ICTs in my Pre-service teaching school

After just completeing two weeks of Prac, I just thought I would comment on the ICTs in the school that I am in. I am in a private school and the resources are amazing. They have so much IT support, I think about 5 workers?
The roll marking systems are all computerised and they will tell you who is absent automatically as you sign in. All teachers have a small laptop that they can carry around with them and that are good for marking rolls in assembly.
Every classroom has a data projector, screen and computer which I didn't even notice at the start but as I thought about it, my high school only had a few classrooms with data projectors in them and we were always having to book the computer room even if the teacher wanted to show us something briefly. The teachers at my pre-service school use the data projector as a white board too, making PowerPoints then projecting them for students to copy.
They do have a computer room but every class also has around 15 laptops that the students can use if they need. So advanced!
Each teacher has a teacher log in access and there is everything!! Resources from past years, movies and clips are on a program called clickview. They even gave me a log in access so I can see how it all works. Every teacher also has a teacher ID card which allows you to photocopy. I also got one of these and one of the IT support team took my picture, and printed an ID card in three minutes!
This school has one interactive whiteboard but no where near my area so I won't get to use one. I am relieved but it would be nice to see it in action too!
Is everyone else's schools this efficient? I was very impressed by this school!
Courtney

PowerPoint activity- Martha Graham

Martha Graham

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The YouTube videos didn't transfer so I have included the links below.

To view the first video click here

and the second video click here

This is just a basic PowerPoint about Martha Graham. My Mentor teacher for my upcoming prac informed me that the year 11 students were doing a topic on Martha Graham which is where I got the insperation for this one.I felt I went a little overboard with quotes but there were just too many great ones that I couldn't pass on. I think it could be more exciting but I did add activities and videos to enhance the powerpoint. I tend to always make my format plain and basic but I think the animations and colours is what attracts the students (not too many though). I forgot how time consuming they were especially all the referencing too! I think they are very effective tool to summarise and it is always good to assist talks with a visual component.

Mahara

Mahara! What an experience this week has been! Week 5 had me feeling much better about everything technology. I found connections with Maraha to the blogs and wikis and this made it easier for me to comprehend. I remember from Res School not understanding much about Mahara and how I would use it. But after carefully going through the videos and exploring it a bit more, I think I am getting the hang of it now. I now have realised that Mahara is everything down to a personal blog to a discussion board to a resume! It also has the facilities that a socializing network website does.

I can now see many uses for this within schooling as well for our own beneficial reasons. I can imagine making a view for each topic or for just the content for that week. I see similarities in the Moodle tutorials that we have every week where there are activities, videos, links, readings etc. Instead of having it written on paper, the students could navigate a View given to them to enhance their learning experience.

I also loved the convience of adding this blog to our profile!
I now have a much clearer understanding after this week and I am feeling much more confident.

Courtney

Creating an avatar through Voki

I just loved creating an avatar! What endless possibilities. This will be useful for a hook or introduction. I think it would even be a good activity posting idea for the students. Students can put homework answers in their own avatar then show the class to make homework a bit more exciting!