Thank goodness it is break time, for like Melissa blog I too am feeling time pressured and will be using the break to catch up and prepare for prac. There always seems to be more to do than I have time for what with working and doing uni online, and the youngest grandson ends up in hospital and I am left with the three year old to look after, as well as doing the visiting thing. SO to catch up write some lesson plans that match the unit outline differentiate those plans for the couple of students that require it within the class that I have been given and hope that the mentor likes the plans. The following site help me with understanding the needs of the students that I will be dealing with it is filled with some alternate methods for dealing with the problems.
The introvert learner
Sandra’s blog on catering to students diverse needs encouraged me to think about how different children learn and how many students react differently to the same environment. The student who is very much the introvert will not react the same as an extrovert in the same situation. In the article by Kate May on teaching the introvert Kate talks about not just catering to those needs within the classroom but also within the playground. Do we need to look at the canteen area with all the chaos that happens in a small area? What about the way many classrooms are set up with desk set u;p in pods , does this cater for the introvert or could this in its own way force a child to be a more introvert person? Another are this article looks at is participation in class often these students do not feel confident to be answering questions out loud, so we need to look at alternate methods to verify that these students are participating I learning.
Resources for Science Teachers
I see that Mrs Mcinty is doing a unit for Year One Science, maybe she is not the only one focusing on Science. As I am also focusing on a Science unit for my professional experience and I am long for any new resources I can find to give me new ideas to use. I have found a site supported by the Australian Scince Teachers Association which has amazing resources, the website is dedicated to providing
- up-to-date information on high-quality teaching and learning resources;
- support for teachers in the implementation of the Australian Curriculum: Science;
- consistent and authoritative advice on all aspects of school laboratory safety, management and design;
- support for school laboratory technicians and teachers in the delivery of stimulating and practical science activities
Please visit this site for more information
In a bind over Laptops
As the school that I am going to for prac allows student teachers to bring their own devices and have them connected to their network, I decided to do a little bit of research as to how many schools do this. Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals president Frank Sal said it wouldn’t be feasible for schools to continue providing computers for all students when the funding dried up. ”This is one of the things I raise all the time – what the hell is going to happen in the future? How are we going to provide IT in schools? Bring Your Own Device is a possible way of the future but I don’t know enough about it.”IT manager George Mattar of Hampton Park Secondary College said some parents had expressed frustration students could not use their own computers. ”These days a lot of students hainve devices that could be classified as more powerful than the school devices.” Please read more in this article.
Warning
I thought that I would warn all parents and families out there after a horrendous two weeks. My thirteen month old grandson swallowed a lithium battery that became lodged in his throat. After an x-ray the doctors thought it was coin, operated and found that it was a battery and that the acid from the battery had started leaking and had burnt his throat. SO the little fellow is in hospital with his mum in attendance, his three year old brother staying with me and his dad trying to keep working and visiting the hospital all the time. Another operation is on the cards to see how far the acid had travelled through his system, so a bit of a way to go yet. There have been a quite a few incidents of this nature, Kidsafe Queensland says an estimated four children a week are rushed to emergency departments across Australia each week after swallowing the batteries. For further information on this danger Kidsafe has published a fact sheet on the dangers involved
Learning about my Classes
I am so fortunate with my mentor she is amazing, gave me a full run down on the classes that I will be taking with any areas of student management that I really need to focus on with these students. I have also received a unit plan for each of the classes I will be teaching and we discussed how ICTs could be incorporated into the students learning. The Year 9 math class is studying Statistics and Probability and it has been agreed that the students will be using Excel to prepare histograms and frequency plots and learn how to insert formulas into a spreadsheet to analysis data, this will be an exciting task to undertake. Like Stacey’s mentor my is extremely supportive and has requested that if I have any questions not to hesitate to contact her.
I am off to do some research on the ICTs that I can incorporate into my science classes.
Prac Placement
Found out where I am going for placement and was quite excited it is so different from my other placements, previously I have had placements in the state system, this time it is an independent school. Like in Sara blog I am thrilled the school allows you to bring your own device and they will connect that device to their network so no problems like in the past accessing the schools resources, can just plug in and use the data projector and such it will make planning a lot easier. All the students have a laptop which will allow greater access to the use of ICTs in the classroom. The school runs a six period day with staff meeting on Tuesday afternoon at 3.15 till 4.30pm
ICT rich
Fantastic I love Sara post on ICT rich learning and how it should not just be used for whole class instruction using computer applications loosely tied to shallow content but be integrated into the learning experience to enhance the content. The report that Sara refers to was intriguing and lead me to research this further, in my search I found this article on how to recognise and measure engagement in ICT-rich learning environments this article supports the document that Sara found in that the use of ICT needs to incorporated into the lesson not just an add on. The article stresses that students need to be engaged to learn and that the use of ICTs to enhance the learning of the students could be critical to that engagement. This engagement is what David seems to be stressing in his lectures as well.
Back on my Feet
Well after 2 weeks flat on my back due to injuring said back I am now trying to madly catch up on all that I have missed. It does make feel better that I am no the only one falling behind with the workload keep up the hard work Nardia and you will get all those boxes ticked and you assignment done. Trying to catch up is hard and the information presented keeps you intrigued that you keep reading all the extras that people find and going off on tangents and then you have to bring yourself back to task. Oh well I will just have to be hard on myself and keep focused.
Assignment 2 Sharing my Curriculum and Assessment
| Blog post URL: | Assignment Two – Learning Objectives and Assessment |
| Learning area: | Science |
| Year level: | 10 |
| Learning Objectives |
Constructing Knowledge Science Understanding: Chemical sciences
Transforming Knowledge Science Inquiry Skills/Planning and Conducting
Science Inquiry Skills/Evaluating and Communicating
|
| Criteria |
Formulation of questions and justified hypotheses that can be investigated scientifically. Design of appropriate investigations that:
I have chosen these criteria as I feel that they will fit the assessment task that I am contemplating. |
carrolynwells 