Teacher Centred Lesson Reflection

During the teacher centred lesson I took at Pimilico State High School (PSHS) I feel as though the planning was adequate just not so much the delivery. It was interesting to see the feedback that students handed back in on their Learner Profiles even before I got a chance to start teaching.

Some things that I need to work on for a teacher centred lesson are things like preparing work for students that are fast workers and finish early. Giving them work resolves allot of classroom chatter. I need to avoid talking over people and demand attention by say a catch phase, “More work less chatter.” Need to be more clearer with instructions. Advising students of what I expect.

It was interesting to see that what the SBTE picked up on for not speaking loud enough a student also picked up on. The student by the name of “D” was witty enough to answer, “How can I help you learn better to reach your goals,” by answering,

“Explain things well and in a loud voice if speaking to a group.”

That has stuck with my thinking pattern today. My SBTE made a comment to me prior to the lesson. She mentioned that they were a smart bunch and out of all of them “D” will really be able to help you.

It must be like this for all first years fresh out of high school. I mean teaching a class of year 11 or 12s. It’s awkward. Being the same age and mental ability. Anyone can teach a bunch of grade 8s although teaching grade 11s or 12s requires study.

Creating with ICTs

The term creativity was integrated into education during the 60s - 70s. Educators and developers developed and awareness for the need of having creative students. They found that the influence of social contexts and environments effected a students creativity.

Creativity and Culture Education (UK, 1990) defined creativity as "imaginative activity fashioned to produce outcomes that are both original and of value."

The purpose of everything created

Blooms Taxonomy

High Order Thinking - While primary learning focuse on knowledge comprehension and application students are capable of. creativity, composing, inventing and hypothesizing.


Analysis - Catagorise, comparing and contrast.

Evaluate - After scaffolding - Students can give an example or opinions, judge, rate, recommend and review their work.

E.g. - Rating the effectiveness of the design
       - The 3 main elements.

Creativity doesn't mean just being limited to Powerpoint and Word. As this next video displays; Death by PowerPoint. 

YouTube Blog: The Future Will Be Captioned: Improving Accessibility on YouTube

Youtube has increased their accessibility with auto Captions videos that are uploaded.

YouTube Blog: The Future Will Be Captioned: Improving Accessibility on YouTube

Information about Townsville Hot Topics

Well, this page often features information about Townsville. It's developed by a website developer in Townsville. Often interesting topics about local events and news are posted for your enjoyment. If you don't feel like reading then just have a listen instead. You can even listen to Suburban FM in iTunes.

Don't forget to subscribe via iTunes or to the RSS feed.

in reference to: Suburban Podcasting FM – Internet Radio » Casts (view on Google Sidewiki)

Virtual Classrooms - DimDim

Virtual Classrooms seem like such a great idea. There are several applications available on the internet that allow for video and audio streaming. With the right setup these services can really be taken advantage of.

Virtual Classrooms are a private online space where teachers can share learning activities with students remotely to support learning. It can be accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It allows for face-to-face discussion. Like a real classroom virtual classrooms are busy.

Most virtual classrooms have facility to incorporate files such as ppt, pdf and doc files. These files can be shared with students at the click of a button. Likewise students also have the ability to share files with teachers and piers.

Dimdim a virtual classroom tool

The services that are available to teachers although seem a little lacking in quality are elluminate and dimdim. There may be others around but these are services which are easy to register with and learn.

All you really need for a virtual classroom is a microphone and webcam. This is often built into a laptop. Otherwise these devices should be available from a technology store for about $50.

This week I shall be doing a podcast on the use of dimdim and elluminate. Show you a little hands on about how I believe that the application can be used in a classroom.

I personally would recommend a private uStream channel for virtual classrooms. This is because it allows for far better quality. The only loss here is sharing files.

If your not really into being on camera than why not just post your presentation and record audio to go along with it using an application like VoiceThread.com.

Here is a video of a school in England that uses Virtual Classrooms. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hMGbTPnWIc

Developing a Search Strategy

Well when it comes to university study references are the difference between a pass and a HD on a report. References can sometimes take hours to find by using a simple search engine like Google or Yahoo.

Thankfully for the Education industry there are several online databases. These are; A+ Education, ProQuest, Google Scholar, OneSearch.

Things that need to be done before searching an online Database:

1. Identify the keywords / concepts in your research topic.
2. Identify Synonyms - For example; rural, remote, outback or primary, elementary and junior.
   
   
   
   
   

   
   
3. Identify Traunication - Phase searching opportunities.
4. Formulate and execute your search srategy. For example the following operators in your query; and, or, not.
   
   And - Narrowing a search.
   Or - Broaden a search.
   Not - Exclude a term.
   
5. Evaluate your results - Evalutate the information that you find for relevance.
6. Apply limits to your search results. For instance within a specific location or time frame.

Databases are slightly different in the way to a commerical search engine. Databases are more advanced and require information input to find the correct / relevant information.

Here are some helpful database links for education:

• A+ Education - An indexing and full text database that provides Internet access to the scanned images of journal articles from published material on all aspects of education. Source documents include journal articles, monographs, research reports, theses, conference papers, legislation, parliamentary debates, newspaper articles, tests and web. Articles and reports by Australian authors or about Australian education published in overseas sources are also included. Subject coverage includes curriculum, educational research, information science, librarianship, management, policy administration, psychology, sociology, teaching and training.
• ERIC - A world wide site for education journals and documents.
• ProQuest - Resources relevant to education and ED1401.

Dear Readers

Dear readers,

As you know I started “blogging” this year, and I never really took the time out to explain what a blog really is.

It must get a bit confusing, because every time you click on the bookmark that I saved for you, the

I started a blog

“letter” that you read last time isn’t there, and you’re not sure where it’s gone or where to find it.

So I’m writing this letter to let you know a little more about what it is that I’m doing here at suburbanfm.com. Chances are you’ve probably worked it out for yourself, but just in case….

A blog is really like any website you visit, except it can be a little more difficult to navigate around. I know you think I’m very clever by creating my own website, but it really isn’t all that complicated to do (and I’ll explain that another time). Really, you could have your own inside an hour!

From Nicholas O'Sullivan (nicholas@suburbanfm.com)

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More of my blogs are located at http://cyclingknowhow.blogspot.com, http://bacheducation.blogspot.com.