So (once again) I’ve moved!!
Check me out at teachingtalia.com.
The training site I run is a Moodle platform. I just uploaded a new theme, and installed it, but it had a logo in the header that obviously wasn’t mine.
Replacing this with my own was a really simple process. I just right clicked on that section, and chose ‘view image’. The URL now displayed exactly where this picture file was in my FTP.
I then located it in my Transmit, downloaded it, edited it in photoshop, making sure not to edit the dimensions at all, or the border, and then saved it and uploaded it again!
So now my header looks more accurate to my training site!
So I have started my dive into using podcasting. I am not entirely sure how well my apprentices will respond to it, but am hoping for the best.
So my new podcasts are available here.
My process for submitting podcasts.
1. Find out where to host them, and some general info about podcasts.
I had to find out about how people watch podcasts if they don’t have an iPod and how people download them.
2. After I uploaded them I had to go about working out the kinks- put in pictures, etc. I am not happy with the embed feature of podomatic- it moves it to the top right hand corner of the screen, not in the post, which is annoying. i tried manipulating the code, but to no avail.
As far as photos go, I have decided to just take people’s photos from Flickr and credit them for it in the description. I think that this is a nice way of giving them a little plug for their photos, and also using something free.
3. Register podcast, which I have done with iTunes and that’s all. I don’t know if I will bother with the others, because this isn’t something that I necessarily want lots of randoms watching, it’s really for a specified audience (but I definitely don’t mind if others watch them).
4. I guess my ‘last’ step is notifying everyone. So I have posted it on the apprentice website, and also on the training site. When people come in I will tell them in person as well.
So today has been a really good day for me in regards to researching more on e-learning. I am loving all the information I am soaking up, and will focus on all this a little more when I get home tonight. But the main thing that has become really apparent to me is that podcasting might just be a great tool in my particular area.
A friend on mine, Sue, has this great illustration of how podcasting can work well in TAFE.
I am inclined to use pod-o-matic, at least for the time being, as this is what Sue uses and recommends.
Being trained in Primary School teaching, all this TAFE stuff is quite different to what I’m use to, but working with apprentices now has meant that I’ve had to get really involved and work it out. I am finding that I am REALLY enjoying working with TAFE students, and could definitely see myself doing more and more in this area. I will let you all know when my podcasts are up and running, and you can find out lots about electricity!
To properly start my new e-learning theme, I’ve got some food for thought.
This is a youtube video that talks about today’s learners. Quite interesting. But I find that I am cynical with these things because I don’t thing that my apprentices at work are like that at all… Some of them are less tech-savy then the preps I had last year. But maybe this is because they are more generation Y then X or Z?
Thoughts?
Wow, it’s been a long time since I wrote here, but I’ve been surprised at the consistent traffic I’ve been getting here!
The reason I am starting this blog back up again is because I have been pretty involved in my job at John Love Electrical with training apprentices, and creating online training. I guess I would just love to write down my thoughts, experiences, and hopefully connect with other people doing similar things!
So my site- http://taliacarbis.com is up and running! All of the post from this blog, and my two main others are all in the ONE thing! How exciting!
So, you can follow the link and bookmark that site, because that’s where I’ll be posting from now on :-) .
It’s a lot more professional, smarter, and nicer- and still very ‘me’. Just so you know- there are still quite a few things that I am editing and fixing on it (and probably always will be), so please keep that in mind! I would love your feedback, advice, and just general thoughts. It’ll only take a second!
Thanks so much to everyone who reads this blog, and hey, why not tell me that you do, just so I know and keep writing!
I think it’s about time I posted on here that I am not doing my internship.
I’d wish I could say that it’s because I decided that I needed a break, but it’s not. I failed Numeracy, and so next year I will be doing one subject and then my internship. By that time I will be married (yay!) and I’ve decided that I will work a full time job while I do that last subject, then take time off for internship.
I’m hopefully going to get a teacher aide position. Fingers crossed. If it’s the right thing to do it will happen, and if it’s not then it won’t. At the moment I’m doing work for my dad which is keeping me occupied and paid.
If I get a t.a job then I will keep writing this blog as a teacher aide blog, and if I don’t, and have to get a job somewhere else then I will let you know and won’t blog in this blog again until I get either a t.a job, or am doing my internship.
So I hope you’ve enjoyed the resources and reflections that have been on this blog, and hopefully there’ll be more to come!
Today was a really good day, and I was proud of myself. During second break it rained, and so the outside play that was planning couldn’t go ahead. I spoke to Jenny about it, and then decided to work on the big house we’re making. In the groups I took out we drew up plans, and moved around the boxes. We spoke about what rooms were important, how we wanted the doors and windows to be, and what we would use for various aspects. It worked really well. The kids were really excited about it, and I let them move through the house and explore the rooms so that their excitement about the project was heightened, and so that they were more and more keen on doing more work on it.
I felt that the art lesson that I did at the end of the day was a HUGE success. I was so glad and proud that it worked out and that the children created such brilliant prints. I would love to do more art with the children. I am trying to think of ways to incorporate it into other things that we’re learning about. But I do think that art skills are important to learn even all by themselves.
I have received a fair few parent help forms now, and have made up a vague timetable of when people are available. I will talk to Kenny about contacting one or two parents about helping with perceptual motor rotations this Friday. See if she thinks that that’s too soon or whatever.
