After five long but invaluable weeks at practicum we're finally back at uni. Quite surreal really. I thought I'd take this opportunity to reflect on my IT experience in the classroom on both of my practicum's.
On my first placement at Kensington Primary School I had a developed a real love hate relationship with the IT system. The school had limited resources and the internet connection was so unreliable it became so difficult to plan a lesson that used the internet without having to plan a backup in case it failed to work that day. This experience reiterated just how much we do rely on IT and internet for support in our classrooms. Without access to the Internet, I felt the class was really missing out on that extra level of support and knowledge. As the teacher, I felt that I was not providing the students with the support and resources they needed to facilitate their learning.
One of the more successful attempts at using IT or a lesson involved demonstrating ways to use google earth for measurement. Google Earth can be downloaded from here: http://www.google.com/earth/index.html I would suggest it to be an invaluable tool in any classroom (particularly for measurement).
On the interactive whiteboard I demonstrated to students how to use google maps by typing in the address of the school. They were absolutely enthralled! I told students that my Dad lived in Bondi, Sydney so we typed in Bondi and looked at the distance from there to school. Students then nominated other places (that family and friends lived) for me to type into the search bar. The experience prompted conversation about scale and modes of travel. Would we be able to walk there?
Google maps provides a fantastic tool, the measuring stick, which can be used to measure the distance from one place to another. The unit of measurement can also be changed from mm, cm, km etc. I found it a fantastic tool to confirm estimates and to introduce the concept of larger distances.
On one day, as a class, we used google maps to view the school. We estimated the perimeter around the school in m's (then converted this to km's) then measured the actual perimeter using the google maps measuring tool (I had mapped out a 1km track around the school before the lesson). We then went outside and used trundle wheels on a walk around the school to measure the accuracy of our estimates and the accuracy of the google maps measuring tool. The children absolutely loved the experience, and I could see that the hands on activity helped to consolidate understanding.
In my second practicum we had four classroom computers and an interactive whiteboard. In this classroom I was able to use the computers very successfully in literacy and numeracy rotations. The number of engaging and relevant activities for students to use and work independently on is unlimited and I found this to be a great help when trying to work with a focus group on the floor.
I made great use of the Fitzroy Readers Program (purchased by the school), an interactive, hands on reading program that focuses on phonics: http://fitzprog.com.au/
Here is an example of using IT in literacy roations.
**Please note that students faces are covered over or not shown. All parents of students in this photo have signed to authorise that their children may be photographed.
Image 1:
I also found great ways to use IT for maths, it allowed me to focus one on one with students who needed the extra attention, while extending those who were ready. Using IT was a real treat for these kids! See image 2 below.
As a group warm up activity to a maths lesson, I would use a big counting board on the interactive whiteboard and ask students to come to the front of the class and help count by 10's, 5's and 2's. The numbers can be selected and highlighted as you go (the students loved the interactive nature of the counting task). I was also able to blank out numbers, I would then ask students to tell me 'which number was missing?' and 'How did they know?' See image 3 below:
Image 2: Image 3:
Back in class now, looking at http://www.zimmertwins.com/movie/create. Fantastic - a step up from just creating simple screen shots - actually making your own movie! Very relevant to VELS of all levels, particularly the English strand, encouraging students to link meaning and to create sequencing of events.
Great idea Greg to include this in a webquest task. So simple to use and love that there is an ability to create real charaterisation with the charaters by introducing speech bubbles (great for VELS level 2 where students are beginning to learn about talking marks!) and happy and sad emoticons. I like your idea of writing episodes too.
No looking at http://www.dfilm.com/live/home.html. Absolutely hilarious! Such a shame that it can't be used in primary schools, for obvious reasons - some quite seductive scenes!). Interesting that you mentioned some LaTrobe students asked about a Primary School version, but nothing seems to have come of it yet. I'll be keeping my eye out when I'm in the classroom. After my recent experience, I know that anything interactive like this gets the seal of approval from the kids!
Some people in class were asking 'could we use this for older levels?' but I agree with you Greg, and from my experience at school, it only takes one disapointed parent to cause absolute mayhem. It's not worth it. Let's hope that a program of this calibre is created for kids sooner rather than later.
Now we're looking at xtranormal.com - an animators dream, which includes lip sync.
buildyourwildself.com is another brilliant application integrating several domains where kids can build their own characters (creative arts and IT). Definitely using this one in my own class. The program creates a personalised animal with a name and specific descriptions about where they live, and their survival mechanisms. This can encourage students to research their animals (science) specific to certain environments.
Also looking at the site sketchswap - a great idea, but in this day and age we have to be so careful about giving kids the authority to create whatever they like on a website and send it on to other students. As much as we like to be able to create a trusting environment in our classrooms, we can't be 100% sure that at all times our students will comply. Greg mentioned that one student sent an image of a gun to another student. Although unlikely, it could happen in any classroom and the consequences outweigh the benefits. Check out my animal:
Rollermache seems like another accesible program great for creating story boards http://www.abc.net.au/rollercoaster/rollermache/default.htm listed here so I can refer back to when I get my own class.
http://www.storygames.com/TeachManPF/Rebus.html - great for creating interactive sentences and fantastic for displaying around the classroom. Note to self: remember to save as a webpage to keep animations. You could also use this for poetry.
On my first placement at Kensington Primary School I had a developed a real love hate relationship with the IT system. The school had limited resources and the internet connection was so unreliable it became so difficult to plan a lesson that used the internet without having to plan a backup in case it failed to work that day. This experience reiterated just how much we do rely on IT and internet for support in our classrooms. Without access to the Internet, I felt the class was really missing out on that extra level of support and knowledge. As the teacher, I felt that I was not providing the students with the support and resources they needed to facilitate their learning.
