Week 4 - Excel at Excel

The M&Ms activity in this week's workshop could be used as a fun introduction to chance and data and, perhaps more importantly, as a means of introducing students to one of the most common workplace applications. Having struggled to use Excel to its full potential throughout my publishing career I can see real benefits in teaching students how to use this software from an early age and reinforcing that learning throughout their schooling. After all, of all the different software programs we have been introduced to in the Technology workshops, Excel is the one that students are most likely to encounter when they leave school.

Using Excel also encourages students to develop their data analysis skills. Rather than spending time plotting graphs or creating pie charts students can focus on interpreting the data which, based on my practicum experiences, is what students find most difficult. Being able to organise and create graphical representations of data also helps students understand the relationship between numbers and how different charts can be used to represent the same data. Excel can also be integrated across the curriculum, for example, it can be used to record the results of science experiments, to create historical timelines, to alphabetise word lists, etc.

What's more once you get beyond the basics Excel can do some really exciting things such as creating macros and games. Given that Excel is a standard application on most school computers; it would be invaluable to be able to use it to create activities for use in the classroom. There are some great examples of Excel activities at http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/maths/mathsA4.htm.

Week 4 - Dust Echoes

According to 'The Australian' earlier this year, under the new National Curriculum there will be a growing emphasis on Indigenous Education in primary schools. It was proposed that Aboriginal dreamtime stories, for example, be included in the science curriculum as a means of teaching students about the Earth and the links between all living things. While this particular element of the draft curriculum has since been removed, Aboriginal culture will feature in other areas of the new curriculum and there will be a cross-curricular focus on indigenous perspectives. With this in mind, I think that the Dust Echoes site will be fantastic resource; the stories are enchanting and the beautiful animations make them really accessible to primary school children. As someone who hasn't grown up in Australia I can really see the benefit of using this type of resource to support my teaching and ensure that I do justice to this aspect of the curriculum.

In the workshop I chose to look at 'Brolga Song'. This is a story about the importance of culture and of knowing ones place in Aboriginal society; Victor never knew his father or grandfather and spends his life searching for their spirits. Eventually as an old man Victor finds his 'dreaming body' in the brolga and is reunited with his fathers; finally he can enjoy happiness. While I think that retelling the story in images was an enjoyable exercise, I would be more likely to use this particular story to explore the importance of belonging and of knowing where you have come from. This theme is something that most primary students will be able to relate to and the story could be used as a powerful stimulus for creating their own story of belonging. It could also be used as a starting point for a unit on family trees and ancestry.

Week 3 - Staying Safe Online

Having taught a couple of lessons on how to search the internet during my first practicum I was particularly interested in the issues raised in this week's Technology lecture. I used Google as the basis for my lessons, but I would definitely opt for a more child friendly search engine in the future. The Education Department's search engine, for example, seems like a good option for primary students, particularly as all the content has been carefully vetted. There are also some other options listed at GetNetWise, although none of them seem as child friendly as the Education Department's version.


I also took a look at the resources for teaching students about online safety and I felt that the Cybersmart website had the most potential for use in a primary classroom. The Hector's World clips, for example, could be used as the basis for whole class teaching to allow students to engage with the various issues without scaring them off. There are also some other useful clips on this site that address other issues such as online dos and don't and spending too much time on the computer that could also be used to teach students how to behave safely and responsibly online.


While on practicum I was introduced to the Superclubs Plus website; a safe social learning network site for children aged 6 to 12. Students use the site to learn about social networking without being exposed to the potential dangers associated with sites such as Facebook and MySpace. Students get points for what they learn, for example they can get a point for building their home page, sending their first email, posting on a discussion forum, etc. When they accrue enough points they then gain a Star Award. These awards cover a whole range of topics including Internet Safety in a way that engages students and encourages them to learn. I can see this being a really effective teaching tool and well worth the $4.50 per student yearly subscription.

Week 3 - Quia Quizzes and Activities

I found this section of the workshop really useful. I can see huge potential in being able to build my own quizzes and activities and tailor them to fit the needs or interests of my students. I created a quiz, a hangman activity (see above) and a scavenger hunt (see below) and found all of the templates really easy to use.


I particularly liked the Scavenger Hunt activity template which allows you to add links to websites and provide questions for students to answer when looking at those websites. This is really a much simpler version of the WebQuests we are creating in Integrated Method and would be a great way of getting students to do internet research on a specific topic in a really structured way using websites that you have vetted.

This site would also be a useful way of getting students to create their own quizzes and activities. You could use the design brief template that we were introduced to in this workshop to set them a task using the Quia site and then get them to investigate/design, produce and analyse/evaluate their own activity. You could also introduce an element of peer assessment by getting students to swap activities and analyse/evaluate each others. I can see this being really fun and engaging for students and a good way of getting them to use their higher order thinking skills.

Looking at the website there are also some useful tutorials to allow you to get the best out of the site and thousands of pre-made activities to choose from. There are over 1500 shared activities for English alone and therefore you can also refine your search by entering a key word, activity type, etc to find the activities that meet your needs. You don't even need to register to use these tutorials and activities so it would be a really good way of assessing the site before investing in the subscription. At $49 per year for the subscription I think this could be a really good investment particularly if the teacher testimonials on the site are anything to go by.

Week 2 - Using Technology in the Classroom

One of the key issues highlighted by the weekly readings is the fact that children are not adequately prepared for the 21st Century. Using technology in the classroom is highlighted by the White Paper, 'How digital tools prepare students for the 21st century', as a way of overcoming this problem. I totally agree with this stance and I explored this issue in detail in my Issues in Education assignment last semester. What the workshops have highlighted for me is that using technology is about more than using educational software to enhance teaching and learning; it is also about teaching students how to use a whole range of different software programmes that they will come across in the working world.

What's more research has shown that using technology in this way equips students with a number of essential skills, for example:

• information and data management skills
• analytical skills
• thinking and learning skills
• reading comprehension

All of these skills are invaluable in today's technology rich society and therefore ICT needs to be an integral part of everyday teaching and learning.

My key concern is that teachers and student teachers and not being adequately prepared to use technology effectively in their classroom. The fact that this course has been reduced from 18 weeks to 6 weeks, for example, is testament to the fact that not enough emphasis is being placed on this aspect of teaching and year after year teachers are graduating without these essential skills. What's more millions of dollars are being spent on Interactive Whiteboards for schools which are then just being used like traditional whiteboards. If we are to have any hope of better preparing students for a future we cannot predict we need to have the training and support required to develop these skills.

Week 2 - MS Publisher

This week we created a brochure using MS Publisher. I found this program very intuitive, despite the fact that the menus differ from traditional Word menus. I think students would find this program very useful in lots of different contexts such as creating brochures, newsletters, postcards etc. I also think that the finished results look very professional which will appeal to students.

The ability to use this program to create web content is of particular interest. I have some limited experience of using DreamWeaver and from what I have seen so far MS Publisher would be a much easier program to use with students in the classroom. I would definitely see the creation of an ongoing e-Portfolio as a valuable task for students which would help develop a whole range of different skills relating to design; navigation; selecting, writing and editing content, etc.

I was also interested to read in 'Digital Portfolios: Fact or Fashion' that the research done on the benefits of ePortfolios highlighted that they helped graduate teachers organise their ideas in a way that greatly assisted them in the interview process. As we head towards the end of the Graduate Diploma and begin applying for jobs I am sure we are all looking for ways to improve our chances of securing a position for next year. It seems that ePortfolios can in fact provide us with that edge in interviews as well as being a useful learning and assessment tool in the classroom.