We had the first class on the first Wednesday of this semester, 09/07/08. When the class ended, I heard Prof and the tutors were saying something like, "I'll see you online!" At first, I got confused of what they were talking about, until the next day, I finally understood what was it all about.
When I was still roaming around, having my own sweet moment at the beginning of the semester, I did not realize that one of the tutors, Miss Ng, had actually given the instructions for the first assignment online. Until the next morning, I got a text message from my friends only i know about the sudden assignment. I got all tensed up knowing that I was so left out. When I got online, looking at the people who had already register themselves into different groups. Withoug delaying, I finally got myself a group too.
In this case, I have learned that I have to be alert all the time so that I would. This is very important as that enables me finish the task given.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
My Soft Skills
Through out the whole course, I realized that I have developed some soft skills within myself.
Team work - Through the group based assignments, I learned to share with group members. We arranged meetings so that we could sit down together as a group and monitor each others' work. There we share our mind. We gave constructive opinions and comments to each others so that all the work could be improved. When one has found out something, other group members would be given the knowledge too. Here, we share our knowledge. Well, being in a group means sharing .
critical thinking - This was needed when I had to think of the way to come out with interesting activities, which must be done with Smart Board. I had to crack my head to think how I could create activities that the use of Smart Board in the activity was not able to be replaced by a normal white board and also the way that I could make full use of the features of Smart Board to make the interactive white board. At the same time I had to consider the element of "interactive activities". By catering to those aspects at the same time, I had to use critical thinking in order to come out with the solution, hence, from there my critical thinking skill was developed.
Life Long Learning - Life long learning is important. There were something that we thought we already know, but then in the end, we would find that there would be more for us to find out! For instance, looking at the Smart Board Software, after going through the training, I thought I had roughly mastered the functions of Smart Board. Unexpectedly, as i went along, I eventually discovered more and more new functions of it! Hence, learning does not stop but go on from time to time.
Communication - I learned to communicate with the others better. Before this I always liked to work on my own as I thought that would save the hassle going around to discuss with group members. I always wanted to be the lone ranger while doing assignment. Things are different now. After working together with the others, I found that it wasnt that difficult to communicate with others at all. Through the group discussion, I learned on the way to communicate as in I learned the way to convey my ideas better avoiding miscommunication and misunderstanding.
Ethics and values - I learned to do handle my work professionally, in terms of producing something with good quality as a teacher. Looking at the task from a teacher's point of view, I had produced my work which are related to the primary curriculum.
Leadership Skill - I developed this skill when I had to handle the presentation. For instance, when my product was chosen to be presented, I had to brief everyone about how we were to go on with the preparation and presentation. There, I learned to be a leader as I had to closely monitor the preparation and presentation as I was the one who know my product the best.
Entrepreneurship - I think it was the fast pace of the class that got me developed some quality of entrepreneur. As entrepreneur, one has to be sharp, efficient, creative and accurate. Well, those are the quality developed when I was trying to complete the assignment.
Team work - Through the group based assignments, I learned to share with group members. We arranged meetings so that we could sit down together as a group and monitor each others' work. There we share our mind. We gave constructive opinions and comments to each others so that all the work could be improved. When one has found out something, other group members would be given the knowledge too. Here, we share our knowledge. Well, being in a group means sharing .
critical thinking - This was needed when I had to think of the way to come out with interesting activities, which must be done with Smart Board. I had to crack my head to think how I could create activities that the use of Smart Board in the activity was not able to be replaced by a normal white board and also the way that I could make full use of the features of Smart Board to make the interactive white board. At the same time I had to consider the element of "interactive activities". By catering to those aspects at the same time, I had to use critical thinking in order to come out with the solution, hence, from there my critical thinking skill was developed.
Life Long Learning - Life long learning is important. There were something that we thought we already know, but then in the end, we would find that there would be more for us to find out! For instance, looking at the Smart Board Software, after going through the training, I thought I had roughly mastered the functions of Smart Board. Unexpectedly, as i went along, I eventually discovered more and more new functions of it! Hence, learning does not stop but go on from time to time.
Communication - I learned to communicate with the others better. Before this I always liked to work on my own as I thought that would save the hassle going around to discuss with group members. I always wanted to be the lone ranger while doing assignment. Things are different now. After working together with the others, I found that it wasnt that difficult to communicate with others at all. Through the group discussion, I learned on the way to communicate as in I learned the way to convey my ideas better avoiding miscommunication and misunderstanding.
Ethics and values - I learned to do handle my work professionally, in terms of producing something with good quality as a teacher. Looking at the task from a teacher's point of view, I had produced my work which are related to the primary curriculum.
