Ideas for assesment 2

My plan so far is Year 3 English, 6 week duration.
The idea is the students are an Author and their task is to entertain a Prep class by writing and presenting their own version of the Gingerbread man story.
You will be assessed on:
∙ How well you work together
∙ Drafts/planning
∙ Character description and setting
∙ Does it have a beginning/ middle/end
∙ Spelling, grammar and punctuation
∙ Final presentation including illustrations and technical support
∙ Minimum of six pages, maximum of ten

The project can be presented in one of the following forms:

• Picture book in paper or digital form

Time line:

Week one: Plan for story, word bank completed, photo session completed and displayed, development of character description and a clear setting created, begin to write story
Week two: Structure, grammar and spelling checked
Week three: Story complete and paging settled
Week Four: Story completed pictures planned
Week Five: Story completed pictures almost completed
Week Six: Completed story and picture book

Stories MUST be kept on a USB. All of this task will be completed in classroom time.

That’s it so far

How do Schools control Technology

I think the hardest part of blogging is having to think of a title every time I blog!
My eldest son goes to a great school that specializes in children with unique learning styles and abilities. Abilities run from learning to function in society to excelling in areas of learning. At his school every child has a laptop that is given to them by the school and they are warned every term that their laptops are randomly checked and if inappropriate content is found then it gets wiped and they lose all data with no warning. I was talking to the head of ICT about how they control the technology when they have extremely bright students that don’t have the ability to control their knowledge or actions. He made me laugh when he said they dob on each other all the time and they are super competitive. I then asked him what do they do when they have ICT problems and he said they go to the students give them the problem and they solve it. Not once he said have they had to get outside help because the students knew how to fix the problem.
My other two sons go to another school and the ICT teacher, after setting up the network asked the boys to see if they could hack the school system as a joke. It took one boy 20 mins to do it in grade 7. As a result he gets to help the ICT department fix the problem but now it has become a regular thing where they ask students to test the system at random times.
Found this article about technology in the classroom that was interesting. As my daughters classroom has no table and chairs only bean bags and soft block furniture with Ipad learning. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30814302

Reading

I’m loving Mr Clancy’s blog’s tonight! https://mrclancyblog.wordpress.com/2016/03/21/digital-reflection-got-that-covered/. We have gone from Technology and the Rat, Blogging for kids too Multimodal EDX2170. I think blogging for kids is a great idea it is something that can be done with any year leave, although I probably wouldn’t do it for Prep children. I have shown Mr Clancy’s blog to a couple of teacher friends and they loved the Kiddle search idea. One teacher has used it for Easter Ideas for the students where they had to find something to make themselves from Kiddle and the resources at school. Can’t wait to show her tonight’s blog about blogging for children.
Griffith has a great article on PLN https://www.facebook.com/gueducationsociety/
It talks about what a PLN is and how it uses social media and technology
to collect, communicate, collaborate and create with colleagues.
It also has a link to Professional experience
Participant roles and responsibilities.
http://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/initial-teacher-education-resources/participant-roles-and-responsibilities-in-professional-experience.pdf?sfvrsn=2

ICT and the Future

I have found some great sites about ICT the future and education. This site talks about the limited training of teachers to stay up to date with technology and how there is no continued training, it is usually a one off. Yet schools and governments spend large amounts of money to implement equipment and software to support pedagogical practice. I like there quote “There can be no quality education without competent and motivated teachers. Teachers are among the many factors that keep children in school and influence learning.” (UNESCO Asia Pacific Regional Bureau for Education Director, Gwang-Jo Kim, ).
http://www.unescobkk.org/education/ict/online-resources/databases/ict-in-education-database/item/article/teachers-discuss-the-future-of-ict-in-education-at-unesco-seminar/
These are points are taken from the International Summit on The Future of ICT in Education: A Call to Action The Hague, Netherlands 12‐14, 2009

•Schools are currently still operating under an industrial model for education and not responding to the need for producing students with skills necessary for life in a
•New and powerful technology tools are available to support changing roles for Schools
• To radically restructure schools around the need for multiple technology enhanced pedagogies to address individual needs of students
•To work to use student technology experience in informal learning environments to inform work in formal environments
•To actively study both research and development on ICT applications in classrooms
•To nurture an international community of ICT scholars who continually build upon our knowledge base
• To develop new assessments designed to measure outcomes from technology enriched learning experiences
• To develop and use distributed leadership models for technology use in schools and teacher education programs
•To adopt an ecological perspective to study ICT use in classrooms to help explain and influence the complex interactions and events
• To create a wiki so that Handbook authors can share the most important findings from their chapters for a large audience and continually update their findings

Click to access ThompsonSummit3.pdf

A rethink of education and how digital literacy should be treated as a core subject. The report says urgent action is required to support teachers who are currently not equipped to deliver the new computing curriculum, and insists no child should leave school without basic digital literacy (Weale, 2015).

