This week I had great fun working with Mr. White in PE. He had the students record their attempts at a task and their reflections on the activity. This is a great way of documenting what the students are doing in class and I hope a few of the students select the piece of work for their portfolio. I also had the opportunity to observe some of the Grade 8 students as they taught the Grade 5's about Digital Citizenship. This is a great example of cross divisional teaching. I was very impressed with the work that I saw and noticed that some great conversations were had. The grade 5 classes were also instructed on how to cite images that they use from the Internet and how to find images that are Creative Commons. This is an importance step in developing an awareness of academic honesty.
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Grade 2's Gearing upOver the past few weeks, the grade 2 classes have been learning about body systems. As part of their final task, they have been creating Keynote presentations. It has been wonderful to see the growth in understanding in their knowledge of the body and technology. One group decided to get up and check the color combinations that they used were easy for the audience to read. This demonstrates a great awareness of how to make slides easy for people to read.
Teacher learningLast week Ms. Eksteen and I hosted a teacher session on using Google Classroom. This is an additional tool that teachers can use to communicate with their students. The teachers were very enthusiastic to use this new tool with their students. Ms. Eksteen is already using this tool in her class and I have heard nothing but positive feed back from her and her students. keynoteGrade 2 students are currently working on creating Keynote presentations for their end of unit project. This is a fantastic tool to learn and the students have very quickly learned how to do some very interesting with the program. I look forward to seeing the completed projects.
The past week at BIFS has been an incredible week. Over the past few weeks the Grade 5 students have been conducting a lot of their work using the Google Apps for Education (GAFE). GAFE provides a fantastic set of simple and powerful tools that enhances the learning experience. The students enjoy being able to work collaboratively on documents. Since the start of the year the Grade 1 students have been practicing logging onto to the network and accessing the Internet. This past week I noticed that the students are starting to become more independent and faster with this task. Finally,I wish everyone a Happy Chuseok and hope that you are able to spend this time with your family and friends. Over the next couple of weeks the students will be given their log in information for Mathletics. Mathletics is an online interactive website that focuses on developing math skills in students. The site offers a variety of programs for teachers to assist with the delivery of the curriculum. Over the past year Mathletics has a couple of improvements which have already excited the students.
Students are free to access Mathletics at home. There are apps available for download if you are using a mobile device. RoboticsThis week saw the start of the elective program at BIFS. This year I am leading the Minecraft elective and am assisting Ms. Eksteen with the Robotics club. Robtics is a great way to teach kids about engineering, coding, cooperation, and many other skills. I have not had the opportunity to work with robots before and I am eager to learn from Ms. Eksteen and the students in the elective. It will surely be a blast.
Welcome to the 2014-2015 school year at Busan International Foreign School. I am delighted to be returning as the IT Facilitator for the Elementary school and am looking forward to a fantastic year of learning and trying out new things. Student AgreementIt was a pleasure to see so many new and returning faces the first week back at school. During their first lesson with me, the students discussed the Student IT Agreement. This agreement will serve as a guide for the students and teachers throughout the school year. If you would like discuss the agreement in detail or have any questions about technology in the elementary school, please feel free to contact me at [email protected] Google ClassroomGoogle Apps for Education (GAFE) has recently released Google Classroom. This is a fantastic tool that is incredibly easy to use and enables teachers to easily share assignments and have discussions with their classes. Last week Ms. Eksteen's class tried it out for the first time. The students had fun exploring the application and finding out how to do different things. I love seeing students explore new programs and finding out how to do things.
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AuthorBrendan Lea is in his fourth year at BIFS. He is thrilled to be returning at the The Tech Integrator and looks forward to working with the school community. He is currently working on his Masters in Educational Technology. Archives
December 2015
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