My second resource is to cover the Design and Technologies Curriculum, with the year level being year 5/6 again. This time I will be creating a unit plan, including assessment, about sustainability in the food and fibre (agricultural) industry. As I said in my previous blog post, I will share more about this very soon!
Digital Technologies Resource
Well it sure has been awhile, but now I am back for EDP4130.
This first blog post is about a resource that I will create in order to cover 2 content descriptors in the Digital Technologies year 5/6 curriculum. The idea that I have in mind is a work book, which can be differentiated, where students are the detectives and explore various external and internal components and their applications. So far I am really happy with how my planning is going, so I will make sure I share how I am progressing with you all here after I submit my project proposal later on today.
Over and out!
Despite having handed in my assignment and completed all the blogging requirements, I felt as though I needed to do one more post. What a crazy but rewarding semester it has been! While the workload has been very stressful, I have actually really enjoyed it all. I know that probably sounds crazy (how can you enjoy assignments?), but I am really happy with the assignments that have been set for EDC3100.
My next thought is whether to continue blogging, as it is something that I have loved doing. But then doubts creep into my mind as to whether there is any point in it. Will anyone read it? Does anyone really care? For those who are reading this, I would love to hear your thoughts!
Despite that, where is it from here? Well next semester I will be taking on 3 electives as well as my core prac subject, which will essentially mean that I have basically halved my workload for next year. I am also heading west again to do my prac in a year 1 class- I am so excited to go back! If you are thinking of teaching rural or remote, I recommend you check out this website.
Anyway, I better go and get stuck into exam study! Good luck to you all on the rest of your uni journey!
Amy
I survived prac!
Despite finishing my prac a week ago, I have only just had the time to sit down and blog about it. After the drive home on Saturday, I have been spending the rest of my days finishing assignments and unpacking. However, I really miss my prac class and am so excited to go back to the school in August!
My last day was crazy but amazing at the same time. I had been teaching the kids about procedural writing, so my mentor and I decided that my last day should be fun. On the Thursday the kids had to write a procedure on how to make cloud playdough, so on Friday they would be able to make it. We decided that it would be easier if my mentor made it, while the kids instructed her how to do it, then they could add their food colouring to it. What a mess! My mentor and I both spilt the pink food colouring everywhere- thankfully we weren’t on the carpet. Yes, we could have freaked out, but we were all having fun, so all we could do was laugh.
About 10 minutes before the 3 o’clock bell rung I got the kids to sit on the carpet for one final goodbye. However, my mentor surprised me with a massive present full of all the things to help me start my career at the end of next year! That was an amazing end to my 3 weeks in 3C!
My heart is absolutely flowing with gratitude for all the amazing people I met on prac! My advice to you all is to try remote teaching- yes, you may be out of your comfort zone, but if you have a positive mindset, you will love it! As I’ve mentioned before, I have always wanted to be in a remote school, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t afraid of the unknown. I am so proud of myself for taking that step, and am so excited to (hopefully) one day be teaching out west!
Good luck with assignment 3!
Amy
What a day!
Today has been an absolutely massive day, but also very rewarding. I decided that today would be my full day of teaching and I loved it. No, it wasn’t perfect, and yes, it probably didn’t go exactly to plan, but it was great to feel like it was my own classroom. I have an amazing mentor, who left me to it all today, including some lunch duty things (after reminding the students of our school rules). My first lesson was Maths, where we are learning about number patterns. I find this class learns best from hands on activities, so I decided to create a BINGO game for them. While some did cheat and try and trick me that they had won, it was great to see everyone participate. I also had the principal and regional director walk in during the lesson, so that made me a little nervous.
After school I attended a Queensland Teachers’ Union meeting about Teachers and the Law. While it didn’t finish until after 5, it was also a real eye-opener! If you ever get the chance to go to one, I would definitely recommend it- it may scare you a little, but also make you realise all the ‘behind the scene’ things that we need to face. Also, on another positive, I have organised my return prac for next semester. I will be in a year 1 class! Scary, but I am up for the challenge. If this prac has taught me one thing, it’s that while stepping out of your comfort zone is scary, it also makes you so much more independent!
Hope you enjoy your last few days of prac!
Amy
A great website for educational games
Just a short blog post for this beautiful Saturday morning (well it is in Outback Queensland anyway). A few days ago my mentor introduced me to ABCYa.com, and I wanted to share it with you all. So far I have incorporated it into my English rotation lessons as students are learning about verbs and procedures. After my first English lesson for the week, it was clear that some students just couldn’t understand the concept of a verb. So, they have been now taking turns in playing the Nouns and Verbs game. I think that because it’s on the computers, they must think that they are getting out of learning, but secretly they aren’t. My only problem now is that I have students coming up to me during English saying “Miss S, is my group playing on the computers yet?” I also hear “Miss S, I want to play that game again! Can I do it again?” where my response is usually “No *insert student’s name here*, you played that game yesterday. You now have to do the activity I’ve told you to do”.
I hope you are all still enjoying prac. For me I have felt so many emotions, but I am trying to see it as a learning curve. I’m really looking forward to getting home and being able to sleep in my own bed though!
Until next post, happy planning!
