Living and Teaching in The World of Technology AND Promoting Cultural Diversity.

ICT, digital saviness and skill amelioration are crucial in today’s world. Technology is continually changing and one must either keep up or drown. I am in my twenties and consider myself technologically capable or as seen in the Week 3 reading, Prensky (2001) puts it a “Digital Native.” I have grown up with computers and the internet and I am comfortable playing around with a computer, multi-tasking and searching for information. However I only really started using computers programmes such as Miscrosoft Powerpoint and presentations towards the end of high school. Whereas, the year 2 students, 6 and 7 year olds presented slide shows, multimedia clips and songs with ease in class. I feel I am a “digital native”, but I believe there is a new bread of “digital natives”, just like ‘Miscrosoft Windows’ brings out new versions of ‘Office’ each year, “digital natives” change, upgrade and develop faster and younger and us older (I refer to myself and my peers) “digital natives” must also keep up, change and adapt to keep up with the ever changing nature of ICT.

I also observed co-operative learning, learning communities and project based learning (Grabe &Grabe, 2007) that was part of an integrated unit of work “Who am I”. This unit has been worked on for over six weeks and I was fortunate to observe the classes Multicultural Day. The students were dressed in their traditional cultural clothing, gave a presentation to the class and brought in food from their cultural background. Uniqueness and multiculturalism were celebrated and used as tools to teach the students that everybody is different and that is okay. Each person must listen and respect other people even if they are different. There were various quotes written on the white board that included: “Welcome to Multicultural Day”, “Everybody is unique”, “A celebration of our uniqueness”, “It is what makes us special.” From celebrating and listening to each student’s cultural diversity, a greater level of appreciation, respect and understanding was attained. Students were also taught good listening skills, turn taking, appropriate questioning skills and respect (Arthur, Gordon & Butterfield, 2003, Week 5 reading) from this unit. The students were assessed on level of eye contact, ability to speak about their uniqueness, their interests and what food they brought in. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and felt it was a valuable learning experience for the year 2 students as well as myself. As well as ICT, I believe it is crucial to discuss, acknowledge and respect cultural diversity. My teaching philosophy Live Love Learn :) realises that each student is different and that these differences should be identified, celebrated and used as teaching and learning experiences. 

I also believe that a greater level of appreciation and understand comes from discussing cultural diversity and as we live in Australia a multicultural nation it is important to start the discussion from a young age and to continue indefinitely.

References

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon. 9 (5).

Grabe, M & Grabe, C. (2007) Integrating technology for meaningful learning. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Arthur, M., Gordon. C & Butterfield, N. (2003). The impact of curriculum and instruction. In Classroom Management: Creating Positive Learning Environments, (pp43-52). Thomson: Southbank, Victoria.

Disruptions Galore

Today there were many disruptions and I saw how a day’s schedule can be totally changed due to extra-curricular activities. I also saw how teachers maximise the use of resources, teachers and teaching strategies. As part of an integrated unit of work, the students are learning about the history of their school and the land that the school is situated on. The lesson I observed was part of many lessons however during the part that I did observe, the students were taking part in a Question and Answer (Q&A) discussion session with the principal. She has been working at the school for numerous years and developed various strategies and projects and consequently knows a great deal about the school, including the history. She also enjoys taking part helping and encouraging students learning progress and therefore she was willing to take time to be part of this Q&A discussion lesson. However this meant that my class teacher needed to work around the principal’s schedule and rearrange her own schedule to include the valuable learning experience. I was fortunate to observe this learning experience and feel that the students engaged, enjoyed and also leant about the principal and the school.

The students already had a series of questions prepared and were given direct instructions rehearsing  questions before they were asked to the principal. The rehearsal time took approximately a lesson. This made me aware that time must be planned to revise and rehearse as well as deliver.

This form of teaching, using questioning, engaged the students (Killen, 2007) and gave them curiosity about the school and its history and about the teachers at the school.

I also observed ICT effectively being used in the lesson. Students used a flip camera to record the Q&A discussion. Two students were assigned the role of recording. This gave them greater responsibility and involvement in the lesson and they thoroughly enjoyed the task. The flip was used to record the Q&A with the principal so that the students could go back and look at the lesson, rehear the questions and the answers and so that they did not have to quickly write the answers down.

Reference

Killen, R. (2007). Using direct instruction as a teaching strategy. In Effective Teaching Strategies: Lessons from Research and Practice, (4^th ed.), (pp 101-124). Thomson Social Science Press.

So it Begins My Life as a Teacher...:)

My first day of professional experience was overwhelming, exhausting but exhilarating. An interesting observation I made was that roll call was used as a learning experience and integrated into the terms unit of work ‘Who Am I’. Each student’s task was to investigate their cultural background, origin, roots and complete various activities. One of which was to say Hello during roll call in their native tongue. For example if their background is French the student would say ‘Bonjour’ , if the student is Australian or does not know their roots then they say ‘Hello’ in English. I found this a very beneficial task. It allows the students to investigate their own culture as well as learn about other cultures in the class promoting cultural diversity.

I observed a water bottle classroom management strategy. The students are aware of the water bottle policy. They are allowed water bottles, but the bottles must be placed at the back of the classroom and they are allowed to drink when they feel they are thirsty. This is useful as it is a whole class strategy, the students can manage themselves and there is less clutter and likelihood of spilling as all bottles are in one area.

I also noticed other strategies such as saying “bottoms on floor” , “eyes to me” and when asking students to do a creative writing task in silence the teacher gave a description of what she should hear – she should be able to hear birds outside, the wind and no voices in the classroom.

ICT was used in a science class – a video from TeacherTube http://www1.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?title=Living_and_Non_Living&video_id=176491  the smart board to reiterate the main concepts in a lesson. This was effective as the key concepts had been discussed, explained, questioned and drawn. Therefore by watching a video reinforcing the key concepts I felt was effective and engaging.

Reference

TeacherTube. (2010) Living and non-living, retrieved March 18, 2011, from http://www1.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?title=Living_and_Non_Living&video_id=176491