The Use of Discussion Boards

I have found the discussion boards quite useful for uploading work (eg English) from home rather than having to always go in to hand deliver it. I have also liked the fact that we can view discussions between others such as the ICT help discussion, and add comments if we are able to help others.

With regards the graphs task that was set, I would have found it easier to have had a more face to face discussion, as its quite a time consuming process having to wait for one another to comment etc, although I suppose if you were abroad etc, then it could be a possibility for completing work.

In a school context, I could see a discussion board being used to act as a communication aid between parents and staff, in which parents could ask questions to the staff eg. when are inset days? and other parents would be able to view and take note, rather than everybody asking. Within the classroom, I think I would prefer the children to develop their speaking and listening skills and have face-to-face discussions as with the time constraints of the national curriculum, I do not feel the children/staff have time to wait for a reply! Instead, I would prefer to have a system in which children could complete their work at home, and upload to a school system which would enable me, as the class teacher, to mark remotely and provide feedback directly to the child. I would also like to use blogs as a means of diary for some tasks, for example, when carrying out an experiment over a set time period or writing a diary of life in the war etc, in which the children could regularly update the blog with their experiences or results while they are fresh in their minds. It also provides the children with a different form of task/assessment which many may prefer, and can be used across all curriculum subjects.

I would be interested to read what others write on the discussion board/in their blogs about possible ways of using discussion boards within the primary classroom.

First week of teaching...

This week I taught my first full maths lesson....I prepared a powerpoint to introduce the fractions topic using various shapes that I shaded in either 1/2, 1/3 or 1/4. I used the IWB to show this PP to the class and they reacted well to the topic, however the computer crashed half way through my introduction so we had to resort to the good old, whiteboard and pen!! Technology is great until it breaks down!! Luckily the teaching went so well, the teacher asked me to plan and teach the follow up lesson. The internet was my life-saver when if came to planning that evening, as I was able to adapt existing lesson plans and resources to suit my class. I plan to add these helpful websites to the WIKI.

I also had the chance to observe the class in an ICT lesson, in which they were learning to import pictures. I think this lesson drew my attention to the vast range of ICT skills children have, as some still are unable to log in correctly, whereas others produced a beautiful document within minutes. The pictures they imported were those they had taken with a digital camera in the previous literacy lesson as part of a combined literacty-ICT piece of work.

This week, I also had the opportunity to watch the children using electronic keyboards in their music lessons. This was a form of ICT that I had not previously thought of, yet the children are able to programme a sound/instrument choice and adapt their compositions using all sorts of background music or instrument sound.

The joys of EXCEL!!

This weeks ICT lesson was on Excel. I know a lot of people found it a hard package to use, and struggled with it however I have just spent the last three years on a Sports Science degree in which all data was entered onto Excel and manipulated. I have used Excel to establish VO2 max, effects of exercise on HR, gait analysis etc. I am therefore comfortable with entering equations and interpreting the data that is produced. I do however think, that Excel is quite an advance computing package for use at primary school and therefore would be reluctant to introduce it until late in KS2.

Personally this week, I have used my new mobile phone to bluetooth myself a picture which I have uploaded to the internet of a night out with old coursemates! I found this quite an easy exercise to do, and hope to do it more in future as it will save taking a camera and a phone out everywhere!!

Use of digital cameras....

I had a wonderful week at school and was pleased to see the use of ICT in all lessons.

This last week I have been challenging myself to use my digital camera more and have uploaded some pictures for you to see.

I was also fortunate enough to watch my younger (2nd year physiotherapy student) sister play hockey for the University of Southampton this weekend.....she scored a great goal, and the team won convincingly. I have uploaded a photo that I took with my digital camera during the game. I found it very hard to take pictures during the game as I was too busy watching it myself (too use to playing rather being a spectator!!) but its always nice for her to have photos to look back on - especially as she scored!! It is also a challenge to take action shots but I plan to work on this area further when I watch future games.

I also had a trip to London with my housemates from my last university. We went on a river cruise from the London Eye/Houses of Parliment to the Tower of London. I have added some pictures/scenes below.

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The skills required for photography need some work on - as can be seen by the picture of the House of Parliment/Big Ben, it includes a large amount of sky which could be cropped out of the picture however I felt I would leave it as it is, in order to show my improvement over time!

Digital cameras are wonderful and I hope to use them in a classroom setting. Even during the five days that I was on my school placement, I saw other classes using them therefore I see no problem with my class utilising them. I love the way that you can point and shoot, then if you don't like the picture, you can just delete and re-take!