google Doc thing…
Why use Google Docs? Because students can’t use the ol’ “A dog ate my homework” excuse every time they fail to produce homework.
But seriously, I probably should tell you a little bit MORE about them. They can actually be a great teaching tool.
Google Docs are free online spreadsheets, documents or presentations which can be made, viewed and edited online by other colleagues, students and parents. I know it’s an interesting concept, I certainly didn’t understand it at first. It wasn’t until I made one for myself that I began to really understand what they were all about.
Check out this video, it’s the most basic explanation of how Google Docs can be used:
So how do you set up a Google Doc?
After logging in to Google, I opened the Google Documents link. I made a MS word-type document and invited other peers from this computing unit to collaborate with me. It was very simple. We then updated information, added images, and explored the controls. All the while being able to work on the SAME DOCUMENT.. wait for it… SIMILTANEOUSLY! Wowzers.
Why are Google Docs handy?
Remember all those times at University writing collaborative essays? It’s really difficult to combine different writing styles. Not to mention the silly little things presentational aesthetics like fonts and grammatical errors. This is one way to avoid sending and receiving multiple copies of the same document. It’s so logical really; make one document then you only need to edit and view ONE document. Hmm now I’m sounding like one of those infomercials. But wait, that’s not all, if you call within the next ten seconds you’ll receive a ..
I digress. Back to my title for just a second. Teachers have the option to be able to view/ edit their student’s documents as well. This means they can give ongoing feedback for their students. They can also view the history of edits made to the document. This is handy for teachers to know who has and who has NOT contributed to collaborative assignments. This alleviates those homework excuses..Because:
The reason we’re looking into these ‘new’ technologies is to not only find out what’s out there, but also to find out how to make them work EFFECTIVELY in the classroom.
So my question to you, if you’ve read this far is…. How could we use Google Documents EFFECTIVELY in the classroom?
Hi, my name is Rachel and this is my FIRST blog. I’m studying Primary Education and am currently in my third year at Curtin University of Technology. This is my first ever blog, so I’m really looking forward to your feedback.
This blog will enable me to become more familiar with the concept of blogging. It is also so I can reflect on different technologies we are shown through our ”Using Computers in the Classroom” unit. Hopefully the presentations in class will open our eyes to the new technologies available. After all, I’ll be teaching students who may know more technology than ME!
The particular innovation I will be researching, with Emma and Jessica, is Googledocs, Google Alerts and Google groups. I’ve never used or seen these before so I’m interested to find out more about them. The only clues I know at this point is that they are documents that several people can edit and work on.
