My apologies to anyone who actually reads this blog on any sort of regular basis… I know, it’s been a long time.

The update is that I have just done 6 weeks of full time prac in a year 3 class, and as a result of that I have now finished University (yay!). Other news is that I finsihed that last Friday, and yesterday (Monday) I started my new job, which is really just a re-do of the job I had before I left to do prac. I’m developing the online electrical apprenticeship training, which is reallly exciting.

Look out for more posts soon on what I’m doing for my new eLearning approach, and other things that I’ve been learning about. For now, here’s a summary of some of the things I did in my classroom while I was teaching this last term.

1. The Projector.

This was one of my favourite tools for making my teaching easier, and getting the point across to the kids. It was helpful with things like Sound Waves- a phonics spelling book, because they could clearly view the activities while explained what they had to do.

It was also helpful when we started our maths investigation on castles because I could show them pictures of real castles that they could identify shapes on.

2. Computer Lessons.

Out time in the computer lab involved learning about a few things- how to write emails, how to make posters in Microsoft Publisher, and how to write things in Microsoft Word. I found these quite distressing moments in my teaching, because 1) I don’t like the programs I had to teach them, and wouldn’t every choose to use any of them, and 2) because teaching them how to use a program isn’t effective- there are too many programs out there that you can type in, for them to just learn about WORD.

3. Fitness every day.

I know this is nothing to do with technology, or computers, but I really wanted to put the balance out there. We did fitness every morning- first thing, for about 15 minutes. It was GREAT for burning off morning energy, and getting them more settled when they came back into the classroom.

4. Fruit Break.

Again, another non-teach thing, but really important. I guess one of the things I learnt about having this was for ME to have a fruit break! I think that it’s important in any job- ESPECIALLY if you work in front of a computer, to take regular breaks. The fruit isn’t necessary- it’s just good to have a walk around, and a glass of water.

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