Spreadsheets - More than just spreading sheets!

Although I use spreadsheets on a daily basis to keep track of budgets, calendars, house maintenance, etc, I haven't used them before to track marking and student progress. I can definitely see the benefits to using this system, particularly in the older years.

However, as I have more of a Junior Primary focus, I do struggle to see how I would use the example format to record feedback when the younger years don't have the same focus on testing and numbered marks. I would still use a spreadsheet to monitor student progress to make end of term marking easier, but I wouldn't be using the same number based format that calculates percentages to use on reports.

Googling different spreadsheet options, there are a lot of easy options for making marking easier throughout each term, particularly ipad apps that can be exported and input to student reports.

Comicssss

After taking some time to look at and create different comics, I can see how useful they can be as a classroom tool. I think a lot of students would love these as a learning activity, as it gives them the freedom to present learning in a really individualized, entertaining way. It would also work as a great way to encourage less creative students to have a go at interpreting material in a different way, especially using things like the ComicLife website that doesn't rely on the amazing artistic ability of hand-drawn comics. For more info on the educational benefits of comics, check out http://comiclife.com/education
I used a far better free program to create my comic; a free iPad app called Comics Head Lite.

 I think the trick with using comics in the classroom would be keeping students on track, as the entertaining topic of comics can be a pretty distracting one... My preparation for this lecture may or may not have turned into an hour of reading Calvin and Hobbes comics...

A story about Multimedia stories...

Hmmm. Multimedia stories. That's a topic.
I'm not super convinced how much I like them as a teaching resource, purely because of the effort to outcome ratio. If there were some decent ready-made examples online that could be quickly applied to a class then that would be helpful, and I can see the benefit of getting older students to make PowerPoint presentations and similar projects themselves... But I really can't see myself using this specific task of making a PowerPoint to use in a year 1 class, because I like kids to be far more hands-on and individually involves....
Can see the point of them, but admittedly not a massive fan...

Oh my blog!

Blogging about blogs. Yep. This is happening.

I must say I've been enjoying this process far more than I was expecting, and have found it surprisingly easy to get this whole thing going. I can definitely see the appeal for people starting up blogs for bigger audiences, or for use in a classroom. I've been mentored by a number of teachers that have a class blog for parents to have a better insight into classroom happening, and I can definitely see myself doing the same when I have my own class!
I like the idea of students having the opportunity to share their best work online for others to read, something a bit special!

Podcast Queen!

So, it turns out that making a podcast is wayyy easier and more automated than I thought! I knew the basic beginning of just recording a voice but wasn't sure what avenue to take when it actually came to uploading it in a public, downloadable sharing site such as iTunes. We managed to get most of a group podcast completed in less than half an hour, I was pretty impressed!!
Until next time, enjoy this photo of my puppy. She got heat stress earlier in the week so now each morning starts with a nice splashy play in a tub :)

What the Wiki!?

It's been really interesting to see how many things I didn't know about the technology I use on a daily basis. I consider myself to be pretty tech-savvy for day to day purposes, and yet was clueless about what a wiki actually was (even though I use them without realising, and apparently they are not just an abbreviation if Wikipedia), and even what was meant by Web 2.0. Even though knowing these definitions doesn't directly impact how I use the Internet every day, it's interesting to have that background knowledge so that, as a teacher, I'll have some idea how to answer questions that might pop up in my class.

In other news, I have discovered that the best bit abut blogs is making them PRETTY!!

Learning is fun!

Today we learned about fake stuff on the Internet, and how easily we can trick people into believing ridiculous things. Did you know that every time a puppy sneezes, a hopper ant dies?

In other news, tree climbing octupi do not exist, and there are lots of websites that kids can use to find information more effectively than just typing random stuff into google.