Lets rate Flickr

Well here is an image I snitched off Flickr, so credit to the Flickr world.
Here is my classroom...well after I graduate this will be what my classroom will hopefully look like. You guessed it an Industrial Technology & Design room.
Flickr was an interesting domain to use.
Challenging! The search function is fairly coarse and there seems to be need to sift through a pile of images to find one remotely likened to your search words.
Oh did i mention another account set up, another password....this one was on the other side of the fence being a yahoo based product.
There are loads of images there, perhaps todays secondary students would be more capable of using the Flickr medium far better than I. Any source of images is of use to students for information, assignments and learning.
A good source of images, today I give Flickr 6.5 stars!

You Tube & Teacher Tube

I have been looking over You Tube and Teacher Tube websites these last few days for some useful material for the classroom.
I have found some really interesting videos on the websites. I found Teacher Tube to be far more academic in the nature of the videos in general and the videos seem to be of a more professional nature. You tube has loads of interesting stuff in there, some of it is just Hollywood wannabes posting up their home made vids, which makes the quality some what inferior at times and the educational value limited.
Video is a great hook tool that can be used as part of an introduction to a subject, as a light hearted relief part of the lesson when students slump and they need a pick me up to regain their attention to the lesson.
I will definitely be using the tubes in the classroom.

EPL day 1

Today was EPL day 1 for me. It was a really good day. I have not been inside a high school classroom while class is in session since 1993, so it was interesting! My MT is really excited about having me in her classroom and is really helpful and encouraging. So the day started with a year 9 science lesson, 70 minutes about the heart and the cardiovascular system.
So the interactive whiteboard was not working properly, and the 14 year olds that knew almost everything were quick to point out the teachers short comings. Then the MT done what every good MT would do....handed me the whiteboard stick and said....you could do better! What? I have never even seen an electronic whiteboard before let alone know how to use one!
So I took the stick and went merrily clicking and tapping at the whiteboard....and luck was with me....the board responded with the correct song! BAM and we were away with the lesson!
So my very first lesson on EPL and I nearly took over the class. Oh dear me!
Next a lesson with year 9 math. I said to myself....just sit quietly down the back and observe. Well that lasted 15 minutes...until a student turned my way and asked...Mr Lane...whats this mean? Before I knew it I was at the old fashioned whiteboard with a marker whizzing up math equations. Math is not me!
Then after lunch, a year 9 SOSE lesson about law and order. Hmmmmmm, this is where the wheels sort of fell off the wagon. Try keeping 14 year olds interested in law after lunch! So there I sat in the back corner quietly observing. It was really interesting observing the behavior of the students and how long they would actually concentrate on the subject being taught.
Had a short chat with the MT about next weeks lessons. Oh did I mention my homework is...create two LEP's for next week. One for year 8 science on microscopes and one for year 9 science on kidneys. MT said, 'you might like to get a kidney or two and dissect them with the students'. Grand, I say, nurse, scalpel!
So day 1 down, 15 to go this term.
I really enjoyed the day and are very thankful my MT is really keen to help me grow from a student teacher to a learning manager.

If only they had more ICT's for their math lesson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88E0TYijc5I




Now here is a math lesson worth noting.

An old Powerpoint presentation

Sunday kids church 11 april 2009

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Hi All
This is an old power-point slide show I put together April last year when I took Childrens Church for a month. I even managed to put in some pics, a few different backgrounds and different slide transitions. The trick with this age group of kids, which at the time was about 4 to 12 year olds, was to keep the whole 'class' moving, flowing and not to let the momentum die. A bag of lollies worked wonders.
I will make a ppt for school and snap it up.

Voki

Well I managed to create a voki. You see that handsome lad above this post!!
Was interesting to create the man. It has some errie similarities to the Nintendo Wii where you create your Mii!!! wii mii voki????
In the classroom this cyberspace creation can be useful for grabbing students attention at the introduction of a new lesson. I would love to try and create a voki that finds an attention grabbing way to illustrate the myriad of uses for logarithms (for example)!!
You could allow students to create a voki and be a part of a presentation etc.
When I work out how to put speech on a voki, and you can have a longer message, then it will widen their application by allowing the user to increase the length of the vokis presentation.
For the voki I give it a 6 out of 10. The website was a trifle confusing in its layout, limited choice of hairstyles for the ladies and my glasses need a re-frame. Let me spend a few more moments creating voki Phase II and I will review my review of the voki.
Lane out
kersch

ICT Quiz time

I am plodding along through the quizzies for the ICT course. Some have been ok, some a bit challenging. How are others going with them? The cut off date is fast approaching!!