Montessori Numbers

Montessori Numbers is a set of mathematical activities based on the Montessori method of teaching, where one of the major tenets is a hands-on approach to learning. Using predominately virtual MAB blocks, as well as beads and other commonly recognizable objects, Montessori Numbers takes one specific set of objects and uses them in basic activities which tap into counting and quantity. This app incorporates base ten imagery with units stacked to form columns of ten and columns that are lined up to form squares of 100, allowing students to explore numbers from 1-999. This app also provides the opportunity for students to explore the decimal system and place value.  The app would best utilized in Foundation to Year 2 classrooms as it aligns with the Australian Curriculum: Number and Algebra content strand and the corresponding elaborations for number and place value within these grade levels. Best of all, you can choose an Australian voice to provide feedback which allows for more efficient learning.

My Love Affair

With Apple. Yes, it's true I am a die hard Apple technology fan and I make no apologies for it. Though on occasion this blog may sprout ramblings of university banter meant to resemble some sort of intelligence on my part, it has also been created to share what I know about about educational technology, particularly relating to Apple products and how this technology can be implemented and used successfully in the classroom to benefit teachers and students. Over the next several months, my aim will be to guide fellow educators through the basics of iPad use (it's so easy, even my five year old knows how to navigate his way around Apple's graphic user interface), review what I consider to be quality apps, explore current technology trends and issues and examine in more detail The Australian Curriculum: Technologies (Digital Technology) Curriculum and (ICT) Capability.

Some Final Thoughts For Now

As I approach the end of my journey through the EDC3100 course, I find the need to reflect what I have learned about ICT's and pedagogy so far and I think that the picture above pretty much sums it up. Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach. Today’s students have not just changed incrementally from those of the past; a really big discontinuity has taken place. One might even call it a singularity – an event which changes things so fundamentally that there is absolutely no going back. This so-called singularity is the arrival and rapid dissemination of digital technology. For a 21st-century teacher, giving lecture-style monologues to students who merely act as receptacles for information is no longer acceptable, nor does it work. Instead, learning should be fostered through dialogue in the classroom with an interactive exchange of ideas that engages students and promotes independent, original thought all while using the available technology that today's students know and love in order to really get students interacting and sharing ideas to enrich their educational growth. Technology has revolutionized education, are you ready to change the way you teach?

Reflections on Professional Experience

In faith based education the ability to be able to teach students according to the principles set forth by Jesus makes for a more spiritually centering experience and it is for this reason that I had what could only be described as a beautiful and inspiring professional experience. Catholic education is something special, it is a high quality holistic education which nurtures students and educates them to become well informed, highly skilled members of the community with a commitment to social justice and social consciousness. It is also the foundation in which full development of the person is valued  - intellectually, spiritually physically, morally and emotionally. And that is what I saw which was emanated by the principal, teachers and students at St Francis de Sales Catholic Primary School this semester.

Being part of the staff at St Francis de Sales even for those three weeks was a enlightening and enriching experience for me. To start with my mentor Mrs D, has to be one of the most patient, knowledgeable and nurturing people that I know. It was an honour to be in her class and to watch her teach as well as receive a wealth of wonderful advice about pedagogy and the early years. She had a way and commitment to the children that you could only have if you truly loved your job and it wasn't uncommon for many of the children that she had taught in earlier grades to run up and give her a big hug or ask advice when they saw her. If that is not touching a life forever in the most wonderful way possible, I don't know what is. I would be honoured to be half the teacher that she is. Then there was Mr P, Mr P is the principal and he has the most hilarious sense of humour but beautiful relationship with his staff, that it was hard not to be envious. As I said to him on several occasions I just wanted to bottle up ambient mood at his school and take it with me. How lucky the school is to have him.

As far as the development of my ICT related skills at this prac, I was supported and had the opportunity to try out a number of different approaches in my own pedagogical practices, learning very quickly about what worked and what didn't and through reflective practice finding ways to improve from lesson to lesson. But I have to say, that the highlight of my professional experience apart from teaching the beautiful children was being able to set up and conduct a professional development afternoon on teaching the principal and teachers how to use iPads. It was a wonderful opportunity for me to share what I knew with people who I now consider are my peers - even though I was extremely nervous. So overall my professional experience was wonderful and I am thoroughly looking forward to returning to St Francis de Sales later in the year. How was your professional experience?

BrainPOP

An image from BrainPOP's Simple Machines Animation

BrainPOP is a educational website which creates animated, curricular content intended to engage students, support educators, and consequently increase student achievement. With its ability to be incorporated into traditional, blended, and "flipped" learning settings, BrainPOP supports individual, team, and whole-class learning by introduce new topics and complex concepts in language which students are easily able to understand.  At its most basic level, BrainPOP is a great educational resource for teachers which allows downloads of pre-determined free content however if you choose to subscribe be warned it is not cheap (making it out of reach for most pre-service educators). If you are like me and prefer access to the animations for without the cost then you can download BrainPOP or BrainPOPJr's movie of the week app via iTunes and watch some for free. I do love the content of this website, it is just a pity the cost makes it so far out of reach.

 

The Technology Integration Planning Model

The TIP Model

Over the duration of the EDC3100 course we have be introduced to a number of models to assist with planning and implementing ICT rich lessons within the classroom and the Technology Integration Planning Model (or TIP model) is one of these. The TIP model specifically addresses the planning behind integrating technology into the classroom through five phases, these phases are;

• Determine the relative advantage.
• Decide on objectives.
• Design integration strategies.
• Prepare the instructional environment.
• Evaluate and revise integration strategies.

As a teacher you need to decide the skills you want your students to learn from technology-integrated lessons and design a way to assess how well students retained the information and how effectively the activity was carried out and the TIP model provides a basis to reflect on this at each phase. As stated by educator Mike if the integration of ICT is not being used to enhance the learning experience in some way, but is merely a substitution for existing techniques, then opportunities to improve the learning experience are lost.
 

Sydney Centre For Innovation In Learning

 

The Sydney Centre For Innovation In Learning promotes excellence in education by providing new learning opportunities for students and future-focused professional development for teachers that seeks to transform educational thinking and practice in the wider educational community. Operating from the philosophy that students should be prepared to become problem solvers and team players - in preparation for an ever-changing workplace and lifelong learning, the Sydney Centre For Innovation In Learning is leading the way in pedagogical change by committing to effectively using a range of ICTs every day in every classroom. Given that students today are all native speakers of  the digital language of computers, video games and the internet, The Sydney Learning Centre For Innovation In Learning seeks to empower teachers to lose their tentative digital accent and become native speakers themselves through facilitating systematic exploration of the application of new technologies and e-learning to any classroom situation. Having had the opportunity to be able to read some of their research papers recently, I would recommend visiting the website to read these papers and for ideas which you may like to incorporate into your own school, pedagogical practices or classroom.