Teaching Practice - 13th April 2009

13th April 2009
Year 4
Both my Year 4 classes were not in school, they were taken to a school trip visiting the Brunei Meteorological Centre.

Year 3B (8.00 – 8.30)
Lesson: MS_Word
Content: Introduction to MS_Word and its basic tools.
Activities: 1) Typing a – b in lower case.
2) Typing A – Z in upper case.
3) Typing numbers 1 – 10.

This was continuation of the lesson from the previous week. There were changes; the pupils were all present on time. I was quite relieved with this as I really dislike my lessons and work to be interrupted repeatedly.

The pupils, this time, managed to finish all 3 activities on time. I was happy and told them to give themselves loud claps for their achievement. They all showed more interests in ICT and repeatedly asked me what they are going to do next week. I told them that we will be doing a composition next week and also told them to prepare their compositions “My Family” on a piece of paper to be brought to class next week.

Teaching Practice - 6th April 2009

6th April 2009
Year 4
Lesson: Introduction to MS_Powerpoint.
Content: Introduction to basic tools of MS_Powerpoint.
Activity: Creating and designing “My friend and I’ e-book using MS_Powerpoint.

I first showed them the finished printed output and the slideshow of the e-book (My friend and I) that I created. I told them that today, we will be doing this and the pupils got excited and were very eager to learn.

I started the lesson right away by introducing them to MS_Powerpoint and they followed the steps that I made as I went through MS_Powerpoint and my explanations.

Year 4A (7.30 – 8.00)
Majority of the pupils were able to catch up with what I explained regarding MS_Powerpoint, they were also able to create and design their own e-book (My friend and I), which I have instructed to just be a minimum of 2 slides and a maximum of 4 slides. However, only about 4 pupils were able to finish the activity on time, the rest could not finish it on time, maybe it is due to the fact that the equipment (computers) were lacking and their time for the ICT lesson was cut (we were left with only 15 minutes) because of the morning assembly. I told all of them to save their work in their own folders on the desktop (which they have created during my last semester’s Teaching Practice) and they shall continue the lesson the following week.

Year 4B (9.30 – 10.00)
As excited as Year 4A was, Year 4B showed the same interests and anticipation throughout the entire lesson. Although they were a bit noisy, most of them were able to finish the activity right on time. Only 2 groups were unable to do so as they had trouble with identifying alphabets and numbers. But these 2 groups did manage to come up with something, they were able to change the background colours and themes, and they were also able to create 2 slides although their slides had no texts.

Year 3B (8.00 – 8.30)Lesson: MS_Word
Content: Typing skills.
Activity: Typing compositions “My Family”

As usual, I showed them the output first, and told them they could try doing this on their own about their families. I explained the similarities to physical pen-unto paper compositions and they seemed to have understood what I have explained. Without further delay, I instructed them to start on their compositions while I go around checking on them.

Results: Very few managed to type their compositions, the rest still had trouble with recognising the alphabets, and about half of the pupils were a no-show. I was informed that some went to special teacher, and some were still stuck at the previous period’s class doing unfinished work. I was frustrated with this as it usually happens. I spoke the teacher regarding this matter and the teacher responded that the teacher shall be more cooperative in the future lessons to come.

I, at last, checked on all the pupils and told them to save their work so they could continue it the following week.

Teaching Practice - 6th April 2009

6th April 2009
Year 4
Lesson: Introduction to MS_Powerpoint.
Content: Introduction to basic tools of MS_Powerpoint.
Activity: Creating and designing “My friend and I’ e-book using MS_Powerpoint.

I first showed them the finished printed output and the slideshow of the e-book (My friend and I) that I created. I told them that today, we will be doing this and the pupils got excited and were very eager to learn.

I started the lesson right away by introducing them to MS_Powerpoint and they followed the steps that I made as I went through MS_Powerpoint and my explanations.

Year 4A (7.30 – 8.00)
Majority of the pupils were able to catch up with what I explained regarding MS_Powerpoint, they were also able to create and design their own e-book (My friend and I), which I have instructed to just be a minimum of 2 slides and a maximum of 4 slides. However, only about 4 pupils were able to finish the activity on time, the rest could not finish it on time, maybe it is due to the fact that the equipment (computers) were lacking and their time for the ICT lesson was cut (we were left with only 15 minutes) because of the morning assembly. I told all of them to save their work in their own folders on the desktop (which they have created during my last semester’s Teaching Practice) and they shall continue the lesson the following week.

Year 4B (9.30 – 10.00)
As excited as Year 4A was, Year 4B showed the same interests and anticipation throughout the entire lesson. Although they were a bit noisy, most of them were able to finish the activity right on time. Only 2 groups were unable to do so as they had trouble with identifying alphabets and numbers. But these 2 groups did manage to come up with something, they were able to change the background colours and themes, and they were also able to create 2 slides although their slides had no texts.

Year 3B (8.00 – 8.30)Lesson: MS_Word
Content: Typing skills.
Activity: Typing compositions “My Family”

As usual, I showed them the output first, and told them they could try doing this on their own about their families. I explained the similarities to physical pen-unto paper compositions and they seemed to have understood what I have explained. Without further delay, I instructed them to start on their compositions while I go around checking on them.

Results: Very few managed to type their compositions, the rest still had trouble with recognising the alphabets, and about half of the pupils were a no-show. I was informed that some went to special teacher, and some were still stuck at the previous period’s class doing unfinished work. I was frustrated with this as it usually happens. I spoke the teacher regarding this matter and the teacher responded that the teacher shall be more cooperative in the future lessons to come.

I, at last, checked on all the pupils and told them to save their work so they could continue it the following week.

