It is FInished…

As I look back at EDC3100 I have learnt so very much! I now feel very confident in being able to persue my dreams of becoming a Teacher and using ICTs in my everyday teaching. I have been blessed with such a great placement venue and my next placement has some very big shoes to fill. I look forward to the next semester and my next prac with wide open arms, hardly feeling anxious as I now know what to expect. 🙂

Sad to Go…

After reading Alicat2005’s post on her last day of prac it has made me realise just how much I miss my class. During the time I feel I may have taken it a bit for granted and now I wish I hadn’t. I find the old saying very true – “You don’t know what you’ve got ’till it’s gone”… very sad to have left…

ICT Struggles while on Prac

While reading Casey Olver’s struggles of never having used an interactive whiteboard, I found myself on the opposite side of the spectrum. Not only have I used IWs before, I did not have one in my prac classroom. I found this limiting as I began planning my lessons, some of which I had begun to think about before prac started. This was a great experience for me to really try to learn from my mentor and trust in the theoretical knowledge I have gained up to this point.

Professional Experience Truly was a Great Experience

Before reflecting upon my prac I found myself reading a blog post by Nixxuni which spoke about how much she liked her professional experience and how much she had learnt. There are really no words to describe the benefits of Professional Experience – in three short weeks I feel I have learnt more about the practicals of teaching than I have in all my time learning theory. It is such a wonderful, freeing feeling to know that my confidence has been raised and that one day, I too, will be a teacher. 🙂

Word Toons

Has anyone ever heard of Word Toons??? It is incredible! I was able to take a lesson today and I used this as part of an English focussed session with my prep class.
You are required to write a simple 3 or 4 letterword then it gives you step by step instructions on how to turn that word into a picture. The children love it as they can getreally creative during this time. There is another book of illustrations you can purchase which turn letters into pictures – this would be a great resource to use when introducing students to writing letters.

This was the fly I created

A Great Teaching Strategy

While on prac there have been so many great teaching strategies that I have seen and quickly written down. I really liked the way my teacher encouraged good behaviour through the faces. There is a happy face where all the students names are placed at the start of everyday. If they do something remarkable they are moved onto the mega happy face where they get a sticker at the end of the day. If their behaviour is undesirable, they are moved to the orange face and if the behaviour is repeated, they move to the red face which is when they are sent to the head of primary school…pretty scary 🙂 my teaher says she has never had to send anyone onto the red face – I think the threat is enough 🙂

Also was told about TeachersPayTeachers today. It is a great site where you can access some great resources and lesson plans designed by other teachers from around the world.

Prac Begins

I have been very excited yet very anxious at the thought of beginning my prac. It’s more the fear of not knowing what to expect. I am very fortunate to be undertaking my professional placement in my first choice of school but I feel that I am more nervous because of this. I want to put my best foot forward and am so eager to learn everything they have to offer. 

I am feeling fairly confident in working with the children as I already have my Diploma of Children’s Services and am working in the childcare industry currently. This cute Dr. Seuss quote helps me to think positively 🙂

 

Professional Placement

I am so pleased as I have received official word back for my professional placement. Not only was it my first choice for placement but it is a school I hope to work at one day. I will be working with a prep class which will be very exciting. I feel quite at ease because preppies are only one year older than the preschoolers that I am used to teaching on a daily basis. My goal for my placement period is to become like a sponge and take in every possible skill and piece of knowledge. I also hope to leave a little piece of me with the class – almost like a footprint in sand. I cannot wait for the three week practicum to unfold!

Another Sigh of Relief

I am very relieved once again to say that I have completed another assignment and it is ready for submission. I was very apprehensive to write a unit plan and I was doubtful of my ability. Now that I have completed it, I can definitely say I feel accomplished and more prepared to work as a teacher in a school. Without realising, I was also able to see that my choice of basing my unit plan on science highlights a little passion of mine. I very much love experimenting, hypothesising and reflecting. I love figuring out the inner workings of things and I guess you could say I’m quite curious of what makes things work 🙂

Intel Education

I stumbled across Roselyne Francis‘ weblog post which introduced Intel Education as a useful tool in implementing technology throughout education. As I had a closer look at it, I found that she was right. It specifically mentions that the program encourages students to think creatively and critically, which is touched upon throughout the Australian Curriculum. I also came across a link to Khan Academy apps that link to the videos discussed in my previous posts. Not only does Intel Education give examples of how to integrate technology, it provides teachers with tools to teach students to describe, explain and persuade through a ICT medium.

Definitely a great link to check out.