Leadership Skill - I developed this skill when I had to handle the presentation. For instance, when my product was chosen to be presented, I had to brief everyone about how we were to go on with the preparation and presentation. There, I learned to be a leader as I had to closely monitor the preparation and presentation as I was the one who know my product the best.
Entrepreneurship - I think it was the fast pace of the class that got me developed some quality of entrepreneur. As entrepreneur, one has to be sharp, efficient, creative and accurate. Well, those are the quality developed when I was trying to complete the assignment.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Classroom Vs Chatroom
Yesterday was a quite exciting day as Prof had just turn the our "classroom" to a "chatroom"! =P
It was the first time that we were chatting in the class "legally" though. Haha. Well, let's be serious now. It was fun to chat in the class though, but i personally feel that the chatters must be very well disciplined, only the chat room can serve its true purpose.
From my personal experience, When I had just got into the chat room, i was just too excited knowing that we could chat in the classroom, until there was one point that i had forgotten the point that Prof asked us to go into chatroom!
However, I think that the idea of chatting is still applicable some how, with good supervision. Not only the teachers can chat, even pupils can chat too. I believe that one day the classrooms are going to turn to somewhere well equipped with computers and some other high-tech stuffs. By that time, computer might be something outdated already, well, who knows? =P
For teachers, this concept is good though. It would be nice if the teachers start going online and chat. Just like some other chat engines, we need somewhere which there are teacher chatting 24 hours! :D there teachers are free to share their ideas with others. Problems too can be discussed. I believe that with the mind of thousands millions of teachers, nothing is impossible! :D A chat room like this for the teachers should be very cosy, i believe :)
It was the first time that we were chatting in the class "legally" though. Haha. Well, let's be serious now. It was fun to chat in the class though, but i personally feel that the chatters must be very well disciplined, only the chat room can serve its true purpose.
From my personal experience, When I had just got into the chat room, i was just too excited knowing that we could chat in the classroom, until there was one point that i had forgotten the point that Prof asked us to go into chatroom!
However, I think that the idea of chatting is still applicable some how, with good supervision. Not only the teachers can chat, even pupils can chat too. I believe that one day the classrooms are going to turn to somewhere well equipped with computers and some other high-tech stuffs. By that time, computer might be something outdated already, well, who knows? =P
For teachers, this concept is good though. It would be nice if the teachers start going online and chat. Just like some other chat engines, we need somewhere which there are teacher chatting 24 hours! :D there teachers are free to share their ideas with others. Problems too can be discussed. I believe that with the mind of thousands millions of teachers, nothing is impossible! :D A chat room like this for the teachers should be very cosy, i believe :)
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Fishie in the class :D
On last Wednesday, Prof started the class with a different kind of opening. It was rather interesting that she actually brought some fish toys to the class for us to play. When she started to throw the fish around, all of us got excited and played around with the toys too. That's how we were introduced to the "FISH!" Philosophy.
After reading the articles, I understood that this is something that might help us in class management. Being a skill to create inspiration, creativity and innovation, FISH! would definitely be a good choice for the teachers to understand and apply in their teaching life. This philosophy is amazing as it can create a lot of difference by practising only the four principles, be there, play, make their day and choose your attitude.
I have understood that it is important to be there for the pupils. Being there is not only about being with the pupils physically, but mentally as well. Teacher needs to be there, understand the pupils' needs and feelings, only then the teacher is being there with the pupils. Play is always equal to fun. Well, it would be good if learning is done while having fun. In this way, pupils should be able to accept the knowledge better. Besides, making the pupils' day is very important. Sometimes, teacher can come out with some interesting activities, which could help the pupils to learn, have fun and feel good. Teacher could also praise the pupils for behaving well in the class, or doing good in certain test or exercises. This means a lot to the pupils, and making their day in this way can get the pupils all motivated to move on in learning. Lastly, it's choose your attitude. Everyone chooses their attitude everyday, either consciously or subconsciously. Like Prof had said in the class, there are even some hidden philosophy behind the act of choosing underwear everyday before we go out! Hence, while teaching, it is important for the teachers to choose their attitude. If the the teachers choose to start their day with positive attitude, things would turn our to be good. The positive atmosphere would surely "infect" the pupils too. In that way, both teachers and the pupils feel good and the classroom would be a lively one to be in!
I would definitely take note of this philosophy, and always remind myself to try applying it in life. :)
After reading the articles, I understood that this is something that might help us in class management. Being a skill to create inspiration, creativity and innovation, FISH! would definitely be a good choice for the teachers to understand and apply in their teaching life. This philosophy is amazing as it can create a lot of difference by practising only the four principles, be there, play, make their day and choose your attitude.