Teaching Practice 9th March 2009 - 23rd March 2009

9th March 2009 – Revision Week
It was revision week and my ICT lessons were taken over by the new ICT teacher while I helped him with the pupils when they were doing their activities and I was also given relief classes, so I did revisions with those respective classes.


16th March 2009 – Examination Week
It was the examination week, and I was given an invigilating schedule by the Guru Kanan Akademik.

23rd March 2009
School Holidays

TP - 020309

Class: Year 4

Lesson: Continuation of the previous week's lesson on 'googling'.

Lesson Objectives:

For pupils to:

1] Utilize the Internet as a tool for searching for information.
2] Be able to deduce the correct information found.
3] Be more skilled in typing and working with MS_Word.


Questions Given:
a) What is the fastest land animal in the world?
b) Where is the longest river in the world?
c) What is the capital city of Thailand?
d) Who is Neil Armstrong?


Outcomes:

Most of the pupils were able to remember what they have learned the previous week and this week's lesson has enhanced their skills. Few pupils were sadly, still unable to even really read, let alone work with the PC and understand instructions. I grouped these pupils together and gave them a much simpler task; typing a short or numbered composition about themselves. Although they managed to only type 'my name is .....', I was still happy with what they did and I praised them like I did the others.

I was also observed by my TP supervisor in one of my Year 4 lessons, and the results so far, is good. I will be observed again after the school holidays.

Surprise Test Answers for Dr.Leong

Year 4B

Lesson Description: “Googling” for answers (questions prepared by the teacher) and typing out the answers in full sentences on MS_Word.

Time: 30 minutes


1. Self-concerns.

The class was popular for having the noisiest bunch of pupils in the school, so I questioned my own ability to teach. I thought I was going to have a hard time controlling the class and making sure they were disciplined enough to be engaged in the lesson I had prepared.

I divided the pupils into groups of three or four and instructed them to be seated on the seats I had already assigned and made sure that each group was of mixed abilities before starting the lesson.

Right after it was the time for their practical activity, the pupils began to talk. I immediately told those who talked to keep quiet or at least talk in a lower tone. The pupils were obedient for less than 5 minutes and they began to talk again, and even noisier than the last time, so at that time, I was annoyed and I tried my best to not scream in anger. I gave the children a very angry look and began my ‘silent mode’. The head of the class noticed I was angry and told his friends to stay quiet or keep it at a minimal level. This succeeded and I didn’t even have to scream!

Talking noisily and purposeless is one problem, the other problem is, those pupils who chose to walk around instead of doing their work, and the worse part – bullying! I found out that one pupil actually asked for money from a classmate who was in the Special Education. I almost lost my bits of patience at this point as bullying is one of the things I hate most as it reminds me during my schooling time! My solution to this problem in the class was, I let the ‘bully’ use my PC and work alone, on his own. The other pupils were being noble at this time; I guess they were afraid of my loud voice. Eeek! Due to time constraints, they couldn’t get to the last 2 questions but they managed to do most of their work, which was already good enough for me. This class, as written earlier, is popular for having discipline problems, so them finishing their class activity, when they usually 70% never do during most of other lessons, was awesome!

2. Task Concerns

2.1) Lack of Equipment, “Broken Equipment” and “Used Equipment”.
- Lots of ‘mice’ or ‘mouses’ were missing.
- Inadequate amount of PCs available.
- Teachers in the school come and use the PC whenever they please, regardless of there are lessons conducted. They would just tell the pupils (those seated at the PC they want to use) to get off their seats. I tried to tell them that lessons are conducted, but, it didn’t work. I locked the room from inside the lab, but, they kept knocking and it interrupted the class. Weird huh?

2.2) Learning Environment / Expectations

Regardless of the noisiness and several interruptions, majority of the pupils actually were able to carry out their tasks. Due to time constraints, they just couldn’t finish all 5 questions I had prepared but, the outcomes of what they managed to do were very satisfying and unexpected. Those who weren’t able to do so were not pushed aside, I re-taught them spontaneously and tried my best to make them understand, though I still failed to do so in few pupils, I am yet to polish my teaching strategies.


3. Impact

Overall, although lessons may be slow at times, I see the pupils have quite improved than the first time I stepped in. They now are not afraid of the sight of technology anymore, and ICT is no longer a horrifying word. They now can and ‘want’ to work with PCs and utilize the technology for their learning (although a bit slow-paced).

I, on the other hand, need to learn more on the ‘catering to individual needs’ bit. This has been an issue for my teachings as I find it tough to cater to the individual needs in a 30 minutes lesson. Minus the time taken by previous lessons, walking to the computer lab, I approximately have only about 20 minutes to carry out my lesson. It’s frustrating, but, what to do?

020309 - LP

Integrated Curriculum – Multidisciplinary Curriculum Design

Year 4 or 5
Subject: Science
Topic: Life Cycle of a Frog

Questions:

1. Find the pictures of the life cycle and save them to the desktop.
2. List the steps in a frog life cycle.
3. Produce a report in MS_Word, including pictures that have been saved.

Lesson Objectives:

As a whole: Using the Internet as a tool for pupils to produce a report.

1. Pupils to be able to use and utilize search engines.
2. Pupils to be able to save images from websites.
3. Pupils to be able to insert images in MS_Word.



Year 3
Subject: ICT
Topic: Getting Started with MS_Word.

Description: Pupils learn or review how to open and create file, format text, change font and point size.

Lesson Objectives:

1. Pupils to be familiarized with a word processing package.
2. Pupils to learn basic features of MS_Word (Typing and Formatting)
3. Pupils learn how to italize, bold, underline and change the point size.
4. Pupils to learn letter and punctuation placement on the keyboard.
5. Pupils to learn that only one space is needed between each word and two spaces needed between each sentence.
5. Review and learn how to start and quit the application.