Amy
One week down, two to go…
Well, first week of prac is finished and I am absolutely exhausted! I was so far out of my comfort zone the first few days that I didn’t know whether I wanted to laugh or cry. While it was difficult to begin with, I now absolutely love it! A few things that probably really shocked me was the size of the school and the students. However, the staff are absolutely amazing and I am so glad that I decided to take the leap and come out to a remote school. Despite having a million things to do this weekend, I was invited to my mentor’s place for a spice cooking party, so am looking forward to that!
So what exactly have I been doing this week? I have done lunch duties (nothing out of the ordinary), met parents, helped with homework club, helped set up awards day, taught maths and spelling, as well as marked tests and administrated a maths test. Another thing that I love doing is reading a book to the kids after their 2nd lunch break. It gives the kids a chance to calm down after all the dramas (in their minds anyway) that happened at lunch time.
I also have a busy week next week, with more maths lessons for a new topic (3D and 2D shapes). I’m really looking forward to the hands on component of this topic, but am going to try my best to incorporate ICTs. I have also been asked to create an assessment for this topic, something I haven’t done before on prac. I also will be taking English classes for the week, which will again be assessed on very soon (I don’t need to create this assessment though).
I really hope you are all having an amazing prac…. The one main thing that I have learnt from a personal point of view is that every school is unique and it is really what you make of it. Enjoy your weekend!
Amy
So what exactly have I been doing this week? I have done lunch duties (nothing out of the ordinary), met parents, helped with homework club, helped set up awards day, taught maths and spelling, as well as marked tests and administrated a maths test. Another thing that I love doing is reading a book to the kids after their 2nd lunch break. It gives the kids a chance to calm down after all the dramas (in their minds anyway) that happened at lunch time.
I also have a busy week next week, with more maths lessons for a new topic (3D and 2D shapes). I’m really looking forward to the hands on component of this topic, but am going to try my best to incorporate ICTs. I have also been asked to create an assessment for this topic, something I haven’t done before on prac. I also will be taking English classes for the week, which will again be assessed on very soon (I don’t need to create this assessment though).
I really hope you are all having an amazing prac…. The one main thing that I have learnt from a personal point of view is that every school is unique and it is really what you make of it. Enjoy your weekend!
Amy
I’m heading west- Questions I want to ask my mentor!
I’m sure I’m not the only one who finds they have a thousand questions to ask their mentor about prac, but always seem to forget some. I decided that I would write a blog post about some of the questions that I want to ask my mentor. Unfortunately my mentor is in Hawaii until Thursday, but she has been kind enough to give me her phone number in case I have any questions before I meet her on Monday. Here are some of the things I want to ask about:
- Start times- Depending on your situation, it’s also okay to ask what time you would finish every day, but I have always found that this depends on what is happening on a specific day.
- Where to park- I’ve never had to ask this before as I have always done my prac at my local school, but now that I am going to a different town, I will be asking to avoid the stress on the first day.
- School/ community events- get involved!
- Dress code- I make sure I ask this every time I go on prac. I have always been allowed to wear jeans, however, it’s best to find out beforehand to save yourself the embarrassment.
- ICTs that are used in the classroom/ school- very important for this prac.
- School behaviour plan/ handbook.
- Current units that are being taught- being so far away from home, I am hoping to take any appropriate resources out west with me.
Do you have any other questions that you ask your mentors? I’m a little nervous about not meeting my mentor beforehand, but she seems really lovely and helpful over email. I am also very excited to teach in a remote school- chasing my dreams! I don’t plan on posting again until during prac, so best of luck to you all!
Amy
NAPLAN time!
As most of you would know, NAPLAN begins today for Australian students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. I can remember the days when I would have to sit the test as a student as I found it to be an emotional time. While I don’t want this blog post to talk about whether NAPLAN is a good or bad thing, I do want to share with you an article that I found last night. The Courier Mail wrote this article yesterday about how adults would go if they were to do the test. In the article you will find the NAPLAN Parent Quiz, which is made up of sample questions from each of the grades. I would definitely recommend taking a few minutes to complete the quiz. I did find there were one or two numeracy questions where I had to think hard about the answer.
I have also seen a few images on social media of teachers sending their students home with encouragement letters, most containing a little box of smarties. I absolutely love this idea, and I think it shows how much teachers genuinely care and worry for their students.
Anyway, hope you all found out where you are going for prac next week! I am looking forward to reading a few blog posts about your experiences over the coming weeks.
Amy
Making a list and checking it twice
While everyone else is waiting for their prac to be confirmed on InPlace tomorrow, I am making a list of all the things I need to pack. You see… I am heading 600 km away from home, which means this time next week I should have (hopefully) arrived safely at my destination. Due to administration changes, I’m still not 100% sure what grade I have, however, I am trying my best to not worry about that. I am just grateful I know what school I am going to and have accommodation booked.
For me, this prac means stepping out of my comfort zone! I am beyond scared to be away from my amazing support network for 3 weeks, but I am also very excited to become involved in the school and local community. Being at a remote school has been my dream for a few years now, however, it is only now that I decided to just take the plunge and chase that dream. I have been emailing my mentor (she may not be my mentor during prac, depending on what happens in the next few days) and have told her that I would love to get involved in the community. So hopefully she is able to help me with that!
Anyway, I will leave it there for now as I better get back into my EDX3280 WebQuest assignment. Good luck to everyone who finds out where they are going tomorrow!
Amy
Life of Miss S 