I have understood that it is important to be there for the pupils. Being there is not only about being with the pupils physically, but mentally as well. Teacher needs to be there, understand the pupils' needs and feelings, only then the teacher is being there with the pupils. Play is always equal to fun. Well, it would be good if learning is done while having fun. In this way, pupils should be able to accept the knowledge better. Besides, making the pupils' day is very important. Sometimes, teacher can come out with some interesting activities, which could help the pupils to learn, have fun and feel good. Teacher could also praise the pupils for behaving well in the class, or doing good in certain test or exercises. This means a lot to the pupils, and making their day in this way can get the pupils all motivated to move on in learning. Lastly, it's choose your attitude. Everyone chooses their attitude everyday, either consciously or subconsciously. Like Prof had said in the class, there are even some hidden philosophy behind the act of choosing underwear everyday before we go out! Hence, while teaching, it is important for the teachers to choose their attitude. If the the teachers choose to start their day with positive attitude, things would turn our to be good. The positive atmosphere would surely "infect" the pupils too. In that way, both teachers and the pupils feel good and the classroom would be a lively one to be in!
I would definitely take note of this philosophy, and always remind myself to try applying it in life. :)
Friday, September 26, 2008
Assignment 3- Done
Ahhh.. Another assignment done. The feeling of handing in the an assignment is great! haha, at least i enjoy that, to certain extend, i am quite sure, many out there enjoy that too :) I think that's the reason most had chosen to hand in the assignment before Raya?
Again, I would say, it was not easy to complete this assignment. Nothing in this world is easy anyway. When we want something, of course we have to work for it. Just the way everyone in the world works everyday to make dreams a reality?
I think the biggest problem that I faced was that I was undecided all the time. All the while I had been going online to look for ideas on what to be done for my activity. I surfed around looking for animations, thinking that an activity with some moving animations should be nice. Not long later, my attention switched to somewhere else, looking for videos to be put for my activity. I guess this proves that i am not a well disciplined person. This attitude is actually not good for students. Not only not good, I think it's a big BAD BAD for myself. This kind of attitude always get me nowhere but last minute works.
On the other hand, overall I am quite happy with this assignment, as it is suitable and relevant to what we are doing. I learned a lot about Smart Board Software. Because of this assignment I got to sit down and play with the software. Even myself as an adult find it interesting, then the kids should find it amazing! :) And I believe that this would help them learn as their interest is sustained.
Again, I would say, it was not easy to complete this assignment. Nothing in this world is easy anyway. When we want something, of course we have to work for it. Just the way everyone in the world works everyday to make dreams a reality?
I think the biggest problem that I faced was that I was undecided all the time. All the while I had been going online to look for ideas on what to be done for my activity. I surfed around looking for animations, thinking that an activity with some moving animations should be nice. Not long later, my attention switched to somewhere else, looking for videos to be put for my activity. I guess this proves that i am not a well disciplined person. This attitude is actually not good for students. Not only not good, I think it's a big BAD BAD for myself. This kind of attitude always get me nowhere but last minute works.
On the other hand, overall I am quite happy with this assignment, as it is suitable and relevant to what we are doing. I learned a lot about Smart Board Software. Because of this assignment I got to sit down and play with the software. Even myself as an adult find it interesting, then the kids should find it amazing! :) And I believe that this would help them learn as their interest is sustained.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Presentation of Assignment 3
For the preparation of this presentation, all the group members gathered in order to choose the best product to be presented. We did look through everyone's product and give some comments to each others. In the end, the whole group agreed to present my product in the class.
I was too nervous standing in front of the class to present my work. Of course, presentation is nothing new to me, as i have presented many times for class presentations, oral presentations and stuffs like that. However, since it was the first time for me to present in front of Prof, I went extraordinary nervous!
Well, I did finish presenting my product to the class. Thanks to Prof and other tutors, they had given me a lot of comments where I can improve my my product more. For instance, knowing that the background of my draft was rather plain for the primary Year 2 pupils, i cracked my head on what to put for the background. I thought it would be nice to use some cartoon wallpapers as the background thinking that children love cartoons and fantasies. However, after being questioned, only I realized that there were not meaningful and they do not help in learning. This is something that I need to work on. I would go and surf some website to see the layout of the interactive websites and try to get some inspiration.
Another weakness of my product was the font. Initially I thought it was OK if the font size that appears on the laptop screen is small because I thought they would appear larger when projected to the SmartBoard. Obviously I was wrong because even after being projected, the font size was still very small. Hence, it was very unclear for those who sat at the back. For this, Prof had suggested me to increase the font size and make only limited input on each slide. I would take note of this and improve my product.
