Meeting mentor

Yesterday I went to visit my mentor in readiness for prac after the September holidays. What a wonderful start to Prac!! She had already told the children (grade 1) that I was coming to visit and how they were all looking forward to having me in the classroom.  The mentor is the ICT guru at the school apparently so that is a great benefit. She explained to me the varying children in the class that have Autism/Asperger’s etc. and that 1 girl wears a headphone set so that she can hear the teacher talk via a microphone worn around the teachers neck. I have never seen this before but seems quite innovative. I will sus it out more while im on prac as the teacher said that I would be wearing it also. That makes me really excited to start prac like Rachael say she is.

A Day Made of Glass

I have just watched this video and cant wait to show my boys. Is this what the world is coming to? I know I have seen this type of technology used in movies in the past. One of those movies was Avatar (one of my favourites). I believe the medical world could benefit enormously from this type of technology. The amount of time it would save looking at scans etc and the amount of information that would be available at your fingertips during an operation could only be beneficial. I haven’t yet decided whether it makes life more simple or not but I know for sure that it would make life more interesting.

Flip Chart

Having had a bit of a look at flip charts (don’t type ‘flip charts’ into the search bar as you will only find one result!! 😉

Sight Words 4 in a Row I thought was a useful one. It is able to be changed and adapted to suit the children’s needs. I really like games/ learning experiences that are collaborative and encourage turn taking and sharing, especially in the Early Years which is what I am studying. I think the children will enjoy rolling the ‘virtual’ dice and manipulating the counters to be placed on the words that they get correct. This game could be used in a learning support area as an incentive to children who’s behaviour has been good.

Have just added my post to the  IWB discussion forum. As I am studying Early Childhood I haven’t yet had a chance to use an IWB during any prac other to show some photos that I had taken on ANZAC Day on one. Even on that occasion, I was not operating the controls, the teacher was so I have absolutely no experience with them at all. I am sure with more knowledge and time spent using one, I’ll really enjoy the experience.

Gotcha’s

Just going through the weeks Way Station after finishing another assignment for another subject and arrived at the Gotcha’s page. I  really think it should have been called Nichola’s page! Yep, I was the one who asked these questions……but I’ll try and explain why. First of all, when I’m in the middle of uni work and I don’t understand something I need to know NOW! Not wait for an email in a day or 3’s time (not that I’m talking about David Jones as he is great with his prompt and informative replies :-))

I would even prefer to get on the phone and call whoever can help me because it is instant not delayed. Anyway, I’m glad that I have been useful in identifying the type of Gotcha’s that can eventuate while using ICT’s haha.

I myself have never used a white board but have seen them while in a Kindergarten classroom so am looking forward to my meeting with my mentor today to determine whether the classroom that I will be undertaking Prac in has a IWB.

 

Connect.ed

It has taken a while to get a password for Connect.ed as I used my Hotmail address and had to verify that I was legitimate because I didn’t have an .edu address ;-). There is a perfect example of cyber smart and making sure that security is important! Anyway, I have no doubt that ICT will feature more and more in children’s lives during education and at home. I imagine it to be harder to keep control of older students and their ICT use which is why I’m happy to stick to the younger Early Childhood sector!! I found the website contained loads of useful information and have booked marked the website for future use.

As Hayley said, prac is upon us. After calling the Uni, I have found out that I am going to the same school as last prac but will be in either grades 1,2 or 3. I’m thinking the higher grades will allow me more scope to use ICT. Not that prep is limited but the children’s knowledge on ICT should incorporate more options in the higher grades. For example, they may be able to use Word, MS Paint, edit and save documents, print documents, operate a camera and download the photos etc. without a lot of advice from the teacher because they have done it before. Anyway, Im looking forward to including ICT into my prac lessons and hopefully introducing some new ICT as well if possible.

Experiencing new ICT

Well, yesterday I had to travel to Brisbane for a meeting. I left early (5am) and headed south from Hervey Bay. I had my inbuilt car GPS and my Garmin GPS both programmed to take me to where I need to go. I use both as they serve different purposes. The inbuilt one is bigger and provides a more detailed map but my Garmin is up to date with maps. Anyway, having not been to Brisbane for at least a year, I was grateful for my GPS’s. Heading into the Airport link tunnel, the red signs above suggested that I turn on my radio as there had been an ‘incident’. My first and probably irrational thought was that there had been a bomb or similar because why did it say ‘incident’ and not ‘accident’? Anyway, I scanned my radio and 104.5fm was the first channel to appear. Straight away there was an announcement that there had been a 3 car pile up on one of the tunnels exits and to stay in your car with the motor turned off and the windows up. I was dumbfounded! I assume city folk just take this for granted but I thought it was pretty amazing that I could just scan my radio and a message could inform me about what was happening ahead. The message came on about every 20 seconds and in-between that the normal morning show was being broadcast. On reflection, Im wondering if the message  was broadcast on all am/fm channels or if certain channels had the rights? Anyway, quite amazing ICT

When I get a chance, I enjoy reading other peoples blog posts. I especially enjoy reading Teagan’s and find her post most interesting and informative. Thanks Teagan. I also enjoy reading Hayley’s posts and resonate with a lot of her sentiments. Sometimes I find websites that are of interest and bookmark them for future reading. Recently I have had a discussion with an Early Childhood centre about implementing iPad’s into the kindy. I also sent her a few of the links from the Learning Path so she could make a more informed decision. Ultimately, she decided to purchase 5 iPads and is currently trialling them with the 4/5 year old age group class. I will be interested in finding out how she felt they were received by the children and whether or not she would recommend them.

Week 7

I was really most grateful after starting week 7’s learning path only to read that it is important not to go any further until the assignment 2 is complete. I was hoping to complete the assignment last week but a few things have cropped up and I simply ran out of time. Teagan summed it up perfectly regarding our upcoming Practicum placement. I am excited but feeling overwhelmed by the amount of teaching time. This is not because I don’t feel like I can teach, but trying to fit what we have to do in with the mentor teachers planning is often difficult. Anyway, I have another 3 assignments to complete between now and then so best I get to it!