Nearly at the end of the week

I mentioned in my last post how I was dubious about running the whole week of prep (wondering if I will sink or swim). Well, today I sank like the Titanic, right to the bottom of the ocean. The beginning of the week started out great, behaviour management was at a minimal with the students engaged in the learning. I even brought in my puppet to assist with calming them down, it worked wonderful.

Today started out great, I thought I was organised, but the walls began to fall at 9;30. I had forgotten an element to one of the rotations. This was just the beginning of my landslide!

Where to from here you ask? Well, there is only one way to go…UP!

Finish the race strong, shake the dust off, pick your feet up, hop on the horse again (and all those other sayings).

Michelle Casey found a great blog site that lists ten tips for prac survival, I enjoyed her humour that she added to it.

On another happy note, I did find this awesome interactive problem solving game, click play rainbow 2,  that my six-year-old son, my eleven year old son, my hubby and myself all got hooked in playing. It is great for getting the brain thinking, as it varies in the ways to produce solutions for each puzzle.

Enjoy the journey!

Sink or swim

So the last week of prac arrives and I am shaking in my boots, as I have been given the WHOLE WEEK to plan and teach. God Help me! 

I did say yes to my mentor to take up this challenge, sink or swim right? However the monster of fear is starting to creep in…. 

Can I really swim? Can I really handle the various behaviour management dilemmas that I have seen my mentor successfully embark? 

I guess I shall know the answer to these questions very soon.

I was reading Caitlin’s blog, how she is finding it difficult to adapt to the surroundings of primary school compared to early childhood. I would have to agree with her, I feel like I have missed a gap in my progress somewhere.

For example, last week I was super excited to be doing a geography lesson for my preppies, I implemented my awesome geographical inquiry lesson from uni. However I bomb dived very quickly, as I was talking to them about man-made and constructed features(which they had no idea of the meaning of these words). It was then that I realised the difference between the uni world lessons for assignments and the real world lessons for school students.

I did come across this ICT learning program that the school uses Broadlearn Early Learning, which all the students engaged in as it could be differentiated to allow all students to be learning and stretched. I hope that the last week of prac is a wonderful finish for all my fellow bloggers

Enjoy the journey!

Two-thirds of the way done!

WOW at the end of week two already……. Where has the time gone?

It is like being on a roller coaster ride (which I haven’t been on for years) with ups and downs. All the emotions happy, sad, confused, anxious, surprised, SCARED and even embarrassed. 

I have learnt too much to write about however, one tip that I have realised is that strategies are exactly that (Strategies). One way might work on one child one day, but the next day the same strategy applied to the student won’t work. GO FIGURE! I guess it is because they are human with emotion and personality. Just like how we respond differently on different days….I really feel for Hayley Chalker who blogged how she is struggling to address behaviour issues in the classroom.

The invaluable experience has brought reality into my vision of becoming a teacher. I have had days that I feel like I can achieve anything, but I also have had days that I wonder why I am torturing myself. Yes, this is why I resemble it to a roller coaster ride!

Next week will be intense as I have willingly signed up for running the whole week start to finish. All the planning of lessons, transitions, behaviour management and the list goes on…. I want to do this as it will greatly assist in my teacher training. So this weekend will be solely on planning with limited time for my assignments or family. I have been thinking of interactive games that I can incorporate into the learning, and my mentor recommended that I search on the web. Apparently they always use these as there are a vast amount of free interactive whiteboard resources to source. Here is one I found that looks interesting. 

Enjoy the journey!

Nearly the end of week one at prac

Wow this week has flown by so fast, its crazy to think that we are already one-third through our prac. I am loving prac and learning mountain loads with both my mentor and the teacher aid who was a preschool teacher for many years and is the ICT expert for the school.

Which will be an asset! I have already booked in for some learning on the Interactive whiteboard.

I came across this site while I was searching for lesson ideas called Teaching Channel, it provides collaborating videos in various curriculum subjects.

Like Haleychalker’s blog ‘Kid’s say the darndest things’ I also have enjoyed some interesting convos from the cute little preppies. They are a funny bubbly bunch!

Enjoy the journey!

It was a great day at prac!

Well, I enjoyed my first day at my new prac site with the preppies, my mentor and the teacher aid. Such a full stimulating brain filling day but I enjoyed every moment of interacting with the bubbly inspiring group of little preps.

I have been spending the last couple of hours prepping for tomorrows math lesson and researching for my other lessons in the next couple of days. I’m feeling both excited and very tired at the same time. I have been reading Brendan’s blog who has also had a great stimulating day.

