Week 5

Animations

This workshops revolved around Animation websites. These websites allowed students to create drawings and animations to express their ideas. I have never visited any of these websites before, and i was quite amazed and excited as to how fun they were. The first website, Dfilm, allowed us to create scenes and characters and get a feel for animation. There was some content however that was inappropriate for the classroom and it is again a reminder that whilst the Internet is a excellent resource, there is also need to take great care in the websites we allow our students to access. Unfortunately in Dfilm i was one of the unlucky people that lost their work due to a technical error, and so no print screen is available to view.

Dfilm
http://www.dfilm.com/live/moviemaker.html

Build your wild self
http://www.buildyourwildself.com/

This website allows students to build a character using animal features. I really enjoy this activity as it allowed you to experiment and easily modify your character. I think the students would really enjoy using this site, and then they could even go on to write a narrative about the character they have created. Below is my attempt of building my wild self.



Sketch Swap
http://www.sketchswap.com/

Sketch swap enabled students to draw pictures using the mouse. I found it quite difficult to coordinate as you needed excellent mouse control to draw a good picture. Some of the pictures however that i received through sketch swap where excellent, and showed what a little practice can do! here is an example below.

The main concern with this website is that after submitting a picture, you receive a picture from an unknown user. In some instances i received a reply sketch which would not be appropriate for children. I did however find another website which offered a sketch pad, and you could use different colours to draw http://www.webtots.co.uk/.


Zimmer Twins
http://www.zimmertwins.com/movie/create

This animation website enable you to make a slide show movie. The good thing about this website is you have control of movements, voice and backgrounds for the characters. It is simple to use and easy to create a short movie.



Lego
http://www.reasonablyclever.com

This was a fun animation tool that allowed you to manipulate a Lego character. This is great for students as at a young age they are very involved with Lego, and i could see the students having a lot of fun with this creative website.


Story Games
http://www.storygames.com/TeachManPF/Rebus.html

This website has stories written using a combination of text and pictures. When i read some of the pre prepared stories, i actually found it quite challenging in that some words where in text, and then there was a picture to describe the next word. It made your mind think in a different ways because you were not just constantly reading, but you where translating the pictures into text. There is also the option of students coming up with their own stories, which i think would be fun for students as they could try and use as many pictures in their stories as possible.




Zip Tales
http://www.ziptales.com.au/

This website contained a number of activities that students can do with step by step instructions.

Plunging Parachute
A step by step guide to how to make it:




Towards the end of lesson, Greg asked us to switch off our computers so the screen was blank. Greg then dictated as we typed on our keyboards, unable to see what we were writing. I found this quite difficult as i am so use to seeing the characters on the screen. When we did turn our screens back on, we were able to see how many mistakes we had made. Interestingly enough, i am not a very good typist with the screen off! This would be a great test for students as it makes you think about the words and their spelling without being able to see them. Students these days have a big reliance on spell check.

This was my attempt below

I have a speelling checker
It came with my PC,
It plaienly marks with my review
Mistkkskes I can vnot see.

I strike a key and type and word
nd wait for it to say
Wherther I samt wrong or right
It shows me striaght a way.

All the websites we visited in this workshop were very creative and showed the vast resources available throughout the Internet. I will definitely be using these resources, but making sure to always keep in mind the importance to monitor the contents of these websites for the students safety.

Week 4

Learning tasks using websites.

In the workshop today we directed our attention to the following website: http://www.abc.net.au/dustechoes/dustEchoesFlash.htm

We explored the Aboriginal culture focusing on the dream time stories. As with accessing any website it is advised that there be some user discretion, as the content can be disturbing to some audiences.

The task was then to watch and then retell one of the dream time stories using Inspiration software. In this software, a series of pictures are taken with captions underneath. These pictures together then retell the story. The nice thing about this software is that the user can paste pictures anywhere they like and be creative in the way they use the pictures to retell the story.

