Everyone who checked out our presentation last week would have been amazed!
We discussed the options of using World of Warcraft, Age of Empires, Call of Duty, Battlefield and a range of other exciting computer games that students would like.
I highly encourage teachers in the future to make these games part of their text so that when students actually go to play these computer games, to which they spend something like 10,000 hours, they are thinking critically about the content.
In my next post, I'll post some examples that can be used within the class. At the end of the day, the students will end up playin computer games... so as teachers why not make this "playing" time relevant to classroom content!
Search for the positives, don't be a doom-sayer!
Monday, 31 October 2011
Monday, 10 October 2011
Comments, Since I cannnot comment on other blogs ><'
http://amandasictsecondaryblog.blogspot.com/
Reading Amanda's blog and in regards to her VELS discussion, I saw many similarities between her and myself. I too was a bit of a skeptic and didn't feel comfortable using technology in the classroom.
However, the difference was that I somewhat knew how to use the programs like PowerPoint. Not like it was anything advanced though!
I think once you take those first steps to trial technology in the classroom, you really begin to see its value. The level of engagement one can achieve from simply using a computer with visiual and interactive component is just amazing!
I really hope Amanda that you can continue to take those baby steps with ICT in the classroom, because it can be such a powerful tool. In terms of what you listed in terms of contact, collaborative learning, engagement etc.
I cannot wait til I can have my own classroom and interchanging seemlessly with ICT and other classroom activities!
Reading Amanda's blog and in regards to her VELS discussion, I saw many similarities between her and myself. I too was a bit of a skeptic and didn't feel comfortable using technology in the classroom.
However, the difference was that I somewhat knew how to use the programs like PowerPoint. Not like it was anything advanced though!
I think once you take those first steps to trial technology in the classroom, you really begin to see its value. The level of engagement one can achieve from simply using a computer with visiual and interactive component is just amazing!
I really hope Amanda that you can continue to take those baby steps with ICT in the classroom, because it can be such a powerful tool. In terms of what you listed in terms of contact, collaborative learning, engagement etc.
I cannot wait til I can have my own classroom and interchanging seemlessly with ICT and other classroom activities!
Monday, 19 September 2011
Wow... using WOW for your resume!
I am actually looking forward to my presentation for the second assessment of this subject!
I found this very interesting and relevant article whilst researching my topic of games in education.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.04/learn.html
I encourage anyone who stops by to have a look at this article!
It reveals how a senior management position was given to an individual who played a computer game. This is because 'World of Warcraft' elicits certain skills that can be transferred to real life situations.
- "The day may not be far off when companies receive resumes that include a line reading "level 60 tauren shaman in World of Warcraft." The savviest employers will get the message."
I found this astounding, so perhaps there is a place for these sorts of games within the education system. There are many more arguements FOR and AGAINST the use of such a game in the classroom. However I think it is an interesting topic to debate!
So for anyone stopping by my blog, What are your thoughts on the idea of games such as World of Warcraft and its use in the classroom?
I found this very interesting and relevant article whilst researching my topic of games in education.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.04/learn.html
I encourage anyone who stops by to have a look at this article!
It reveals how a senior management position was given to an individual who played a computer game. This is because 'World of Warcraft' elicits certain skills that can be transferred to real life situations.
- "The day may not be far off when companies receive resumes that include a line reading "level 60 tauren shaman in World of Warcraft." The savviest employers will get the message."
I found this astounding, so perhaps there is a place for these sorts of games within the education system. There are many more arguements FOR and AGAINST the use of such a game in the classroom. However I think it is an interesting topic to debate!
So for anyone stopping by my blog, What are your thoughts on the idea of games such as World of Warcraft and its use in the classroom?
Sunday, 18 September 2011
Blog Frustration!
Hey guys!
It is almost impossible for me to comment on your wonderful posts if all the blogs are set to private.
Help a brother out? =P
-Matt
It is almost impossible for me to comment on your wonderful posts if all the blogs are set to private.
Help a brother out? =P
-Matt
Wednesday, 7 September 2011
Spanish ICT Music Video
Check out these youtube links!
It reveals the point I made in the VELS post about integrating ICT and Spanish.
These are extremely funny and looks as though the students had a good time creating them!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZB7VFXqu_0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4SZp7RfopY
Sunday, 4 September 2011
ICT & VELS
“ICT supports knowledge-building among teams and enables team members to collaborate, inquire, interact and integrate prior knowledge with new understanding.” (VELS, 2009)
Today my blog will be looking to address the above statement in regards to Information and Communication Technology and L.O.T.E (Spanish). So far throughout the blog [first time blogging experience], I have been talking about various new activities that I have come across and have randomly thought about. Although this block placement I am not teaching Spanish, my interest with ICT is in regards to Spanish. So a lot of this blog is a reflection based on last semester, thinking about all the different things I could have done. However this hasn’t stopped me looking at other L.O.T.E classes and seeing how they experience language and ICT. Also generally I have kept a keen eye out to see if I could merge ICT activities from other subjects into a L.O.T.E classroom environment.
