Week Seven

Week Seven

Digital Presentation

Our group professional development video is now in the final stages of production.  We have made numerous changes to the layout over the past few weeks, however I believe this is all part of the learning journey.  Our main (and hopefully final) change this week was altering our pedagogical focus from a purely constructivist approach to an inquiry based learning (IBL) approach.  Whilst IBL is derived from a constructivist background we decided that our content topic and technology would be best suited to IBL.  Within our PD video students create their own Haiku poems using an environmental focus as their theme.  In pairs students then film a short self created video based upon this theme and edit it using Windows Movie Maker.  Finally students present their finished productions to the class for viewing. Self discovery is a focal point of this learning adventure with students working both alone and with their partners to create their own masterpieces.  Throughout this journey students learn “how to identify problems, reflect and ask questions” to form their own knowledge and understanding of how to effectively create their own digital videos (Conklin,  2004).

Video Goals

Our main goal for our professional development video is to create an engaging and informative piece that we can share with fellow peers and teachers alike to enable them to effectively use basic video editing within their own classroom using an IBL approach.

How I can use ICT in my classroom

I have begun to reflect upon how I am going to incorporate ICT within my practicum classroom.  With only a couple of weeks to go now until my four week prac. block I have already started planning lessons.  My classroom has an IWB, access to a block of computers and several digital cameras available.  I am planning to use all the technology available to me; however am still to decide how I am going to effectively incorporate ICT to enhance student learning.  That is my goal over the next week.  I look forward to sharing that with you soon …….

References:

Conklin, W. (2004).  Applying differentiation strategies:  Teacher’s Handbook for Grades 3-5.   Huntington Beach:  Shell Education.