One of the more successful attempts at using IT or a lesson involved demonstrating ways to use google earth for measurement. Google Earth can be downloaded from here: http://www.google.com/earth/index.html I would suggest it to be an invaluable tool in any classroom (particularly for measurement).
On the interactive whiteboard I demonstrated to students how to use google maps by typing in the address of the school. They were absolutely enthralled! I told students that my Dad lived in Bondi, Sydney so we typed in Bondi and looked at the distance from there to school. Students then nominated other places (that family and friends lived) for me to type into the search bar. The experience prompted conversation about scale and modes of travel. Would we be able to walk there?
Google maps provides a fantastic tool, the measuring stick, which can be used to measure the distance from one place to another. The unit of measurement can also be changed from mm, cm, km etc. I found it a fantastic tool to confirm estimates and to introduce the concept of larger distances.
On one day, as a class, we used google maps to view the school. We estimated the perimeter around the school in m's (then converted this to km's) then measured the actual perimeter using the google maps measuring tool (I had mapped out a 1km track around the school before the lesson). We then went outside and used trundle wheels on a walk around the school to measure the accuracy of our estimates and the accuracy of the google maps measuring tool. The children absolutely loved the experience, and I could see that the hands on activity helped to consolidate understanding.
In my second practicum we had four classroom computers and an interactive whiteboard. In this classroom I was able to use the computers very successfully in literacy and numeracy rotations. The number of engaging and relevant activities for students to use and work independently on is unlimited and I found this to be a great help when trying to work with a focus group on the floor.
I made great use of the Fitzroy Readers Program (purchased by the school), an interactive, hands on reading program that focuses on phonics: http://fitzprog.com.au/
Here is an example of using IT in literacy roations.
**Please note that students faces are covered over or not shown. All parents of students in this photo have signed to authorise that their children may be photographed.
Image 1:
I also found great ways to use IT for maths, it allowed me to focus one on one with students who needed the extra attention, while extending those who were ready. Using IT was a real treat for these kids! See image 2 below.
As a group warm up activity to a maths lesson, I would use a big counting board on the interactive whiteboard and ask students to come to the front of the class and help count by 10's, 5's and 2's. The numbers can be selected and highlighted as you go (the students loved the interactive nature of the counting task). I was also able to blank out numbers, I would then ask students to tell me 'which number was missing?' and 'How did they know?' See image 3 below:
Image 2: Image 3:
Back in class now, looking at http://www.zimmertwins.com/movie/create. Fantastic - a step up from just creating simple screen shots - actually making your own movie! Very relevant to VELS of all levels, particularly the English strand, encouraging students to link meaning and to create sequencing of events.
Great idea Greg to include this in a webquest task. So simple to use and love that there is an ability to create real charaterisation with the charaters by introducing speech bubbles (great for VELS level 2 where students are beginning to learn about talking marks!) and happy and sad emoticons. I like your idea of writing episodes too.
No looking at http://www.dfilm.com/live/home.html. Absolutely hilarious! Such a shame that it can't be used in primary schools, for obvious reasons - some quite seductive scenes!). Interesting that you mentioned some LaTrobe students asked about a Primary School version, but nothing seems to have come of it yet. I'll be keeping my eye out when I'm in the classroom. After my recent experience, I know that anything interactive like this gets the seal of approval from the kids!
Some people in class were asking 'could we use this for older levels?' but I agree with you Greg, and from my experience at school, it only takes one disapointed parent to cause absolute mayhem. It's not worth it. Let's hope that a program of this calibre is created for kids sooner rather than later.
Now we're looking at xtranormal.com - an animators dream, which includes lip sync.
buildyourwildself.com is another brilliant application integrating several domains where kids can build their own characters (creative arts and IT). Definitely using this one in my own class. The program creates a personalised animal with a name and specific descriptions about where they live, and their survival mechanisms. This can encourage students to research their animals (science) specific to certain environments.
Also looking at the site sketchswap - a great idea, but in this day and age we have to be so careful about giving kids the authority to create whatever they like on a website and send it on to other students. As much as we like to be able to create a trusting environment in our classrooms, we can't be 100% sure that at all times our students will comply. Greg mentioned that one student sent an image of a gun to another student. Although unlikely, it could happen in any classroom and the consequences outweigh the benefits. Check out my animal:
Rollermache seems like another accesible program great for creating story boards http://www.abc.net.au/rollercoaster/rollermache/default.htm listed here so I can refer back to when I get my own class.
http://www.storygames.com/TeachManPF/Rebus.html - great for creating interactive sentences and fantastic for displaying around the classroom. Note to self: remember to save as a webpage to keep animations. You could also use this for poetry.
Greg just mentioned the lego site - we used it in my classroom and the kids loved it. Completely kid safe, interactive and inspiring for kids. It was great for the preps as it showed them how different shapes fit together and stimulated visualisation and creativity. A similar site, http://www.reasonablyclever.com/ provides an equally stimulating experience, encouraging kids to merge different shapes to create a character. The only downside to this is that there are some aspects of the website I would deem unsafe - it offers upselling of the product and allows you to buy online. The teacher would need to open up the kid safe page rather than allowing students full access. As Greg mentioned, this program is great, but real life lego can't be beaten. Get kids really interactive by providing concrete materials. Students could build their characters with real lego then use this as the model for their creation online. Lego characters could develop real personality and a story board could be created for the characters. Once again, integrating so many different methods in the curriculum. Check out my lego character:
Note to self: Remember this site for classroom use: http://www.catchmentdetox.net.au/ - great for units on water and environment and also integrates maths.
What a great site - http://myths.e2bn.org adding that extra element of interactivity to mythical story writing. From my experience, kids love mythical creatures and imaginative storytelling.