I want to do some cooking with the kids soon. I think that would be great. I am not quite sure how to bring it in yet… maybe ANZAC biscuits because we’re learning about what’s around us in Australia?
I was also really glad that I was able to help Jenny and Margie this morning with the photos. I had never seen that program before, and so it was good that it did what I expected it too! I would love to get in and clean up all those photos, but there’s just not enough time in the day, or in my case the night either…
The kids are really into their play at the moment. Which is good. This morning they didn’t need anyone helping them either. I went out and ‘did the rounds’ and was so pleased to see James and Jayden had created car parks on the concrete for their trucks! It’s great that they’re moving forward with it. I want to take them for a walk around Chancellor Park later in the week so that we can have a look, as a class, at some road signs and things like that. Then hopefully we can be applying more real life aspects to our play!
During play, inside, Ben, Tommy and Elyce were making a museum out of blocks. They even put little dinosaurs inside and things like that! It was really quite spectacular. I took lots of photos!
Today was an experience.
I was a little disheveled this morning when I was told that I was taking the day all on my own. But I got my act together, and made the morning happen.
I really am a planner, I swear. I NEED to be. This was obvious after today. I had heaps of ideas for the morning session running around in my head, and a few things planned out- but nothing on paper. I hated working like that.
I should have planned, but circumstances the night before left me with little time.
I am still getting my head around the whole ‘ability’ of Preps- it seems to be such a rapidly changing environment. I am always conscious of not ‘pushing’ anything on them, and I find the balance involved in the negotiated curriculum a really hard thing to achieve.
As always rotations went pretty well. I love the structure and predictability of them. I am using a bell for behaviour management purposes with rotations, and that is great!
With the rotations, I wanted to really cement what we had done the previous week, and so I did some similar activities- just with a variation. I was really trying to work on their early mathematical understandings, and some letter recognition.
The activity where they match the capital letter to the little letter, to the picture is to help them with their key board skills. I noticed again in library today, when we were on the computers, that some children are having trouble putting in the right letter, just because it’s a capital. Hopefully just a couple more focus lessons on that will help that a bit.
I want to work on number recognition (hence the dice rotation)and some basic math skills from the number strand. I have heard Chloe H tell everyone that 1+1=2, and the other day we were talking as a group and everyone was just ecstatic about working out what two plus two might be, on our fingers. So I think that they are ready for that, and definitely interested, which I guess is that key.
The bigger/smaller, and odd one out sheets was a bit of a pre-test. I really didn’t know what level they were at when it came to things like that, and so I wanted to see. It was interesting- the results. Everyone knew big/small, and the majority knew which was the odd one out. This might be something that I could look at as well, because it’s a really interesting subject.
I am still at a loss as with what to do with spare ten minutes. It’s such an awkward time… In the afternoon today I read a story, which was good, but even then there was about 3 minutes after the story. I need to search for some good books that we can have more of a discussion on.
I am trying to make an effort to think of some short little, MEANINGFUL activities that will help fill in those awkward gaps.
I find it really hard to think quickly on my feet- always have. And so that part of Prep in really challenging. I haven’t found it such a challenge in the other years I’ve been in, and so to combat that I’ve decided to have suggestions in my head, or in a book, to help me think of quick activities.
Back to the morning sessions. My thoughts are that it was really unstructured, and this was my biggest fault. I didn’t enjoy the lesson so much because of that either. I thought that I had some great ideas- google maps, The Sims, drawing the plans… all good ideas, just not put together really well. I’ve learnt from it though- plans, plans, plans. Particularly on days like today when I’m really able to do that.
I had to get seriously angry a few times today. But I think that overall my control is improving. I am really trying to mix up my ways of getting their attention. I hate to yell, which is inconvenient, and my voice is not very loud, which is also inconvenient. When I talk loudly for any length of time my voice starts to leave and I go croaky- the pain of never fully getting over the worse cough of my life, which I had for a month and only left the week before school started. Every now and again I still cough.
It was a bit hard to concentrate today, and harder to keep everyone’s attention because of all the moving, but I kept them when they wouldn’t get in the way, and we dealt with it.
Another really overwhelming thing I’m finding is how BIG the curriculum is. We are doing SO many things, and it’s really blowing my mind a bit. I was proud of myself for continuing on with the ‘designing a house’ that Jenny had started the other day. I was not 100% sure what we were meant to be doing with that, ’cause it wasn’t my idea, and nothing was really ’said’ about it yet. But I thought that it was important to keep on it, and I remember Jenny saying, after we’d done the activity the other day, that we needed to follow it up and make it meaningful. Students are still struggling with the concept of a ‘plan’, as opposed to a picture of the outside of their house. We’ll need to work on that.
Like I said, SO many things happening. I had really grand intentions of starting the site word chart on Monday, but it’s Wednesday tomorrow and I still haven’t done it.
To be honest, with a lot of the ideas, and things we’re doing, when i go home and think about it, I always come up with ideas to present it to older kids. I wish that I had seem more ‘teaching’ in my observation times, and less play. But what’s done is done, and things couldn’t be changed back then.
I am learning lots when Jenny does take over and do things with the kids. I think one of the things I need to improve on is making things SOUND more exciting and amazing then they really are. If I do that then the kids get excited about it. Jenny made home readers sound SO exciting today that even I wanted to take one home! But this doesn’t come naturally to me, and is yet another thing for me to work on.
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