leah :: Friends blog

http://web2learn.net/wpblog/2007/03/16/lan5184-journal-1-eva Ok, so I must admit that the thought of focussing on testing does not exactly thrill me. I have never really been comfortable with numbers, statistics and testing. However, it is an area that I would like to have a better command over, in terms of how a better understanding of testing and [...]

Moving from teaching at the high school level to teaching at University is in many ways very daunting.  Do I really know my stuff well enough to try and help guide trainees to become good teachers?  Do I know all my theory and academic theories and terminology well enough?  I feel like I'm still learning a great deal about all this stuff as I undertake my Masters.

But don't you know all that from your own teacher training Brad?  Well yes and no!  The year of my post graduate diploma was turbulent, with the success of good practicums and academic results mixed against the background of a marriage that broke down dramatically over the course of that year (now about 10 years past).  At the time I think I held things together pretty well with my study despite the personal traumas, however there were many days that I needed to take time out from study and lectures just to try and deal with the personal crisis that was happening.  Pedagogy lectures were perhaps some of the most poorly delivered (read boring) and so it was often those that I opted out of when I needed some time.  Subsequently today I feel there are some gaps in my knowledge and theoretical understandings, which I'm now trying to address through my study and own professional reading.

In the meantime though I have taught for about 10 years and think it would be fair to say that I have been a reasonably good classroom teacher.  Not necessarily brilliant, at times just surviving and at other times helping students learn some fairly creative stuff, and having reasonably good relationships with most students.  The parts of teaching that I enjoyed most were helping students to develop their creative skills with multimedia and seeing them produce some great work, the downside was trying to drag other students through a course that they were not really interested in, they were just there to fill up their timetables because they were not allowed to have free periods.  Unfortunately that latter began to wear down my enthusiasm for high school teaching over the last few years, as well as my perceived decline in student behaviour generally within the school environment.

Stepping out of the classroom, taking leave without pay to look after my young daughter, actually gave me the chance to develop professionally and become aware of many new developments in my field, Information Technology, particularly Read/Write web (Web 2.0).  At the same time I began working on my Masters and started to develop my understanding of Educational Theory, in particular getting my head around post-modernism and having some of my points of view challenged and change as I considered and assimilated points of view that I'd previously known little about.  This is a journey I'm still on and am acutely aware of the gaps in my understandings, which I want to improve on.

In the day-to-day reality of teaching in a high school, planning lessons, marking assessments, purchasing resources, trying to work collaboratively with colleagues; there is often little time for truly deep reflection of the theoretical level.  Usually the deepest you have time to go is making sure that you have a logically constructed programme for the year that will ensure that students learn all the required skills and content and complete the mandated assessments in the given time.  Along the way you try to improve and tweak learning activities form the previous year or to suit the particular group you are working with.  Managing students and trying to keep up their interest and motivation takes up a lot of professional time.

So against the above backdrop, sorry about the ramble, I now find myself here trying to effectively help first year teaching trainees come into the profession.  I am nervous and optimistic about my role in this.  Optimistic because I really do have a passion to help teachers in their work, particularly in the area of ICT integration.  I believe that effective use of ICT tools, in particular Web2.0, can help teachers to engage students in learning activities that have a real audience and are then likely to be more engaging for them.  I'm also interested to be doing more work that involves examination of learning theory and its practical application in the classroom.  Having to focus on this in my teaching will also help me develop my understandings and revisit my own classroom practices.  The most driving part of this is to do the reading that the students are doing, making sure I have a sound knowledge of the theory and being able to assist the students in their understandings.  At times it seems to be a case of demystifying the academic terminology and relating it back to my teaching experience, looking for the real-life experiences that I can anchor to what the theory is saying.  There have been times when I know my teaching practice has not been good by the standards of what we promote with students and in the theory, and there are as many times when my teaching would get close to reaching the ideals we strive for.

About half an hour before my first Education lecture this week I was very nervous, however as I got up in front of the class, I felt less so.  Maybe it was like riding a bicycle; I did really know what to do.  I think the thing about teaching here is that I will be examining my delivery even more, because I want to model good teaching practices.  Fortunately I am just so well supported by the lesson plans and resources that the unit coordinator, Jill, is putting together, I certainly do not have much pressure with regard to preparation from that aspect.  Which is great, it gives me time to get my head around the material to be covered and make sure that my own understandings are sound for when I have to deliver to my students.

I have enjoyed the initial interaction with the students and certainly view teaching them from the aspect of assisting their learning but also my own, hopefully I become a better teacher along the way as well as developing my own academic understandings of the field of Education.

 

 

 

  

I have had my head down for the last few weeks due to taking on a new job sessional lecturing in Education at my local University - Edith Cowan University - South West Campus (also known as the Faculty of Regional Professional Studies).  I am lecturing and tutoring in two first year units - Becoming a Professional Teacher and Personal Office Computing (a foundation computing unit).

 

At the same time I am also chipping away at my Master of Education course and am completing a unit on testing and evaluation.

 

So over the coming months I will be using this blog space to refelect on my experiences in all facets of my involvement with university, indeed part of my coursework and professional activities require such refelection.  So if anyone has some thoughts, experiences or advice they might like to share as i take this journey, feel free to comment! 

This coming week I will be delivering a week long Summer School unit called 'Teaching Methods Incorporating Computers' at Edith Cowan University, in Bunbury Western Australia.  During this week I'll be introducing about 20 trainee teachers to the basics of the read/write web.

As part of the course I will be helping the trainee teachers to sign up for an Educationbridges account.  I feel that this will be greatly beneficial to them as it will put them in contact with many educators who have a strong interest, skills and experience in using technology in the classroom.  Also I think it will be a positive contribution to the community to have the perspeective of some trainees who are close to beginning their in-service careers.

