Saturday, October 9, 2010

In my themed weekly plan the internet was used very often within the classroon either on the IWB or the computers by the students themselves.
The week after holidays we worked on literacy on the theme 'Penguins'. First we learnt the different features of the penguins using a book. Then the children got different info sheets about penguins which they read as pairs and got the information on a Y chart. This really worked well and this format greatly helped them to share with the whole which in turn was fun to learn , made them read and put down the inf they read in their own words.
Next we had to find out about the different penguins. First time in the school our Grade 2 was the first one to use the new laptops within the classroom individually. The children were very excited and were enthusiastic to use it to get information about different penguins.
Finally after putting the info on paper, the drew their favourite penguin on paint with their info in the text boxes in paint.

Some of the things I learnt how ICT can be integrated in classrooms for learning are:

Drill, practices or instructional software lets students practice maths facts, spelling and vocabulary, which was very frequently seen in schools during my practicum.

Simulations, problem solving software like mind mapping help students develop their understanding constructively.

Teacher allow students multiple ways to demonstrate achievement. eg Web pages, publishing newsletters and brochures.

Visual and interactive resourses help keep students' attention, drills and practise materials gives students to learn in private space and in own pace.

By reading, I also learnt ICT helps by distance course subjects for schools who lack teachers, simulations help repeated science experiments for schools with low budgets.

Other interesting things were-
Students find writing and calculating boring or tedious! - Word processing /calculators / spreadsheets help.
Students cannot travel to places to learn about - Virtual tours.
Students lack motor skills when designing-Drawing software and computer assisted design(CAD)
Some physical or social phenomenon occur too slowly or quickly or at a great distance for observation - Simulations, Human body (BBC), aussie eco ranger.

I felt these were truly useful ways of using ICT in classrooms for promoting learning.

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