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/feb/17/digital-skills-teaching-in-schools-needs-radical-rethink-says-report

(2016). Retrieved 17 March 2016, from http://www.curtin.edu.au/edusummit/local/docs/ThompsonSummit3.pdf
UNESCO Office in Bangkok: Teachers discuss the future of ICT in education at UNESCO seminar. (2016). Unescobkk.org. Retrieved 17 March 2016, from http://www.unescobkk.org/education/ict/online-resources/databases/ict-in-education-database/item/article/teachers-discuss-the-future-of-ict-in-education-at-unesco-seminar/
Weale, S. (2015). Digital skills teaching in schools needs radical rethink, says report. the Guardian. Retrieved 17 March 2016, from http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/feb/17/digital-skills-teaching-in-schools-needs-radical-rethink-says-report

ICT and Students

Wow after reading the latest week three books I am really confused. I don’t know if I’m tired or what but I had to re-read some parts several times to try and understand SLIC and RAT. I get the RAT part but I’m still unclear on SLIC. More research is needed I think.
One theme that keeps coming up in ICT and Pedagogy and in the other information that is posted is teacher training and how it needs to be continued for maximising the benefits of ICT in schools. I wonder if this happens often, considering how ICT is continually being developed and the cost and time involved of updating. Another is the change in the role of the teacher from being the key utilizer of ICT too being a facilitator of ICT. ICT can be an aid in enabling teachers to transform their teaching practices, if used correctly, going from teacher dominant teaching to being student dominated learning . I wonder how many times the students have more knowledge than the teacher when using ICT in the classroom. I remember my daughter getting very frustrated in Prep when the teacher couldn’t use the IWB effectively.

Has ICT changed the way teachers and students now interact? With student knowledge on ICT has the balance changed in the classroom? Is this shift because of the lack of teacher training or is it nature of the students and their fearlessness of using ICT compared to the cautiousness of teachers? I’m hoping to find the answers to some of these questions when I go on prac.

I’m a huge fan of the Griffith University Education Society – GUES they have great articles on everything and this free tech for teachers website.
https://www.facebook.com/FreeTech4Teachers/?fref=nf
https://www.facebook.com/gueducationsociety/?fref=nf
They have a good ideas for how to determine students’ prior knowledge which I think is in assignment 1.
I just read Hanna’s blog https://hannavublog.wordpress.com/2016/03/16/iwp_20150221_012ct-today-and-children-tomorrow/ and we are all wondering where ICT and children are heading.

ICT Assessment

I have been reading a few other blogs this weekend mainly Sophie from https://crankymisslofthouse.wordpress.com/2016/03/14/copyright-copyright-copyright/, and I fully agree with Sophie and the way ICT and Pedagogy assessment is set up. I enjoy having the study desk set up the way it is where you can see a tick after completing a book. The only other module I have done similar to this is the Introduction to Maths module. The books are easy to read and if I’m not sure about something its easy to go back and find the information rather then sit through a two hour long lecture looking for one piece of information. I find myself eagerly awaiting my progressive mark on a Friday afternoon and I particularly like how its broken down at the bottom showing what you get marks for and where I have missed out. This would be great in all modules and it would make me engage with the study desk more. I think what I struggle with the most is time management with my other module as I spend a lot of time thinking about this module which is new to me. I find I have conversations with myself about what to blog about and I like reading other peoples blogs and the information they share.
We all must be trying to get the most out of our marks because there was lots of blogging this weekend.
Another fellow student Carleigh from https://carleeeblog.wordpress.com/2016/03/13/21st-century-education/, talks about ICT and students and how ICT enhances their learning. I agree to a certain extent but can also see the downside if it’s not used properly.
My son came home from school and told me his HPE teacher sends out the lesson plan to each student every week giving them the option to print it out themselves or use an ICT device. When he asked his teacher why he told him that he hated writing stuff out, he thought it was a waste of time and found this easier, saved him from doubling up.
Links that I like this week http://nicegrif.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/pros-and-cons-of-ict-in-classroom.html. Lots of Pros not many cons but I did like how he said that teacher attitude is a big factor in teaching ICT in schools.