The ICT activities were extremely diverse and often the end product was fairly fantastic. One assignment of note was assessment for a year 8 science class which had the students create a video about sound and music. Not only was the final product amazing and quite humorous, it was also very detailed and covered the content required on the topic of sound. This assignment required that students work in teams. When watching the video that the students had created, one could visibly see the enjoyment they had making it. It was also obvious based on the content that they were learning, but they were just having so much fun doing it! They drew upon their own prior knowledge of sound and music by choosing their favourite songs, but then they explored how sound travels through different densities. Overall it was just a fantastic team assignment that really involved everyone in the group. Also viewing one of the classes in the computer lab to see the students working on their video editing, not only were they discussing key concepts like density and sound travel. The students were also enhancing their knowledge for ICT, needing to save and file different types of files. There also appeared to be a high use of file sharing and emailing which further encourages the idea of team collaboration. The music videos also required the students to add text and information, because they didn’t speak at all during the clip. I honestly couldn’t believe year 8s created such a task. Amazing!
This activity, now seeing the results, is definitely I could see adapting to a language class. I could perhaps have the students create a music video for a Spanish song, in which they have to listen and interpret the lyrics and create the right scene out for the song. This is definitely something that could turn out to be very fun, all the while students taking in new vocabulary, new verb structures and so forth. It is just amazing to see how much team work and enjoyment occurs when using ICT activities. These sorts of activities also encourage students to take risks and be as creative as possible, because their imagination is limitless and this is what you want to encourage in a Spanish class or any class. The reason why it is particularly useful in a Spanish class is because that sense of flexibility and informal manner of assessment allows students to use the language without fear (Harmer, 2007). This is highly important because it is a big issue in language classes trying to get confidence in the students to speak/use the language (Hamer, 2007).
Overall the idea that ICT supports knowledge-building among teams and enables team members to collaborate, inquire, interact and integrate prior knowledge with new understanding couldn’t be any clearer. This type of assessment proves this point. Not only this, but ICT explores student development in many more different aspects. This could be shown through the use of ICT creating confidence in students to use language where other forms of assessment may seem intimidating. Allowing students to be flexible, creative and working in teams creates a fun and enjoyable learning environment. So as the students are having fun, they are also learning the subject matter and all things ICT.
Honestly, in terms of ICT and how interlinks with many other learning areas in VELS I could go on about it forever and how it impacts each area. However, I have got assignments to correct! Life of a teacher.
I’ll see if I can find the assignment the students created, as apparently they uploaded it onto youtube! Might be a great resource for all you science teachers!
Harmer, J. (2007) Speaking (Chapter 20). In, The Practice of English language teaching -4th ed. (pp.343-363). London: Longman.
VELS (2009), Domains, Information Communication Technology. Revised edition October 2009.
[Still haven't worked out how to comment on other people's blogs. It keeps doing this weird "try logging in again" thing. *Sigh* sometimes techonology refuses to be friendly!]
Thursday, 25 August 2011
Busy Block!
So I haven't exactly had time to update this blog since the start of the block placement. However there have been many opportunities to use ICT in the classrooms at this highschool.
This highschool is actually so into the whole ICT in the classroom that the ICT teachers even set up workshops to give other teachers new and exciting ideas on how to incorporate things into their classroom.
They range from using blogs, portals, prezzi, websites, emails, facebook and so on!
However since I have been teaching a Renaissance class to year 8s I had an idea for an assignment that would be heaps of fun for everyone. Although I didn't give it to my year 8s here at this school, simply because time doesnt allow me to do it. Anyways... my idea was since we have been watching a documentary on the Medici Family, I had the idea that perhaps the students could create a classroom documentary on the Renaissance. The idea is that instead of doing an oral presentation, booklet, posters etc, this could be something completely out of the ordinary and has the whole class working to one goal.
The students would choose a number of famous figues from the Renaissance and in a video [using windows movie maker or whichever the school has] create a documentary detailing the life of these famous individuals. Students would have creative freedom if they wanted to make it like an interview, they would dress up... someone would do the voice over like a narrative of the documentary. Hence by the end of it, the students would have covered all the neccesities of any other assignment... but they would have picked up the skills to use windows movie maker and it would be a great team/class effort.
So thats just one idea that i'll be saving for when I start teaching! -- What does everyone think? Any other grand ideas?
This highschool is actually so into the whole ICT in the classroom that the ICT teachers even set up workshops to give other teachers new and exciting ideas on how to incorporate things into their classroom.
They range from using blogs, portals, prezzi, websites, emails, facebook and so on!