There are many websites that have movies on them that students could make these picture stories from. I thought a really educational idea would be to use the kids National Geographic website http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/ for students to create their own picture stories. This has some great educational videos that i think students would really enjoy.

I retold the story Morning Star as i found it particularly interesting. Below is how i expressed my story.

This Inspiration software could be used for numerous activities in the classroom. It provides a unique learning opportunity for the students because it allows them to express themselves using pictures and brief summaries, making their stories concise, and making sure their pictures really do tell a thousand words.


Our next task involved the use of M&M's to create number charts. This was done using Microsoft Excel and had a Numeracy focus. Whilst using a fun medium such as chocolate, it is important to always remember the responsibilities as a teacher, in that some students may have allergies and so caution must be taken.


The task was to count out the different colours in an M&M packet. After sorting the different colours, we then needed to tabulate the results in Excel. From this we then created a chart using the data. From my previous schooling and University life, i have used Excel graphs an abundance of times, and strongly believe that it is one thing the students should learn how to do well from a young age. Microsoft Excel is a brilliant tool for Mathematics, from beginner to advance. It is a very underestimated piece of software because it is so simple to use, yet when it is used to it's full potential it is an extremely powerful piece of software. I know that in my teaching i am going to encourage students to use spread sheets to evaluate data and get the most out of the software.


















The Internet is a great source of education for Numeracy because many statistics can be found and manipulated. Most children are interested in a particular sport, and they could create graphs and charts of statistics for their favourite player or team. Websites such as http://www.afl.com.au/ or http://www.australianopen.com.au/ are full of statistics that students can copy into their excel spread sheets. By choosing a topic that interests them, students will be better engaged in the activities.

Week 3

Technology within the classroom

In this weeks workshop we learnt about designing activities based on the following four step method:

Investigate

Design

Produce

Evaluate

We were given a task to create a jumping frog, using minimal materials. By using only cardboard, a paper cut out frog, a rubber band and some sticky tape, we needed to make the frog jump. My partner and I had a few attempts to make the frog jump by folding the piece of cardboard in various fashions with minimal success. We then taped the cardboard to the table, folded it over, and held it in place with a rubber band. We placed the frog on top of the folded cardboard and let the rubber band go. The frog did jump to some extent, however it was fairly unsuccessful. Whilst we may have not succeeded in the task, it was very enjoyable that got our creative minds thinking.

By giving students a similar task it will help them to think about ways in which they can solve problems. The hands on approach is a very successful method and I believe that students will benefit greatly from it. I also think it is important to make sure that you can show them a successful result for the experiment. In this case it will be a way to make the frog jump.

Online games

We then used technology to create our own games. Most students loved to learn using technology because it is exciting and challenging. By asking the students to create their own games online, they need to use a clear thought process in the creation of the game. I created a Hangman game using words that were all fruits. If a students was to do this task, they would need to think of as many words as they can that relate to the topic, and also use correct spelling for them. Whilst it might seem to the child that they are just creating a task, they are actually learning just as much in the process!

Hangman

We then learnt how to create online quiz using the same program. This was a lot of fun and I also found it to be quite challenging as you really had to think what questions you wanted to put in your quiz. This would be an excellent activity to use in the classroom. Students could be given the task to create quiz's about a topic of their choice. Once the quiz has been created an assessed by the teacher, students could then take each other's quiz's, and research the answers. This is a great way to promote classroom interaction and it also enables students to find common interests.

Online quiz creation

Their are numerous benefits for students creating their own games. Firstly, it is a creative way to express themselves. It gets the students thinking of the tasks they have created and why it is important. It is also fun and challenging for the students and a great way to make the classroom come alive with active involvement from all students.

Week 2

Creating e-Portfolios

I must admit that i have never heard of a ePortfolio before today. I was surprised at how effecting using an ePortfolio can be to show a students work progress. I was thinking that it would be a great way to show the students parents their progression throughout the year. Furthermore it is a great way to show off the students work, and its impressive look would be very appealing I would imagine to future prospective parents when they come to look at potential enrollment for their child.

