Well, we’re into the final weekend of the holidays and next week will see us back at school for the final ten weeks of the year. I must say that it seems to have absolutely flown by, but that could be because I’ve got such a great bunch of students! The final term should see us finish our My Place programmes and create our timeline of Australian history through the 20th century. I also have a few new IT things to try out that I’m hoping will grow to be a major direction for 2014 (I’ll write it up here). The last term will also be a reporting term, so the students really need to step up and show what they can do. Along with some new art and even some music the next ten weeks should be pretty interesting.
New Art
When we return to school next week we’ll carry on creating our newest works of art. They’re pretty big and are created in several stages. We first take a photo of ourselves, then we use Gimp to make a few changes in order to emphasise the light and dark side of the face. Following that we use the projector and whiteboard to trace around the image with a pencil. Before we paint in the black areas we choose some descriptive words to reflect our personality, then we paint in the necessary areas. To finish the art we contrast the background by using bright colours and patterns. The final effect is pretty impressive. Below is an example we created of our fabulous Art teacher.
Holidays – The End of Term 3
It’s always difficult to keep a blog going during the holidays; the absence of anything school related and the obvious necessity to allow ourselves to wind down for a short while makes finding topics to blog about that much harder. However, as all teachers, I don’t have it all my own way this holiday. I have books to mark, new topics to research and programmes to prepare for what will be mine and this group of students’ last 10 weeks together. I have managed to look into some of the Apps that can be accessed from Edmodo (which we use in the classroom) and am looking forward to discussing these with the admin.
Some of the students have managed to keep posting, though. Georgia has told us all about her One Direction concert and her (and Tiana’s) amazing idea for a new app. Tiana (with Pharyn) managed to post on her way to see One Direction. She also told us a little more about her (and Georgia’s) ideas for a new app. Holly had a great camping holiday and a special birthday out shopping. Eesha had a fun sleepover building a cubby (haven’t we all done that!) and can tell you all about her amazing Indian dress. Michael has reviewed the new PS4 console.
It’s great to see students continuing with their posts whilst on holiday. They’re a great example to everyone, not least to me!
Tech Across The Years
This week we’ve had a concerted push to try and spread a little of the technology we use at school further across the age ranges. On Thursday we had a PD afternoon where four of the students from LA19 helped show the staff how to create podcasts. Following this, some of the students went across the school on Friday to help tutor other students in the skills of producing podcasts with the iPads. Below are a selection of these fabulous efforts. These are just the first few and will be added to shortly. I hope you enjoy them.
Blogging Task #10
This time it’s all about technology. At school we are trying to integrate as much technology into our lessons as possible, but only if it’s relevant to the lessons and makes the learning better. However, I’ve been so impressed with the amount of technology being used by you at home that I want to know what type of technology would you like to see being used at school. This could be programmes, applications, hardware, in fact anything. Let me know what it is and what we could use it for. Also, try to think of any dangers or risks that might come with the technology which may mean that the school might say no.
Curiosity
This week we’ve been having a look at the Mars rover, Curiosity. We had a look at the amazing technology that went into getting Curiosity safely to the surface of Mars and at some of the fascinating, new information the scientists have discovered. Our observations were mainly done just through viewing the NASA and JPL websites and holding discussions on the topics. Sometimes the excitement such a discussion generates doesn’t need to be bogged down with formalised writing and this was certainly one of those moments. The students were clearly interested in this topic and the depth of their knowledge and understanding regarding space and space exploration surprised me. To see what some of the fuss was about have a look at the video below.
Students Become Teachers
One of the signs of a good teacher, in fact a good school, is that they are able to say that they need help with something, or they need to improve in a particular area. Well, that’s exactly what we’re about to do. The students in LA19 have been happily blogging and podcasting for some time now and their amazing skills have been recognised as a valuable asset to the school. Next week 4 students from the class will be attending a staff meeting where they will get to help teachers who want to learn the benefits of using Garage Band on the iPads to record students’ speech. This can be used for activities such as podcasting, or simply to create a record of students’ reading abilities. Whatever the reason for using the technology, having the skill gives teachers another valuable tool which they can use to improve the learning of their students. The students of LA19 can also be proud of their achievements and that their skills are being used to benefit the learning of others. Well done!
Our Recent Assembly Item
Our class (LA19) along with the class next door (LA18) recently produced a movie for our assembly item. The vision was supplied by Mrs Boylan and the technological know-how by myself. Originally the narrative parts were supplied live by the two singers (Callen and Sarah), but for this movie I’ve added them to the whole project. I hope you enjoy it.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
This latest podcast was on an extremely difficult topic. As part of our My Place studies and our investigations into Australia’s role in the Vietnam War we looked into the subject of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The students completed a note taking session on the subject, wrote up their information, organised their speaking roles and had a brief time to rehearse. This was very much the students’ own work, on a very complex topic and all completed in a short time frame. This makes this podcast even more impressive.
Great Work
The students have recently been working flat out on a number of great topics, especially the My Place work already mentioned on this blog. However, I thought I’d show some work from two other topics we’ve been busy with. One of these topics was in our Health area and focused on acne. The students are about to literally burst forth with all the joys of acne, pimples and zits as they fast approach their teenage years. This topic was very apt and timely, with some good information and advice.
Another topic was based on our mini project and required the students to investigate their family tree. I have to say that I’ve had some amazing projects handed in with heaps of great information. The students had to ask parents questions about family migrations and the reasons their family migrated to Australia. This included the problems they had in their home country and the difficulties they encountered as they tried to migrate. The whole project tied in nicely with the emerging Australian Curriculum which requires students to research reasons people migrated to Australia. Who better to research than their own family? Enjoy the photos below.
Oriyah’s Family Tree
Ronan’s Poster