However since I have been teaching a Renaissance class to year 8s I had an idea for an assignment that would be heaps of fun for everyone. Although I didn't give it to my year 8s here at this school, simply because time doesnt allow me to do it. Anyways... my idea was since we have been watching a documentary on the Medici Family, I had the idea that perhaps the students could create a classroom documentary on the Renaissance. The idea is that instead of doing an oral presentation, booklet, posters etc, this could be something completely out of the ordinary and has the whole class working to one goal.
The students would choose a number of famous figues from the Renaissance and in a video [using windows movie maker or whichever the school has] create a documentary detailing the life of these famous individuals. Students would have creative freedom if they wanted to make it like an interview, they would dress up... someone would do the voice over like a narrative of the documentary. Hence by the end of it, the students would have covered all the neccesities of any other assignment... but they would have picked up the skills to use windows movie maker and it would be a great team/class effort.
So thats just one idea that i'll be saving for when I start teaching! -- What does everyone think? Any other grand ideas?
Monday, 8 August 2011
So many activities!
Wow, never really realised how many activities were available to do with using a computer!
It is pretty awesome how we can make little movies and so forth. Much more fun than the constant use of powerpoint!
Some of the activities I wouldn't mind doing, especially with a Spanish class, is being able to link up with a school on the otherside of the world that speaks Spanish. I think it would be fantastic if the students could get that authentic experience of Skyping with an individual who speaks Spanish and it would create an authentic experience. This is, I believe, a great use of technology as it is really something that would be a lot harder to implement without a computer! It is also taking it that step further than the original idea of pen pals. As this would truly test an individuals speaking and listening skills which is essentially what you wish to achieve in a language class.
However the only downfall of this of course is the timezone difference. I'd perhaps need to do a little bit of research into working out appropriate times for the students to link up with other Spanish speaking countries. But hey, the idea is there -- and maybe when I head over to Spain next year I'll be able to do some networking with some of the schools there!
The prospect of ICT is actually a little exciting when thinking of it as more than a typewriter or text book!
It is pretty awesome how we can make little movies and so forth. Much more fun than the constant use of powerpoint!
Some of the activities I wouldn't mind doing, especially with a Spanish class, is being able to link up with a school on the otherside of the world that speaks Spanish. I think it would be fantastic if the students could get that authentic experience of Skyping with an individual who speaks Spanish and it would create an authentic experience. This is, I believe, a great use of technology as it is really something that would be a lot harder to implement without a computer! It is also taking it that step further than the original idea of pen pals. As this would truly test an individuals speaking and listening skills which is essentially what you wish to achieve in a language class.
However the only downfall of this of course is the timezone difference. I'd perhaps need to do a little bit of research into working out appropriate times for the students to link up with other Spanish speaking countries. But hey, the idea is there -- and maybe when I head over to Spain next year I'll be able to do some networking with some of the schools there!
The prospect of ICT is actually a little exciting when thinking of it as more than a typewriter or text book!
Thursday, 28 July 2011
Time to get this blog rollin'
Okay well, never done a blog before but here it goes!
This subject I feel would have been great to have last semester because in my LOTE staffroom I was working with an individual who was very capable with computers. If I can recall correctly, he had a degree in programming or something along those lines. He was pretty awesome how he incorporated language learning and programming into many of his classes.
He used to go home the night before and actually create games similar to those "Math Blaster" games but for Italian. They would be great for getting the students to learn vocab, sentence structures and so forth. He said it was very easy and that he would teach me how to do it sometime next year! So looking forward to that, as for some reason once you stick kids infront of a computer their eyes just light up and become fixated on the computer ---- regardless to what they are doing on the computer! So I feel if you can kinda trick the students into learning with the computer then it probably a handy trick to have!
Unfortunately I don't have a programming degree or background... and therefore will have to wait and see how this subject unfolds so I can really begin to think about using computers and technology as more than just a glorified textbook/typewriter!
-Matt
This subject I feel would have been great to have last semester because in my LOTE staffroom I was working with an individual who was very capable with computers. If I can recall correctly, he had a degree in programming or something along those lines. He was pretty awesome how he incorporated language learning and programming into many of his classes.
He used to go home the night before and actually create games similar to those "Math Blaster" games but for Italian. They would be great for getting the students to learn vocab, sentence structures and so forth. He said it was very easy and that he would teach me how to do it sometime next year! So looking forward to that, as for some reason once you stick kids infront of a computer their eyes just light up and become fixated on the computer ---- regardless to what they are doing on the computer! So I feel if you can kinda trick the students into learning with the computer then it probably a handy trick to have!
Unfortunately I don't have a programming degree or background... and therefore will have to wait and see how this subject unfolds so I can really begin to think about using computers and technology as more than just a glorified textbook/typewriter!
-Matt
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