Shelley's journey to becoming a teacher...

I had my tutorial today for EDN113  Today Jenni was going thru some more things for part 1b of Assignment 1 and she went thru the tutorial plan that she has sent us all thru Google Docs.  After we all discussed these things we continued with our work, today was group 1's turn to explain to group 5 the functions and how to use the smartboard in conjuction with The Learning Federation website.  Chris Pickering went first and explained to group 5 how to connect the computer to the smartboard.  I helped him align the board so it was touch interative.  After Chris had set up the smartboard Jodie Burragetalked group 5 thru The Learning Federation Website and how to activate our student accounts.  I was then showing the group how to use the software. 
I am so impressed with this software and the Learning Federation is fantastic!  I am really looking forward to getting in a classroom and using this with kids.  Unfortunatley my children are still too young for it to be any use to them.  I was thinking that if there are programs like this for year 1 up then there must be some for Kindy and Pre-Primary students? I have found a few websites that I have been using with my children and they are really enjoying the activities.  Im blown away by how much they already know how to use the computer.  Wont be long and they will be teaching me how to do things...
So the websites I like are; Little Giraffes Teaching Ideas, Have Fun Teaching and The Colour.com
I think by using a wide varitey of webistes with the Smartboard children wont get bored of seeing the same thing each lesson and will be excited to do each new activity.
I also discovered last week that the primary school are now introducing iPads to the children.  Both my son (Pre-Primary) and daughter (Kindy) have IPads in their classrooms.  They are using it to trace numbers and letters, matching/memory games and colours and shapes.  I think this is so amazing that they have access to such devices at such a young age in the public school system  I have put the 'apps' that my children use onto my iPhone so they can practice doing the tasks when they are at home.  WOW! They are progressing so rapidly that I am gobsmacked.  They are recognising letters and numbers more often and are able to write more letters and numbers.  I would not have thought that my kids 'playing' on my phone would actually be helping their education...

I have been doing some reading in our text book and on the internet on the purpose of blogs in education, I really like the way it is used in the classroom.  From my understanding it is giving children a point of reference and discussion on what is being taught in the classroom.  P113-119 in Meaningful Learning with Technology was really good at explaining some ways in which Blogs are benificial in education. 

I have been talking to Jodie Burrage about Assignment 1b, she is doing a family tree on flickr.  I am quite interested in photos and I think I might have a look at making a family tree myself.  I like that we are getting pushed towards new technologies as there are so many on the internet that we dont know about and now we have to go looking.  Sounds like something I would do just to have a play around, but now I have a great reason to spend time perusing the internet :)