Act. 8: Reflection - Social Networks in the classroom

Before this activity I didn’t think that social networks could have been a valuable asset to my students learning. I have now learnt that social networks can be especially useful out of the classroom setting. A class page or even subject page can be set up on facebook allowing students to post questions, post information and engage in discussions about an image or a piece of information shared by the teacher or other students. This can greatly aid in reinforcing specific topics or broadening the students knowledge of specific topics.

In employing the use of social networks in a class setting, e-safety has to be incorporated as a support mechanism since the students need to be taught to be responsible when using social networks. They also need to be aware of the dangers they may be exposed to, (such as cyber stalking, cyber bullying and identity fraud just to name a few) and the steps they can take to prevent/avoid being victims.

Careful planning, precise objectives and the establishment of policies/regulations regarding the use of social networks will foster a positive and successful learning experience for our students in this regard.

Act. 5: Reflection - IWB's in the classroom

Having an IWB in the classroom does not guarantee that we would have better lessons. Originally, my thoughts were that the IWB would directly affect the student’s learning with all its “bells and whistles”. No consideration was given to the effects of the board being used inappropriately, its underuse, unavailability of an IWB or even having one and not using it.

In modern classrooms IWB’s are of great importance. They can assist on “speeding up” content delivery and gives an almost realistic “feel” of most subject content. This is especially important for our students as they need to be able to relate what they learn in the classroom to the real world. Being able to have “hands-on” experiences with various technologies allows their interest and knowledge in a particular field to be further stimulated. IWB’s can help to bridge the gap between what they see in their text books and the real world environment. One may argue that a projector connected to a laptop or pc can provide a similar experience but I believe that the IWB can be much more “convincing”.

In some ways, I see the IWB as a fancy whiteboard. However, instead of making charts to place on the board, or making cards for students to use when classifying living and non-living things, the IWB allows us to integrate these teaching materials via its software, and furthermore, bring them to “life”. Whether the IWB is seen as interactive or entertaining, there is no doubt that our students learning environments can be greatly enhanced through its use. Additionally, it is important to note that the teacher’s knowledge of the technology and their ability to reflect and improve upon their use of the technology, will greatly affect the students learning outcomes.

Finally, IWB’s are an expensive investment, therefore, the stakeholders and those with financial power must be willing to maintain the hardware and invest in the training of teachers. The latter would greatly aid in the appropriate and effective use of IWB’s in the classroom, which should be the main area of attention.

Activity 1: Reflection - Classroom Management Practice

In my initial teaching years, classroom management was a major issue for me. I began observing more experienced teachers, and adopted some of what I saw, thus improving my classroom management skills. After attending the Teacher's College, I was even more equipped with the "tools" needed to ensure a well managed classroom.

Of the management principles outlined in the wiki, I can safely say that I utilise 90% of them. My students are always greeted by me on mornings (mostly), modelling so that it becomes a norm for them to greet their teacher (s), peers and other adults. The other class teacher & myself interact with various students one-on-one occasionally, in an effort to "connect" with each of our students. The students are sometimes involved in setting class rules and also determining the punishment of students (at times), which is a great way for me to introduce principles such as honesty and fairness (students who are friends with the student to be punished usually shy away from suggesting a type of punishment). This however, does not mean that my classes are always "perfect".

One of my short comings would be a lack of catering for the various learning styles of my students. This leads to a lack of interest in some parts of the lesson for some students. This can be overcome by allowing the students to freely express themselves regarding what they like, what they expect from the teacher, from the topic, from the lesson etc. If this can be done prior a lesson or topic, I will be able to prepare activities specific to my students needs. The aforementioned can be linked to the principle 4: creating various communication channels and also principle 9: being honest, open and transparent. Since I was fairly new to multiple subject area teaching, my planning was not always on target. However, I was able to use technology to resolve this issue. Prior to teaching a topic, I utilize various text books and online resources to search for topic information, games and even lesson plans and I document the information in my unit plan. I've set up various folders on my computer to effectively manage the information which I researched for each subject area so that they can be easily retrieved (this takes time and some discipline).

As this course progresses, I hope that I will be able to add more information to this section as new ideas "hit" me.

Greetings

Hello everyone. My name is Steve Austin and I live at Edinboro, Kingstown. My journey into teaching began in 2001 when I left the community college and was employed as a French teacher. I remained as a French teacher up until June 2008, after which I attended the St. Vincent Community College - Division of Teacher Education, graduating in June of 2010.

Currently, I'm a Grade six teacher at the Clare Valley Government School. There, I teach Math, Science, (some) Music and I am also the School's IT Coordinator.

Technology has always been an area of interest for me as I'm a music lover - downloading music is something that I do almost everyday! Over the years I've tried a bit of graphic designing (i suck at this), photo editing, video editing and audio editing. Most of my technological knowledge was gained via an IT summer course (while at the Teacher's College), workshops, personal readings and an IT savvy friend of mine.

By undertaking this course, I hope to gain much knowledge in relation to ICT and its Integration in Education. I look forward to the assignments, group activities, discussions and moreso, to complete this course with a full stomach of information to share and implement with my colleagues and students.