I came back all inspired to try the wall wisher site (thanks Shannan). The kids thought it was awesome putting their ideas up on the sticky notes. I started off with just a simple question- who is your favourite fairytale character and why. While they were doing that I also made a new one asking for ideas on what we could learn about next term. It has been great to see responses on there today. It means the kids are accessing the technology and class from home.
If you want to check them out just head over to our blog.
Friday, 23 September 2011
Wednesday, 21 September 2011
Day 3
Well, I have survived another day of training. Pretty good effort seeing as how it is nearly the end of term and I am worn out.
We learnt about a lot of communication type programs today which look great but I have to wonder how much I would use them in the lower grades. I can definetly see some potential for collaborating with other schools though. Maybe I could convince our pen pals in Merredin to go technological.
I am happy to report that I don't think I am contributing to any of my children's digital footprints. I am very conscious of safety and privacy when blogging in the classroom and I hope I have passed the importance of this to my children. However I liked some of the resources we found to teach kids about online safety and I will try and use some of these in the classroom.
With the holidays coming up hopfully I will find some time to experiment with all these programs and find some ways to implement them in the classroom.
We learnt about a lot of communication type programs today which look great but I have to wonder how much I would use them in the lower grades. I can definetly see some potential for collaborating with other schools though. Maybe I could convince our pen pals in Merredin to go technological.
I am happy to report that I don't think I am contributing to any of my children's digital footprints. I am very conscious of safety and privacy when blogging in the classroom and I hope I have passed the importance of this to my children. However I liked some of the resources we found to teach kids about online safety and I will try and use some of these in the classroom.
With the holidays coming up hopfully I will find some time to experiment with all these programs and find some ways to implement them in the classroom.
Wednesday, 7 September 2011
Problems
The problem I am having with integrating technology is finding the time to play around with it myself so can work out how best to use it.
On the weekend I thought it would be great to have kids record themselves reading (movie or audio) to improve their fluency and expression. It might also help improve comprehension as they listen to what they read. I now just need to find the time to play around with webcams and programs to see how it works and what I need to teach the children.
On the weekend I thought it would be great to have kids record themselves reading (movie or audio) to improve their fluency and expression. It might also help improve comprehension as they listen to what they read. I now just need to find the time to play around with webcams and programs to see how it works and what I need to teach the children.
Monday, 5 September 2011
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Trying something new
By reading through other blogs I have come across lots of different applications. The one comes from a website called www.slide.com
You upload photos and then play around with backgrounds and styles etc.... I thought it could be useful to showcase childrens art work and such on our blog without posting 30 photos at a time.
<div><embed src="http://widget-af.slide.com/widgets/slideticker.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" quality="high" scale="noscale" salign="l" wmode="transparent" flashvars="cy=bb&il=1&channel=1945555039051965103&site=widget-af.slide.com" style="width:400px;height:320px" name="flashticker" align="middle"></embed><div style="width:400px;text-align:left;"><a href="http://www.slide.com/pivot?cy=bb&at=un&id=1945555039051965103&map=1" target="_blank"><img src="http://widget-af.slide.com/p1/1945555039051965103/bb_t000_v000_s0un_f00/images/xslide1.gif" border="0" ismap="ismap" /></a> <a href="http://www.slide.com/pivot?cy=bb&at=un&id=1945555039051965103&map=2" target="_blank"><img src="http://widget-af.slide.com/p2/1945555039051965103/bb_t000_v000_s0un_f00/images/xslide2.gif" border="0" ismap="ismap" /></a> <a href="http://www.slide.com/pivot?cy=bb&at=un&id=1945555039051965103&map=F" target="_blank"><img src="http://widget-af.slide.com/p4/1945555039051965103/bb_t000_v000_s0un_f00/images/xslide42.gif" border="0" ismap="ismap" /></a></div></div>
You upload photos and then play around with backgrounds and styles etc.... I thought it could be useful to showcase childrens art work and such on our blog without posting 30 photos at a time.
