Reflection on Sem 1 Placement

Semester 1 came to a closed.  I had a really lovely time at my placement school.  I mostly taught Maths.  Maths students in Yr 11 and 12 are required to use Graphic Calculator.  It was very interesting to see what they can achieve with this technology.  I wish I had one of those when I was in Yr 11 and 12.  Yr 9 students had a taste of the graphic calculator from the class set that the parents association bought.

I also team teach for yr 11 IT subject.  I am amazed on how much theory they did.  If I did that much theory in high school, I don't think I will ever choose computer as a subject in Uni.  If I teach yr 11 IT in the future, I would like to develop student depth of the subject.

I was very lucky to observe a few different classes on their use of computer.  Year 10 IT class wasn't very interesting either.  Students were evaluating the legitimacy of the website and also research on some key people in the history of computer.  Teacher told them not to use Google or Wikipedia, which I found very interesting.  I feels that they are a good source of information and starting point.  It is always advisable to check other places to make sure the information presented is accurate.


I really enjoyed my placement.  The classes that I taught and observed did not use a lots of computers.  I am really looking forward for my next placement.  From what I found out on the school website, my next placement school uses a lots more computers.  Yr 7 students all have iPad.  Yr 9 and 10 have netbook.  I would like to see how it is implemented.  I would also like to see how technology enhance the learning for students in Yr 7 to 10.

Robot power forges school links with business

From The Age newspaper:

http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/robot-power-forges-school-links-with-business-20110525-1f4e0.html

This is so exciting to see student in primary school can have the experience of learning about building robots.  My son got Lego NXT for Christmas two years ago.  What I like about this is that children not only built the robot, they also have to program it.  The book give you steps by steps instruction on how to build a couple of different model and the programming part to.  However, it doesn't always work the first time.  It was very interesting to watch my son trying to work out what's wrong.

When I become teacher, I would like to run a lunch time club for students to build their robots.  I think this have more meaning to them then the theory that the students have to learn in year 10.  I know in their curriculum, they learn to do game maker.  This just give student a different prospective of looking at IT differently.

Facebook gossip pages vilify students

From The Age newspaper:

http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/facebook-gossip-pages-vilify-students-20110526-1f6kh.html

This new sosical media have advantages and disadvantages.  In the old days, gossip was spread in word.  Often it is hard to know where it come from.  When teacher came to investagate, they have no proof.

With the teachnology such as Facebook, Twitter, My space and mobile phone, the gossip and rumour get spread very quickly to outside of school setting.  I think that's where the problems are.  For the person who started posting these items, it is possible to trace back to who said what.  Approiate consequences can be dish out to the student who made the offence.  I would like to see the media reporting on what happen to the student who started the gossip and rumour as an example for other student not to do it.

Assignment 3

I am so undecided on what I want to do for this assignment.  I have tow option:

1.  Software Development cycle for year 11.  This is an introduction to year 12 software development stream.

2.  Using some software to help students have better understanding of Mathematics for year 7 to 10.  This might link into VELS on using ICT for visualization.

Twitter lesson

Found this on the internet.  It is a very interesting way of using media to teach twitter.  It make me dizzy but I am sure the young one like it.  Enjoy....

http://prezi.com/nsu8izuq8jxs/mathematweets/

Would love to learn more over the holiday.  This will make the dry lesson more interesting.

Setting restriction for individual post

Do anyone know how to do restriction on individual post in Blogger?  I found out how to restrict on your blog as a whole but not individual post.

http://nxwiki.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-to-restrict-blog-readers-in.html

I know it is possible to do it in WordPress.  Wish I have used it earlier.

Social Issue - Opne Source Software Yr 11

I spend about 20 minutes in Year 11 IT class talking about Open Source Software.  It can be related back to copy right issue.

Start:
I started with getting student thinking about the game maker files.  If you get an executable files and you like to change part of it, it is not possible.  But if you have the Game Maker File, you can modify it.

Successful Example:
Firefox, Linux, Open Office and Doom

Advantages:
We talked about how people make money from it.
And how some people use it to improve their skill in order to get a better job.

Managing:
We look at how it can be manage.  Also explain that other company use similar method to manage their project.

Reflection:
Overall, it is a good lesson.  Student have some experience of using an Open Source Software.  I feel that introducing this topic will expend their resource for the future.  In short terms, I will be interested to see if they use the idea in their assignment.  In Long Terms, I hope they remember this if they want to find some software to use.