Theres a gecko in my garden

 Well, I have just used one of the photos on my  computer and uploaded it to flickr. This is to demonstrate my ability to upload personal photos, and use a photo storage service such as flickr as the host.  After this process I believe that a service such as flickr  is a very useful tool. Relating this to my personal experience of not having photos on my new laptop, flickr solves this problem. Currently most of our photos are stored on the family computer. This means that if I need to use a photo or even just browse through them, I must use this computer.  This has been a big issue for me, as my husband has needed to use the family computer as an extra screen ( for his webinars )  over the past two weeks.  The end result is that it has been very difficult for me to even look at photos. Flickr solves that problem all together. Simply log onto the sight and you can view your photos, anywhere, anytime! How great is that. When I have some free time ? -   I will be using flickr to host many of our photos, so that if my something unfortunate happens to my computer, all is not lost!!  Further discussion in my next post.
P1040181
Originally uploaded by meganirw
A gecko in my garden

Flower

Here is a  photo that I uploaded from flickr to my blog. This could be used to show students various flowers to draw or in covering a unit about flora and fauna. This photo is courtesy of flickr. The process of uploading a photo stored on flickr and applying it to my blog is quite simple. It is just a matter of checking that you have the right  to use the photo (creative common) and attach it to your blog. Very simple, but also very useful.  Photos from flickr could also be used  on wikis, aiding students in project development.
Flower
Originally uploaded by Joe Shlabotnik
Courtesy of flickr

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Flickr and Picnik

Here is my attempt at uploading photos from flickr into my blog. Here we go

MMMMMM MAHARA E-Portfolio- The way of the future

Mahara is an e-portfolio which can be used in a variety of ways. As a student teacher it has become a place for me to store resources, files, lesson plans and communicate with other students. As my portfolio progresses, it will also become my resume, when I apply for teaching positions after completion of the course. I will be able to provide a specific link to a potential employer who will be able to view many of my achievements over the past two years. Another student use is in the primary school setting. Students could again use it in the ways already mentioned. Another aspect is that it could have examples of student work made available, to be viewed anywhere anytime. This would allow parents, friends grandparents etc, to see what students are achieving in the classroom. Students would be proud to show others their work, as it is " their portfolio". As opposed to booklets which can get lost and broken, this is a fantastic tool that will never get lost! Students could use their creative abilities to design their own portfolio, adding pictures and files. If a student transfers to another school, it is a tool that could be used to view student achievement, enabling the school to assess students prior learning and create an individual learning journey. Another use for mahara is in collaborative communication amongst students. Mahara has the ability to create groups of interest, which allows for student communication to occur outside school hours. This makes students responsible for their own learning and lets them take the lead in developing/pursuing activities which are of interest to them.

Setting up my Blog!!

Here I am setting up a blog. It is just a matter of trial and error - or so I keep telling myself!

  Blogs are an on line device, which can be used collaboratively or individually for various purposes.  Individual students can utilise a blog as an online journal, a reflective tool or as a communication enhancement between teacher and student. The opportunities for students to practice creative writing, display information (reports); complete homework and remark on peers work are just a few examples. A teacher could incorporate this tool into students learning by recording creative stories on individual blogs. Storybird, can also be used to display the writing with graphics as well. By making the blog address available to other students in the class it would enable students to review peers work and make critical comments for improvements/changes. It also would allow the classroom teacher to check on students progress in this area, as they could view it outside of class hours. The blog can also be viewed by anyone on the web, so can encourage conversations with anyone who has an interest in the blog information. 

Teacher Tube video on Fractions

Here is how you tube and teacher video can be utilised in the classrooom. Definitely something I will use greatly and here is why? To introduce, explain and examine in depth topics/issues, videos assist a range of learners and learning styles. Students could record their own video and post it to you tube for real world feedback and authentic task evolvement. To explain a difficult or uninteresting topic, video could be used as the “ hook” to engage students. Students could complete a topic on the media, and use video to demonstrate various components such as news commentaries, advertisements, sports, financial/stocks etc. Written, oral presentation and active learning techniques, aids in the complete understanding of a topic and higher order thinking skills to be developed. Ipods, cameras with video capabilities and video cameras are some of the tools that can be used to record video. I will be using video such as you tube and video in my pedagogy as a hook and a learning tool.