The ePortfolio system is not only an exceptional way to display students work, it is a way that I can keep track of the progression of my own work. When I first saw the concept, It reminded me of the way an artist would present their work, only in digital form. But as we discussed in the lecture, it is a way to not only express work, but ideas, concepts, and information that would otherwise be forgotten about. I also believe that being able to show a prospective employer an ePortfolio would put me at a significant advantage to others. Not only does it enable me to show my work, but it also allows me to show my creative side, a side that would otherwise go unnoticed. I also believe that is demonstrates my technological competence, and my ability to develop new ideas using technology. I believe this is a significant advantage when applying for jobs, and it is also exceptionally easy to update.

As a way to initiate ourselves to the concept of an ePortfolio, we did a simple exercise using Microsoft Publisher to create a brochure as outlined below.


Microsoft Publisher: Creating a brochure:

This was a fun activity that i enjoyed as i was able to be creative, and it allowed me to make a brochure of a place that interests me. This would be an exciting task for a student, as it will enable them to research a topic of interest, yet also allows them to create and design their desired brochure. To make the brochure we used Microsoft Publisher. I was not familiar with publisher, but Greg's step by step instructions made it very easy to use and understand, and with a little practice, I found it very enjoyable. Greg's step by step instructions also reminded me how important it is to model your work to students when showing them something new. When you model how to do something, it makes it much easier for a student to understand, and they enjoy the task more.

I will definitely be using this ICT task in my class. Within my lesson i would also include a brain storming activity to introduce the topic. I would get the students to design their layouts, information, and pictures on a piece of paper to begin with so they have an idea of what to do.

For my brochure I chose Coffins Bay, a popular tourist spot in South Australia.
My brochure is below:



I














Microsoft Publisher: ePortfolio

The ePortfolio template on Microsoft Publisher made it much easier to start an ePortfolio. It was easy to customise, but even in the standard template form it provided a very effective design for a prospective employer. I particularly liked the sidebar for navigation. I think that an employee would also be particularly impressed as it is easy to navigate around. It also provides one click access to things like references, which because they are time-saving, would make the employee generally happier. Upon looking further into ePortfolios, I found this website - http://www.foliospaces.com

It provided similar resources as in Microsoft Publisher, but it is stored online. The benefit of using the online tool is that anyone can access it via the Internet, so a prospective employer could even view it online. This would be great if you were talking with them on the phone, and then were able to give them a weblink for them to peruse. I am sure that they would find it very impressive.

Below is the ePortfolio template

Week 1

Inspiration Software

Concept Map 'Under the sea'



Today we experimented with inspiration software and developed a concept map.

I think this would be useful for students because it is a fun way to make links between the pictures. Because it is fun and interactive, it will get the students to think further about what they can add to the concept map because they will want to add more pictures.

The teacher can also use this as a tool because they could get students to help fill in the blanks, or maybe name the pictures in the concept map.

My concept map is 'Under the sea' and I have added pictures of sea creatures. My concept map is aimed at Prep level. Students are able to click on the pictures and find out more about the animals as well as having a better understanding of life under the sea.

You could also add tasks for the different creatures, giving the students a fun way to interact with the unit of work.

Mind Map 'Animals'



Like the concept map, the mind map shows the relationship between categorised objects. However the mind map shows a much bigger picture. I have done animals in my mind map. It shows that 'animals' is the category. It then shows the sub categories, such as sea creatures, pets, farm animals and zoo animals. You could have any sub categories here that relate to the main category.

This gets the students to think about the broad picture. In this case, not only an animals, but where it fits in relation to other animals.

Mind maps have a plethora of uses. They can be used to help students expand ideas either individually, or with a classroom discussion. It is also a good way to group objects in a clear way that students can understand.

I think the Inspiration program is a very useful tool and i will certainly use this in my classroom in years to come.