End of the Week wrap up

I’m getting the hang of this module at last. I’m getting into a routine of checking everything and I finally understood Diigo and it’s purpose. I like checking Feedly on my phone rather than on the computer I think I like the format better. I am enjoying reading other people’s blogs and the information coming through from other students. There has been some great articles and links to information.
I started reading the information at the end of week 2 for Assignment 1 last night and stopped half way through with information overload. I’m having trouble deciding on a lesson plan, I think I find one and then I find another one and change my mind, too much choice. Or I find one and start to check whether its viable and half way through I find it’s not.
My link this week is from the Griffith University Teachers group http://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/. It’s an American website but has some good webcasts and T-shirts. I love Marc Armitage’s facebook site https://www.facebook.com/marc.armitage.at.play/ He is great to see live and very entertaining with some fantastic stories.
See you all next week

After a long day

Well this week I posted my first feed on Diigo after having a play working out how to do it. The problem was I posted the wrong thing on to the forum and didn’t know how to delete the post. Next thing I need to learn. I was trying to post a Facebook site that was recommended to me from one of the teachers at work called ministry of education, what I posted was the internet site that you buy stuff from. Doh slowly getting there. This site had kits for children transitioning from Kindergarten to Prep and a really good article about teacher stress and breakdown. Marc Armitage is another one to follow that’s all about playing, properly more suited to
Kindergarten rooms. This is the Facebook site https://www.facebook.com/marc.armitage.at.play/?fref=ts
Today I was told of a Reggio Emilia inspired site http://www.aneverydaystory.com/ that one of the teachers use for ideas. I’m hoping to get some sites for older children soon.
This weeks tasks I haven’t done anything but download the template hoping to attempt tomorrow night I have been trying to catch up on my other module as this one is pretty time consuming.
Answer to this weeks Blog suggestions would be a HPE unit I did I think maybe last year where we did the lesson plan for six weeks and linked it to theorist and the curriculum. I was so proud of it and showed one of my teacher parents who took it and tried it out for me and then gave me great feedback on what worked and what didn’t. I think I’m 20 modules into this Bachelor and every unit that I have to do a lesson plan is different, which makes it a bit confusing sometimes. It would be nice to have a general template to use.
Next challenge Diigo and Feedly posting wish me luck

Week 2

I’m so proud of myself as I have added colour and a photo to my blog which was one of my goals for the semester, talk about peaking early.
I was a bit worried about starting this weeks learning paths after last week but after going through the first couple of books I don’t feel so bad or maybe panicky.
I had a family BBQ on the weekend and I was talking to my cousin who is a IT nut. I was complaining about how I don’t feel like I know anything and I couldn’t work out how to save the conceptual map to the computer or add it to the forum blah, blah, blah. My brother who was listening said just Google it! What a great idea! I did it this morning because I couldn’t work out how to follow other peoples blogs without them following mine first. I was looking at the page pressing buttons before I decided to Google it on my phone when my 10 year old daughter walks up behind me watching me and says “What does the follow button do?”. Damn I was so close to getting there first.
I managed to save the template for the map into a folder I had set up last week which was easy after last weeks panic.
So slowly I am seeing improvements in my attitude to this module it may be me getting more confident or less worried about other people seeing my stuff, not sure yet but I am looking forward to learning more about Diigo and Feedly.

Technology in the Workplace

I work in a kindergarten room and a lot of our children are children of teachers. We also share a car park with a local school and we have a community hub attached to our centre which gives us lots of access to local schools. I spoke to my teacher parents and asked “What ICT did they use in their rooms?”. I was very surprised when most of the teachers said not a lot with the students. At my centre we don’t have an interactive whiteboard, we only have one computer which the children aren’t aloud to use. Each room has a camera which children can use and I have a personal Ipad that I use with the children. So in my day to day work life I would say I don’t use ICT a lot.
When I went over to one of the school’s they had less then me. There were no interactive boards in any of the rooms but they did have a small computer lab which they booked into weekly (This is a lower social economic area). A teacher from another local school was the opposite they have Ipad learning from Prep and the school supplies the Ipad’s. Most rooms have interactive whiteboards and computers in each room for the students as well as a computer lab. From one extreme to another.
I have asked the teachers what websites they use and what they recommend so hopefully over the next couple of weeks that will feed through. I asked my children aged 10-15 what they used at school and what they would recommend. Their responses scared me a little especially when my 15year old said Wikipedia(Oh dear)because I think he was serious. I found this when looking for Easter ideas http://www.forteachersforstudents.com.au/site/. My daughter (10years) is obsessed with Mathletics at the moment http://au.mathletics.com/.
What does everyone else use for work?