Reviewing my Blog

I am just in the process of reviewing my blog in preparation for my synopsis. I have just noted that I have not enabled comments to my blog! However I have managed to add this feature on this morning. So now I will be able to view any comments, and refer to these in my synopsis. I only wish I had checked this earlier!!!!

Quilling Power Point for Art Lesson

Quilling ppt

View more presentations from meganirw.
This powerpoint demonstrates the use of this tool in classroom pedagogy. It can be used as brief introduction to a topic, to highlight essential parts of a topic and to provide graphics and visuals to assist  the various learning styles. Students can use them to present a topic to the class.  Highlights of this tool are that they are simple and easy to create.

Democracy powerpoint

Check out this SlideShare Presentation: Includes references

Democracy powerpointT

View more presentations from meganirw.

Interactive White Boards-wooh hoo!

I am very excited that there is an Interactive White Board (IWB) at my prac school. It is located in the ICT's room, which is large and new also. My MT said that I would get the opportunity to see how it could be used, so that will be wonderful.

On Tuesday my year 4 class had an ICT lesson in the afternoon, whereby they were doing typing activities and beginning on a pamphlet for the school to utilise for the community. Learning Engagement Theory (Kearsley and Shcneiderman,1999) is the basis for an activity such as this. The use of technology, along with create, relate, donate, encourages student motivation, interaction and creative thinking. These are all important skills to be acquired, as they incorporate Dimension (3), extend and refine knowledge and Dimension (4), use knowledge meaningfully. (Marzano and Pickering, 1997) Hopefully what I have learnt over the past few weeks will assist in the development of this pamphlet ( which will probably become my authentic task). More to follow! Interactive whiteboards bring many dimensions to the class environment. Dimension 1, 2 and 3 ( Marzano and Pickering, 1997) are used in this technology IWB utilises the senses of sight touch and sound to engage students in learning. "Technology can facilitate engagement in ways which are difficult to achieve otherwise." (Kearsley and Schneiderman, 1999) The vast array of information provided on the IWB covers many topics and stimulates interest in all age groups. It encourages student interaction, creativity and provides an environment that could enhance student centric learning. The learning manager becomes the facilitator and not the provider of information. These quality aspects of learning managers encourage students to use the processes of active learning ( Albine Chrisitan University, 2000) This in turn requires that students use essential life long learning skills. References Albine Christian University (2000) the ACU Adams Center for Teaching Excellence Marzano, R. & Pickering. D. (1997). Dimensions of Learning. Teachers Manual (2nd ed.). Victoria. Hawker Browlow Education. Smith, Richard. Lynch, David. & Mienczakowski, Jim. (2003, November). The Bachelor of Learning Management (BLM and Education Capability)

Edutopia in Action - Authentic Tasks

I have just found this wonderful video from edutopia which is about engagement theory and authentic tasks. While I fully understand the concept of engagement theory (Kearsley and Shcneiderman 1999) which incorporates the relate, create and donate method of student centred tasks, I was struggling to think of actual ideas for ' authentic tasks. So I did some research this morning and found this wonderful video (edutopia,2010) which demonstrates this concept. Engagement theory (Kearsley and Shcneiderman,1999) as identified by this school encourages problem based learning and real world task involvement, which in turn encourages life long learning. Students are directed to think about how and what they want to learn and begin to take responsibility for their own education, by guiding, developing and enhancing their own learning. This is in essence active learning. (Abiline Christian University,2000) References Abiline Christian University,( 2000)the ACU Adams Center for Teaching Excellence Edutopia (Youtube) 2010 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeOpDAPaNYQ) retrieved 1/5/2010 Kearsely, G & Shneiderman, B (1999) Engagement Theory: A Framework for technology based teaching and learning. Retrieved 18th April, 2010 from http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm Have a look, it certainly makes me so excited and I just want to get out there and teach! Video has been embedded at the bottom of the page.