Prof too reminded me of a quite imprtant matter regarding the immediate feedback to the pupils. Due to some technical matters, I could only design limited immediate feedback to the pupils for the wrong answer, which is sound. The idea of the importance of positive feedback did not come to my mind at all. Hence, Prof had given me a very great reminder that more positive feedback should be given to the pupils for motivation purposes.
Those above mentioned issues are the major problems of my product. I hope other friends would not make the same mistake as mine.
I was too nervous standing in front of the class to present my work. Of course, presentation is nothing new to me, as i have presented many times for class presentations, oral presentations and stuffs like that. However, since it was the first time for me to present in front of Prof, I went extraordinary nervous!
Well, I did finish presenting my product to the class. Thanks to Prof and other tutors, they had given me a lot of comments where I can improve my my product more. For instance, knowing that the background of my draft was rather plain for the primary Year 2 pupils, i cracked my head on what to put for the background. I thought it would be nice to use some cartoon wallpapers as the background thinking that children love cartoons and fantasies. However, after being questioned, only I realized that there were not meaningful and they do not help in learning. This is something that I need to work on. I would go and surf some website to see the layout of the interactive websites and try to get some inspiration.
Another weakness of my product was the font. Initially I thought it was OK if the font size that appears on the laptop screen is small because I thought they would appear larger when projected to the SmartBoard. Obviously I was wrong because even after being projected, the font size was still very small. Hence, it was very unclear for those who sat at the back. For this, Prof had suggested me to increase the font size and make only limited input on each slide. I would take note of this and improve my product.
Prof too reminded me of a quite imprtant matter regarding the immediate feedback to the pupils. Due to some technical matters, I could only design limited immediate feedback to the pupils for the wrong answer, which is sound. The idea of the importance of positive feedback did not come to my mind at all. Hence, Prof had given me a very great reminder that more positive feedback should be given to the pupils for motivation purposes.
Those above mentioned issues are the major problems of my product. I hope other friends would not make the same mistake as mine.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Assignment 3- On the way...
We are given a few weeks to think of and to design the activities by using the SmartBoard Software. My primary concern is, "How am I going to make an INTERACTIVE set of activities by using SmartBoard Software?" The keyword here is interactive. Well, how to make it interactive? Interactive in terms of the ability of the activity in getting the pupils to communicate with each others? Or is it the ability of the activity in getting the pupils to communicate with the teacher? Or was it the ability of the activity in getting the pupils to communicate with the knowledge?
To me, the last ability is the most appropriate one to be taken, because the word "interactive" here, in the SmartBoard case, is the ability of the teaching aid, (here, the teaching aids refers to SmartBoard) in arousing the pupils' interest so that they would start interact with the teaching aid directly, and in fact, with the knowledge indirectly and subconsciously. I shall justify my personal opinion. Taking the old methods of teaching as example, other teaching aids too are able to make the pupils learn, for instance, flash cards. However, word cards are not as lively as those words presented on SmartBoard. On SmartBoard, electronic flash cards can be done. For instance, teachers can design some flash cards by using the animations. In this case, take a look at the occupation. If we are to compare, an animated doctor which moves is definitely better than a picture of doctor on a flash card. Besides, sounds can be inserted to the electronic flash cards too. Pupils can repeat after the sounds and learn better and more INTERACTIVELY.
I hope my point is clear, on the "interactive" matter. It is when the pupils are engaged with the learning activities actively, only then they are able to learn interactively.
To me, the last ability is the most appropriate one to be taken, because the word "interactive" here, in the SmartBoard case, is the ability of the teaching aid, (here, the teaching aids refers to SmartBoard) in arousing the pupils' interest so that they would start interact with the teaching aid directly, and in fact, with the knowledge indirectly and subconsciously. I shall justify my personal opinion. Taking the old methods of teaching as example, other teaching aids too are able to make the pupils learn, for instance, flash cards. However, word cards are not as lively as those words presented on SmartBoard. On SmartBoard, electronic flash cards can be done. For instance, teachers can design some flash cards by using the animations. In this case, take a look at the occupation. If we are to compare, an animated doctor which moves is definitely better than a picture of doctor on a flash card. Besides, sounds can be inserted to the electronic flash cards too. Pupils can repeat after the sounds and learn better and more INTERACTIVELY.
I hope my point is clear, on the "interactive" matter. It is when the pupils are engaged with the learning activities actively, only then they are able to learn interactively.
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