I am now preparing for term 4 of my first year of teaching. It has been a fantastic year of learning. Each term gets better and better and I have become much more equiped to be teaching the students in my classroom. I have been blessed to have a class of 21 year 4 and 5 students. It certainly has been a year of developing skills in all areas of teaching. Being a teacher in a small school has given me the opportunity to teach all KLA (except for LOTE and Music - lucky for the kids!!!!)
I love the kids and I even love the opportunity to teach exciting subject areas of Physical Education, Cooking, Health, Visual Art, Media, Dance and Drama. Being part of my first musical production has been a highlight (especially when I can't read music!!) and I can only thank the Lord for allowing me to serve Him in this very special way.
I am looking forward to what is in store for me next year and I feel so much more prepared for a year somewhere. I know that wherever it is I am ment to be there guiding and teaching the young people in my care.
This term is to be full of exciting learning opportunities for my class. We are covering Charlotte's Web in English, Science and Drama and focusing on Australian celebrations and helping others less fortunate in SOSE. My students are going to love the maths investigation of designing and building their own 3D robot using geometical shapes. I am looking forward to this final term and receiving full registration at the end of the year.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Disco Christmas Message
This is a Jib Jab Christmas Message for all from the James Family. We do one every year and the kids love it.
Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!
Registered and ready to go!
What an amazing year it has been. I cannot explain the emotions that have come and gone this year - for not only myself but for my whole family who have supported me through this very full on year.
It almost feels just like yesterday sitting in the lecture hall at CQU during our first residential school and feeling so overwhelmed with all the work to come. Now only a blink of an eye later I am a Primary School teacher ready to take on a full time role as mentor, instructor, facilitator and encourager.
It has been an amazing journey, that I have not completed alone. I have many people to thank for my success, for without their constant support, prayers, encouragement, assistance and willingness to go the extra mile when I just couldn't fit everything in myself I am truely thankful. I love you all dearly and know that without you all my journey would have been very different indeed.
It almost feels just like yesterday sitting in the lecture hall at CQU during our first residential school and feeling so overwhelmed with all the work to come. Now only a blink of an eye later I am a Primary School teacher ready to take on a full time role as mentor, instructor, facilitator and encourager.
It has been an amazing journey, that I have not completed alone. I have many people to thank for my success, for without their constant support, prayers, encouragement, assistance and willingness to go the extra mile when I just couldn't fit everything in myself I am truely thankful. I love you all dearly and know that without you all my journey would have been very different indeed.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Coaching Netball - A Teaching Journey
I'm into my 2nd year of coaching a team of 8 year old girls how to play netball. I am fortunate that I don't ever need to encourage them to be more interested, because they just can't get enough court time!
I have watched them develop as a team from the first day they took the court last year (not knowing where to go, how to catch, throw or move around the court - or ever get a ball even near the hoop) to now (confident and passionate). Tonight we played our best game ever. I was so proud that even at half time the girls could even 'talk the talk'. I asked them what they thought they needed to do - hands went up instantaneously with chanting of "we need to get in front of our players".
I replied with the standard "well, how is the best way for us to do this on the court".
Again without hesitation they stated "we can either use a dodge or take the players back and then run forward".
It was at this point that my heart felt so proud that not only are the girls starting to put it all into practice - but they are also really understanding the 'academics' of how to work on a netball court.
My girls are amazing and I love each of them. They each hold get talent and have so much to give to each other and to the whole team. My favourite part of netball is when someone arrives for netball training, or the game and every girl just runs over to give them a hug (doesn't matter that I could be mid sentence on a new skill!!). The reality is at 8 I want the girls to come back next year with as much enthusiasm as they have this year. They will go far with so much love for the game.
Go ROCKETS!!!
I have watched them develop as a team from the first day they took the court last year (not knowing where to go, how to catch, throw or move around the court - or ever get a ball even near the hoop) to now (confident and passionate). Tonight we played our best game ever. I was so proud that even at half time the girls could even 'talk the talk'. I asked them what they thought they needed to do - hands went up instantaneously with chanting of "we need to get in front of our players".
I replied with the standard "well, how is the best way for us to do this on the court".
Again without hesitation they stated "we can either use a dodge or take the players back and then run forward".
It was at this point that my heart felt so proud that not only are the girls starting to put it all into practice - but they are also really understanding the 'academics' of how to work on a netball court.
My girls are amazing and I love each of them. They each hold get talent and have so much to give to each other and to the whole team. My favourite part of netball is when someone arrives for netball training, or the game and every girl just runs over to give them a hug (doesn't matter that I could be mid sentence on a new skill!!). The reality is at 8 I want the girls to come back next year with as much enthusiasm as they have this year. They will go far with so much love for the game.
Go ROCKETS!!!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Another Term
Well, Term 1 is over and Term 2 has already started. I managed to get 1 day off between finishing my first EPL and starting Residential School.
It was wonderful to catch up with friends and make a few more. I'm looking forward to a full on term with 6 assignments to get through, EPL 2 and my Internship in Term 4 (school term). I'm already tired - don't think I have actually really recovered from a full on Term 1, spending 6 weeks sick during EPL 1 and continuing to work part time.
