Week 4 - Inspiration Dreamtime Stories and Excel

Today we looked at Dust Echoes on the ABC website. This was a fantastic site which played Aboriginal dreamtime stories. I think it's a fantastic medium to get students looking at Aboriginal stories and showing them the stories in a way that they will understand. It also lends itself to activities such as creating a story board like the one I've created below and then asking the students to write the story themselves. You could make the activities as easy or difficult as you wanted depending on the age of your students. The site also provides a glossary of Aboriginal words which is a great way of helping the students to understand the terms being used and to learn more about the Aboriginal culture.















We also looked at graphs in excel today and discussed activities that we could use in the classroom. Excel is a thinking tool that lends itself to integrating domains such as maths, ICT, literacy. You could ask students to graph something like the different colour cars they count driving past the school, write a paragraph to explain their findings, print their graph and present the two pieces together. I haven't used excel for years so I refreshed my skills and picked up a few new tips such as how to colour code each bar on the graph and how to add in images to enhance the quality of my work. These skills are something you would have to cover step by step with the students, possibly on numerous occassions but they're valuable skills.

Now days a lot of children have allergies so you wouldn't have to use chocolate M & M's, you could easily use counters or colour bits of paper and divide them among the students rather than using food.

Week Three - Jumping Frogs

This week we began by designing a frog that jumps with the materials provided. We were given a piece of cardboard, sticky tape, a picture of a frog and a rubber band. Greg highlighted that we were doing this task to show us that technology does not always just have to be about computers. We were also given a design brief to fill out, which the students would be able to write all over and jot down all their ideas before producing a final copy of the brief. This helps the students to structure their ideas, answers and to think their process through.

This exercise was a good task because it gets students working in groups and thinking about how best to utilise their materials. Older students could also look at push and pullies in this task, while all students could think about the different properties and functions of the materials as well as the proper language such as the potential engery of the materials. This task also gives students the opportunity to get involved and encourages the students who are scared of failing and will hold back to also get involved.

We decided to fold our cardboard into thirds and wrap the rubber band around one section to re-enforce the fold. We then used the sticky tape to attach the picture of the frog. We found this was successful because our frog jumped quite well. This activity could be extended for students that finish early by providing different cardboards for the students to experiment with. Using a design brief is something that we could possibly integrate into our webquest.

Next we looked at Quia and designed a quiz. I think this is a really valuable resource because it is creative and fun for students to create and to play. It would also benefit students' spelling.

Here is the link to my quiz
http://www.quia.com/quiz/2513817.html

Here is the link to my Hangman activity
http://www.quia.com/hm/668084.html

Here is the link to my jumbled words activity
http://www.quia.com/jw/387123.html

I think these games and activities would be extremely useful in the classroom and will definately look to use them in my future classroom. Greg pointed out students could send their games to their parents for them to play which I think is a great suggestion and alternative to always sending work home.

Week Two - Perusing Publisher

Today we looked at Microsoft Publisher. I thought this was extremely useful and I think I will definately put this in my toolbox to use it in my classroom. I think making brochures is something the students would really enjoy and is such a great, creative activity.
Publisher also has other features that would be useful such as having the students create menus and catalogues.

















We also spoke about our e-portfolios which I think is hugely beneficial. It seems overwhelming at this stage but I'm sure it will become easier as I get my head around it more. Publisher will also be handy when it comes time to create my e-portfolio and resume.

Hearing Greg talk about the interview process was extremely valuable. Greg mentioned that the panel will sit you down and give you time to quickly review the questions which I didn't know and made me a bit relieved. I'm sure I'll still be extremely nervous in any interviews but it was a relief to know I'll have a few minutes to think about answers rather than be on the spot in front of the panel.