The course participants will be posting regularly during the week as they reflect on the new tools they are introduced to and respond to some readings.

I would greatly appreciate any commenting that existing community members might have the opprotunity to give if you come across a posting that you are interested in responding to.  Students will be asked to include the tag CPE4201 to all their postings (the course code).

I hope you will welcome any of these new community members you come across.  Please contact me if you have any concerns. 

The attached paper is an assignment I had to submit for my Masters unit this semester.  The aim was to give a critique of a professional learning community that we, as unit participants are involved with.  As I'm not currently placed in a school full-time, I decided to examine the Webcast Academy community, which I've been involved with.  I was lucky enough to be able to interview Jeff Lebow and Dave Cormier at length about some of the issues that interest me about the Academy, particularly with regard to the future sustainability of the Academy (my thanks to Dave and Jeff for being so accomodating).

I was limited to five pages for this assignment and subsequently feel that I only scratched the surface of many of the aspects of the Academy that I had been thinking about.  I'm also still trying to develop my ability to write, and think, as critically as I would like to. 

Finally, I must admit that I was getting to the point where I just wanted this essay over and done with!  There were just too amny other important things happening at the same time and I was sick of it hanging over my head.

So for anyone who may be interested, the Word file is attached with this post.

Reaction Paper EDU6195 [application/msword]

http://web2learn.net/wpblog/2006/09/20/edu6195-seminar-7-podcast/

Seminar audio Part 1

Download mp3 (14.2MB, 1hr,2min)
Seminar audio Part 2

Download mp3 (14.3MB, 1hr,2min)

http://web2learn.net/wpblog/2006/09/18/edu6195-seminar-6-podcast/

The audio from this session has been partially edited, group discussion noise has not been removed.
Seminar audio

Download mp3 (33.5MB, 1hr,14min)

http://web2learn.net/wpblog/2006/09/12/edu6195-seminar-5-podcast/

Please note that the audio presently available is raw and has not been edited in any way. There is some background noise and group discussion noise has not been removed. An edited version of this audio will be uploaded in the next week.
Seminar audio Part 1

Download mp3 (20.6MB, 1hr,29min)
Seminar audio Part 2

Download mp3 (8.8MB, 38min)

http://web2learn.net/wpblog/2006/09/12/edu6195-seminar-4-podcast/

Please note that the audio presently availbale is raw and has not been edited in any way. There is some background noise and group discussion noise has not been removed. An edited version of this audio will be uploaded in the next week.
Seminar audio Part 1

Download mp3 (14.2MB, 1hr,01min)
Seminar audio Part 2

Download mp3 [...]

http://web2learn.net/wpblog/2006/09/06/haberman%e2%80%99s-learning-community-attributes-%e2%80%93-how-are-they-reflected-in-the-webcast-academy-community/

Haberman outlines a number of attributes by which he defines a learning community.  My thoughts went to whether and how these attributes are evident in the Webcast Academy community.

Modelling is demonstrated in the community by the shows that are broadcast by those providing the training.  Listening in on established shows ...

http://web2learn.net/wpblog/2006/09/06/webcast-academy-learning-community-my-perspective/

Last week I posed some questions about the Academy through the lense of the Haberman (2004) reading. A couple of the community members were kind enough to respond to that post and links to their responses can be found here and here. So given that I put the questions ...

http://web2learn.net/wpblog/2006/09/04/ecawa-sw-pd-trying-to-foster-a-learning-community/

On the weekend myself, Kelly Anderson (my wife), and Lucy Mandyczewsky from Perth ran a professional development session for the Education and Computing Association of WA (ECAWA). This professional development was focussed on the use of technology in the classroom and sought to give teachers some hands on training ...

http://web2learn.net/wpblog/2006/08/28/webcast-academy-as-an-online-learning-communities/

Over recent weeks I have been considering the phenomenon of professional learning communities as a major theme for the Masters unit I'm currently undertaking. I have been considering the readings for this unit in the context of the community that has built up around the Webcast Academy, and more ...

http://web2learn.net/wpblog/2006/08/23/webcasting-reaching-out-and-assisting-learners/

For those who might be interested, I have commenced a series of webcasts aimed at supporting the first year Education unit on rural and remote teaching. Each week I will be interviewing teachers who are currently teaching, or have previously taught, in various rural/remote locations in the state. ...

http://web2learn.net/wpblog/2006/08/21/teachers-go-online-creating-their-own-communities/

The recent seminars and readings on professional learning communities are helping me to focus even more on what it means to be part of a learning community. Renshaw(2002) makes the comment:
...learning has been theorised as a community-based and community forming process, paradoxically, just at the moment in history when ...

http://web2learn.net/wpblog/2006/08/21/edu6195-seminar-3-podcast/

[audio:EDU6195_seminar03.mp3]

Download mp3 (27.1MB, 1hr,59min)

http://web2learn.net/wpblog/2006/08/20/edu6195-seminar-2-podcast/

Sorry for the delay in getting this posted, work commitments have slowed things up a bit the last fortnight. This file has been minimally edited. All future seminar podcasts will be posted without any editing, to expidite their availability. This will mean that there are likely to be some parts ...

http://web2learn.net/wpblog/2006/08/04/edu6195-seminar-1-podcast/

The attached file is a recording of the first seminar for EDU6195 unit held at ECU's Bunbury campus on the 01-08-06. The recording has been minimally edited, with a small amount of background noise, though still very listenable. I will post future seminar sessions as long as the ...

http://web2learn.net/wpblog/2006/08/03/why-degrees-of-freedom/

The term, of course, comes from statistical analysis and when I did my Research Methods unit last semester, the term stuck in my mind because it reminded me that my current circumstances put me in a place where I had a great deal of freedom and flexibility, but still with ...

Welcome to this Elgg installation.