But, putting all that aside I am very excited about the term ahead. I feel very blessed to be offered a position for my EPL 2 and Internship at The Lighthouse Christian School in Rockhampton. Today I met with my Mentor Teacher and the school Principal and had the opportunity to look around the school, hear about the school program and decided on the days I will be attending next term. It will be a very different experience from working in a Education Queensland school but I am looking forward to the challenges ahead.
I feel that not only will I get a wonderful opportunity to teach in a small school - I have a combined class of years 6 and 7 - with 20 students, but I am already feeling the presence of God on my life and that he will draw me closer to him during my time there. This is truly a wonderful blessing for me and I look forward to meeting the students and sharing my life with them and being part of their life journey.
It was wonderful to catch up with friends and make a few more. I'm looking forward to a full on term with 6 assignments to get through, EPL 2 and my Internship in Term 4 (school term). I'm already tired - don't think I have actually really recovered from a full on Term 1, spending 6 weeks sick during EPL 1 and continuing to work part time.
But, putting all that aside I am very excited about the term ahead. I feel very blessed to be offered a position for my EPL 2 and Internship at The Lighthouse Christian School in Rockhampton. Today I met with my Mentor Teacher and the school Principal and had the opportunity to look around the school, hear about the school program and decided on the days I will be attending next term. It will be a very different experience from working in a Education Queensland school but I am looking forward to the challenges ahead.
I feel that not only will I get a wonderful opportunity to teach in a small school - I have a combined class of years 6 and 7 - with 20 students, but I am already feeling the presence of God on my life and that he will draw me closer to him during my time there. This is truly a wonderful blessing for me and I look forward to meeting the students and sharing my life with them and being part of their life journey.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Avatar Hook for Webquest
I have created an avatar to introduce my Webquest. It has been designed for year 7 students and Mrs Saunders from Education Queensland shares with the students what role they will take on to help with educating young people of today.
Get a Voki now!
As I have not been able to embed this file into the Mahara view for assessment I have placed it here and created a link for assessment purposes.
Get a Voki now!
As I have not been able to embed this file into the Mahara view for assessment I have placed it here and created a link for assessment purposes.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Webquests - Hard work, but worth it!
I am embarking on creating a Webquest for my Assessment 3 item for ICT. It is not an easy journey and I am finding it quite difficult to put all my thoughts and ideas together to form this quest. Saying that, I am persistent and particularly want to succeed in producing something of a reasonable standard.
A Webquest is an inquiry based, on line learning activity. Incorporated into a Webquest are the higher order thinking skills of Marzano & Pickering (1997) Dimensions 3 & 4. Life long learning comes when students are encouraged to Extend and Refine Knowledge and to Use Knowledge Meaningfully. Because many Webquests incorporate authentic scenarios or problems the outcomes and learning opportunities for students is internalised. When group work is undertaken in a Webquest students learn to problem solve, inquire, investigate, analyse and produce an authentic product based around a scenario. It is designed so students don't waste time searching for information from inappropriate sites as the list is already there for them to go through. This means that the final product should be of a high standard as the teacher has done all the hard work sifting through appropriate sites.
Students are able to work at their own pace - therefore covering the areas of student-centered learning, active learning and learning engagement theories.
I am excited about putting this quest together - even though I am also finding it quite difficult getting the information formatted correctly. One advantage to Webquests is that it is almost entirely student based and therefore the students teach each other and support one another through the process of learning and gathering information. This is a skill that is not often learnt at school due to students relying on teachers to provide the information to them. Webquests require the students to seek out the information to complete the task.
Once I have semi-mastered the designing of Webquests I believe I will continue to use them within the classroom for not only the experience of group work but also for the great life learning skills that will be gained by each student.
What a lesson to learn!
References:
Marzano, J & Pickering, D (1997) Dimensions of Learning: Teacher's Manual 2nd Ed. McRel, Colorado, USA.
A Webquest is an inquiry based, on line learning activity. Incorporated into a Webquest are the higher order thinking skills of Marzano & Pickering (1997) Dimensions 3 & 4. Life long learning comes when students are encouraged to Extend and Refine Knowledge and to Use Knowledge Meaningfully. Because many Webquests incorporate authentic scenarios or problems the outcomes and learning opportunities for students is internalised. When group work is undertaken in a Webquest students learn to problem solve, inquire, investigate, analyse and produce an authentic product based around a scenario. It is designed so students don't waste time searching for information from inappropriate sites as the list is already there for them to go through. This means that the final product should be of a high standard as the teacher has done all the hard work sifting through appropriate sites.
Students are able to work at their own pace - therefore covering the areas of student-centered learning, active learning and learning engagement theories.
I am excited about putting this quest together - even though I am also finding it quite difficult getting the information formatted correctly. One advantage to Webquests is that it is almost entirely student based and therefore the students teach each other and support one another through the process of learning and gathering information. This is a skill that is not often learnt at school due to students relying on teachers to provide the information to them. Webquests require the students to seek out the information to complete the task.
Once I have semi-mastered the designing of Webquests I believe I will continue to use them within the classroom for not only the experience of group work but also for the great life learning skills that will be gained by each student.
What a lesson to learn!
References:
Marzano, J & Pickering, D (1997) Dimensions of Learning: Teacher's Manual 2nd Ed. McRel, Colorado, USA.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)