<div><embed src="http://widget-af.slide.com/widgets/slideticker.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" quality="high" scale="noscale" salign="l" wmode="transparent" flashvars="cy=bb&il=1&channel=1945555039051965103&site=widget-af.slide.com" style="width:400px;height:320px" name="flashticker" align="middle"></embed><div style="width:400px;text-align:left;"><a href="http://www.slide.com/pivot?cy=bb&at=un&id=1945555039051965103&map=1" target="_blank"><img src="http://widget-af.slide.com/p1/1945555039051965103/bb_t000_v000_s0un_f00/images/xslide1.gif" border="0" ismap="ismap" /></a> <a href="http://www.slide.com/pivot?cy=bb&at=un&id=1945555039051965103&map=2" target="_blank"><img src="http://widget-af.slide.com/p2/1945555039051965103/bb_t000_v000_s0un_f00/images/xslide2.gif" border="0" ismap="ismap" /></a> <a href="http://www.slide.com/pivot?cy=bb&at=un&id=1945555039051965103&map=F" target="_blank"><img src="http://widget-af.slide.com/p4/1945555039051965103/bb_t000_v000_s0un_f00/images/xslide42.gif" border="0" ismap="ismap" /></a></div></div>
Wednesday, 24 August 2011
Day 2
We have just completed day 2 of our ICT Key Teacher training and I am exhausted. So much information in one day. I have picked up some more great tools to use in the classroom.
Today has made me realise that I need to teach my kids how to use these tools more independently as I currently mostly just use them myself as demonstrations or whole class activities. A lot of my kids would be capable of using some of these tools.
I am looking forward to using Jing (or my smartboard application) to pre record IT lessons so I don't have to explain the same process multiple times. It is just a matter of finding the time to sit down and actually do it. This is an eternal problem!
Today has made me realise that I need to teach my kids how to use these tools more independently as I currently mostly just use them myself as demonstrations or whole class activities. A lot of my kids would be capable of using some of these tools.
I am looking forward to using Jing (or my smartboard application) to pre record IT lessons so I don't have to explain the same process multiple times. It is just a matter of finding the time to sit down and actually do it. This is an eternal problem!
Wednesday, 10 August 2011
Excitement plus
Our blog is now up and running properly. The kids are really excited to see their work and photos up on the web and most parents were happy for this to happen. I have started a second blog that is attached to the first. The second blog enables me to paste children's individual work without taking up our whole class blog. I have attached labels to different posts so the children can just click on their work and see it. I am hoping it will work as an incentive for producing good quality work. I am heading to the curriculm conference this year and saw that the creator of the year 2 smarties (my inspiration) will be presenting. I am very excited to pick up some new tips and ideas.
I am having another go at using the obsurvey as a tool for testing. Hopefully they will do better with it this time, seeing as how it is this terms works so far.
I am having another go at using the obsurvey as a tool for testing. Hopefully they will do better with it this time, seeing as how it is this terms works so far.
Friday, 29 July 2011
We are blogging
We set up our blog this afternoon. There are no photos yet as I don't have the permission from parents.
If you want to check out what we are up to in year 1/2 check out;
www.year12superstars.blogspot.com
If you want to check out what we are up to in year 1/2 check out;
www.year12superstars.blogspot.com
Let's blog!
I have introduced the idea of blogging to my class by showing them some other classes that have been blogging. They are very excited by the idea.
Today I am planning to show them the website and we will design it together, colour, name etc...
The note for the parents is going home today to get their permission to post photos, videos and work. Hopefully they are all willing to be part of it.
Once I get it up and running I will post the link so you can check out what we are doing in Year 1/2.
I hope everyone has a had a great start to term 3.
Today I am planning to show them the website and we will design it together, colour, name etc...
The note for the parents is going home today to get their permission to post photos, videos and work. Hopefully they are all willing to be part of it.
Once I get it up and running I will post the link so you can check out what we are doing in Year 1/2.
I hope everyone has a had a great start to term 3.
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
Class blog
Lou has inspired me to start a class blog. I am going to use the holidays to try and develop it. I thought I would start by playing around with this one and putting in photos and videos.
photos inserted......check
Video...check
All looking good so far. It is very easy to add stuff. The kids will love seeing themselves and their work online and it will be great for the parents to see what is going on in the classroom.