For all my uni buddies who are also on prac, the three words of advice which I tell myself daily

Enjoy the journey!

Have I been overtaken by a weird animal?

So count down begins for prac to start, I am super excited to be given a place in a larger school with a focus on only one year (Prep) this time. Also to top it off, I will have a uni buddy in the school as myself (in the room next door I think).

However while I have been madly preparing and printing all the forms etc for the prac, and trying to get some of my assignment drafts done and trying to remember all that I have learnt within the ICT course. My brain has been thinking, ‘Ah whats TIP mean’ again, and TPACK I remember it was something to do with technology???

I feel like the guy (Rick Moran) in the first Ghostbusters movie that got overtaken by some weird animal and couldn’t remember anything. In the movie the secretary asks him if he wants coffee and he replies by looking at the Ghostbuster guy and asks him “Do I want coffee’?  You can watch this part of the trailer here 

Yes this is how I feel.. If you haven’t seen the movie yet you should it is a classic!

I have also found quite a few uni buddies are feeling the same way. However I’m not sure that they also are acting like the weird guy in the movie though.

Enjoy the journey my friends!

The explorers unknown world

Next week we shall be embarking on our three-week prac, of which we are to incorporate the implementation of ICTs in the learning experiences. For some of my fellow bloggers you will be returning to your previous prac site in which you will already have an idea of the world that you are entering.

However other fellow bloggers myself included will be coming to a new prac site, or as I like to call it ‘The unknown world’. Where we will be delving into unfamiliar ground and exploring the unchartered waters.

I am unable to meet my mentor unlike some of my fellow bloggers (Pjandrewssite), before staring on monday. However we have been in contact and I have gathered some information on the context of the classroom environment and the ICTs that are utilised.

So I have done as all great explorers do panicked (well only a little) then I jumped onto google and embarked on learning how to use an Interactive Whiteboard where I found some YouTube clips informative (like this one).

Remember bloggers “Breath in, breath out and repeat”

Enjoy the journey my fellow explorers!

That’s not a sweet lolly pop

After finishing my cyberbullying modules, and feeling creeped out by a YouTube clip titled ‘Take the lolly pop’ that David Jones had put in the moodle. I watched only two seconds of it at 11 pm and quickly shut it down. Yes, I’m a chicken!

So after all that overwhelming info, my eldest son asks me if he can get his own email address now. I’m like ‘NO’ but that would be ridiculous, we don’t throw out the baby with the bath water (whatever that means)!

No seriously the main point about the cyberbullying module was that educating and being aware of what to do to prevent these situations, is far beneficial than expecting students to stop using these sites.

But just to add to this overwhelming info I just watched The Project channel ten reporting about a girl who took her life after two boys were cyberbullying her. Yes, very, very  sad, and to make matters worse the boys apparently are still walking around like nothing has happened without any reprimand. This is not one of those moments that you discuss the highlights of ICTs. Brittany’s blog Digital footprints, reminds us of the importance in being careful with what we are putting out there, for all to see and take.

Enjoy the journey!

Connect ed done !

I have just completed my four modules for the  Connect Ed certificate yay. It took a couple of hours and was quite interesting and informative. I realised that I know more than previous though. It was funny doing the Facebook friendship simulation. I was surprised how quickly messages were being sent and needed to respond to.

Trying to interact with fifty convo’s at once (slight exaggeration).

It was interesting to learn that if cyberbullying occurs out of school hours with another student the school and the teacher could be liable, because of the school’s  duty of care responsibility to attempt to control or prevent ongoing bullying. Whoah yes I know freaky hey. definitely places more reason to be aware of students friendships and disputes, if we might cop the blame. As Hayley also stated in her blog I got a certificate.

Enjoy the journey!

Learning about an old dead guy

Yes, that is my title!

The ability for a teacher to take a boring uninteresting subject and turn it into an engaging informative learning experience. All I can say is WOW… I learnt more about Qin Shi huangdi in half an hour than in my whole life. Thanks Yvonne for an enjoyable learning experience 🙂 Deanna’s blog titled Martha’s blog, discusses about being given a voice. So lets use our voice to impact a generation.

This is why we as uni students are in training, this is why we endure; All the sleepless nights,  stressful assignment submissions, sore brains from info overload and the finger cramps. All for the passion of providing our students with an enjoyable, fulfilling, learning journey.

Lets not forget why we are here

Enjoy the journey!