Tim’s Blog

I followed the link I found on Talia’s Blog about the Digital storytelling programs the Country Areas Program has been running. It is encouaging to see the government funding such
initiatives to support and equip teachers in rural areas with the knowledge of technological teaching resources such as digital storytelling. From what I read the workshops seem to be basic but productive with teachers producing their own digital story from media they have selected themselves.

From my own experience I have found that creating digital stories myself has given me the confidence to incorporate digital storytelling into the classroom during my future teaching endeavors. Just like children it is important that teachers can learn new methods of teaching by the tasks themselves. The constructivist theory applies to teachers as well as students!

Whilst reading Samantha’s posting on Technolgy to Support Learning I was reminded that if we are to use technology in the classroom it must be releavnt. Sam stated that from her readings she found:

“…technology is beneficial to use in classrooms provided that the use of technology be appropriate and useful for students”

As classroom teachers we must remember that we should not use technology and computer software for the sake of using computer technology and computer software. The use of technology must be well thought out and be used to benefit students for their current learning and education as well as providing them with skills to use in the future.

Thanks for the reminder Samantha!

Over the past few days at the Before and After School Care I work at many of the students there have been using our computer to play what is known as “Mathletics”. It involves mathematical activities and problems which they have to solve online. There is also an emlemnt of competing with other students all over the world. One child today was telling me that they had beaten someone from Japan last night and also played against someone from Singapore.

I am yet to sit down and have a proper look at the software but the program is generating a lot of exictment amongst the stage 2 students at the school. Not only are they excited about using the internet and computer software but they are excited about mathematics!! I have worked at this centre for over 2 years and have never heard so much excitement about a school project. Exciting stuff!

Here is a photo taken of me using the Photobooth program.

http://timsparks.edublogs.org/files/2008/03/photo-1.jpg

I think photography should be used and encouraged in classrooms. Photographs engage people’s interest and can be a good way of presenting and celebrating students’ work. In my experience in child care, whenever I wanted to engage parents into our program and show them what their children had been doing, photographs were always the best method of doing this. I feel the same thing could happen in a classroom.

I also think that students should become comfortable having their photo taken and also get used to taking photos. Photos are a great way to capture emotion and express feeling and emotion. Then of course students can use these photos in other digital projects they may undertake.

On Monday we created a mind-map of all the reasons why a teacher would use an internet based activity rather than another medium.

tims-first-podcast.mp3

Hello! My name is Tim sparks and I’m a 23 year guy who lives in suburban Sydney, Australia. I attend university at the University of Technology, I am studying Primary School Education. This degree will make me qualified to become a primary school teacher. To compliment my studies I work at a Before and After School Care at my local Catholic primary school. At is stage I enjoy working more than studying but I am finding out plenty of useful information in relation to the art of Primary School Teaching.

When I am not working or studying I enjoy playing and watching many sports both team and individual ones, I particularly enjoy cricket, rugby league and middle distance running. I also enjoy listening to all types of music in my spare time and whenever I get the chance I try and get behind my own guitar and have a strum, I find it a very relaxing. I am quite partial to an outdoor musical festival and hen I am lucky enough to get a ticket my favourite ones are the Blues and Roots festival at Byron Bay and the Falls Festival in Lorne, Victoria. Both have great music, awesome locations and a fantastic easy going atmosphere.

This Blog has been set up in the course Currnet Issues and Application in Educational Computing. The focus of this subject is to further discover the notion of ‘Teacher as a designer”. I am aiming to challenge myself with this subject and am attempting to become more confident with my use of computer technology.