Monday, 27 June 2011
Success!
It is nice to follow the failure with a post about success. My wonderful IT lady worked her magic and the obsurvey site was unblocked and my class were able to complete their test on last terms work. It is great being able to see what they do and don't recall (and just a little scary how much they have forgotten!). I made the first question the child's name so when I go to individual responses I can see everyones answers and see who went wrong where. I can see myself using this as a regular testing tool, very handy and kids don't mind doing tests if they are on the computer- the computer makes everything fun!
I am hoping to share this site with some of the other teachers through a PLC as I think they will find it very handy too, particularly the higher grades. Mine did pretty well because I read through the questions with them before hand but I did have to spend a lot of time walking around reading out questions (I have year 1/2).
Aaaahhh, success! I guess I will have to move on and see if I can use one of the other websites we learnt about.
I am hoping to share this site with some of the other teachers through a PLC as I think they will find it very handy too, particularly the higher grades. Mine did pretty well because I read through the questions with them before hand but I did have to spend a lot of time walking around reading out questions (I have year 1/2).
Aaaahhh, success! I guess I will have to move on and see if I can use one of the other websites we learnt about.
Thursday, 16 June 2011
Fail!
Sadly the obsurvey would not work on the school computers. I will get the IT lady onto it but it is really frustrating when you have something planned and you can't do it! Now I will have to wait til next week (if she gets time to sort it while dealing with reports). Oh well, the kids enjoyed the impromptu typing lesson. :-)
Wednesday, 15 June 2011
Let's give it a go!
As I have access to the computer lab tomorrow I thought I might have a go at using the obsurvey site as a testing tool. I have made up a survey about what we learnt last term and will go through it with the kids tomorrow. I am looking forward to seeing the results and playing around with different ways to read the data.
I am going to embed the survey below. The website says I just need to paste the link here. So let's give it a go!
<!-- BEGIN EMBED SURVEY -->
<script id="7042536b-63a3-456f-965a-28c3835eede5" type="text/javascript" src="http://observey.appspot.com/static/javascript/ObsurveyEmbed31.js"></script>
<noscript>Please enable JavaScript to view survey</noscript>
<!-- END EMBED SURVEY -->
I am going to embed the survey below. The website says I just need to paste the link here. So let's give it a go!
<!-- BEGIN EMBED SURVEY -->
<script id="7042536b-63a3-456f-965a-28c3835eede5" type="text/javascript" src="http://observey.appspot.com/static/javascript/ObsurveyEmbed31.js"></script>
<noscript>Please enable JavaScript to view survey</noscript>
<!-- END EMBED SURVEY -->
Busy busy!
Whoops, it seems I have failed in my first task as key teacher for ICT! I have not blogged weekly. My apologies.
The problem is, I have nothing interesting to say. Since I got back, all excited, from the training I have been flat out busy preparing and practicing our assembly item and writing reports. Assembly is over (and kids were gorgeous! :-) but reports are still hanging around like a bad smell. So, sadly, no ICT news to share. I am however planning to use the obsurvey website to test my kids knowledge on what we have covered so far this term. Should be interesting.
I hope the rest of you are having better luck as ICT teachers than I am!
The problem is, I have nothing interesting to say. Since I got back, all excited, from the training I have been flat out busy preparing and practicing our assembly item and writing reports. Assembly is over (and kids were gorgeous! :-) but reports are still hanging around like a bad smell. So, sadly, no ICT news to share. I am however planning to use the obsurvey website to test my kids knowledge on what we have covered so far this term. Should be interesting.
I hope the rest of you are having better luck as ICT teachers than I am!
Monday, 30 May 2011
My first ever blog
I have just created my first ever blog! How exciting!
We are in the final stretch of Day 1 of our ICT teacher training. It has been a good day and I have learnt of a few new websites that will be very helpful in the classroom. I am looking forward to trying them out.
We are in the final stretch of Day 1 of our ICT teacher training. It has been a good day and I have learnt of a few new websites that will be very helpful in the classroom. I am looking forward to trying them out.
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