Cam’s Ramblings

Forrest Gump once said “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.”

I couldn’t agree with this statement more. We could be really picky and say that yes, you do know exactly what you are eating from your box of chocolates. Mostly because of the little pictures and descriptions you usually find in the lid or on the bottom of the box. But the analogy I think Gump was trying to get to was one of those boxes where they don’t give you that information. You just have to guess. And if you are allergic to nuts, then good luck!

But that’s going way off topic. I was going to try and steer this post back toward the fact that the Assignment Roller coaster is back in full swing. You should see my desk at home, I have textbooks, readings, journal articles and the like everywhere. I think that somewhere under there is my printer (note to self: FIND PRINTER!).

Fortunatly I have a poretty cruisy semester, as long as I complete one assignment per week. In the week ending today, I am to complete my Diversity assignment. It’s nowhere near done, but getting there. And starting tomorrow I have a literature review and case study to do for Student Wellbeing.

Once these are out of the way, I have my favorite subject to focus on – GAME! Anyone who I have spoken to of late will know that ‘Games is the kick-arseiest subject ever!’ Allow me to explain. Our fist assignment was a 750 report on a game we ran at our practicum schools. Easy. Our second assignment is running a game with our class at uni. Easy. Our third assignment is making a poster about an online game. Easy. The fourth assignment is marking everyone else’s games and posters. EASY!

And get this, we learn bugger all, besides some cool classroom activities. Week one was all the administrative stuff, getting assignments etc. Week two Cathy, the tutor, ran a game with us. Weeks three – seven are our presentations. And week eight we mark other posters. And the biggest suprise of all, there are only TWELVE people in the class. I don’t get it……

So anyway, until I’m back teaching in October my great insights into the classroom will kind of stop here. I know I was planning on using my Student Site (http://mrdenham.edublogs.org) during this last placement, but the classes I had didn’t really allow me to do so. So here’s hoping I can on my next lot of rounds. I really would like to see if it works before running with it next year.

But that’s enough from me. I have an assignment to write.

I’ll give you a hint. It was me. Okay, that wasn’t really a hint, more of a give away. But still…

I must admit, I am very happy with myself on this effort. I am feeling more confident about getting a job now, and am even more excited than previously about the coming few months. I have gathered some major evidence for my portfolio, and am looking forward to sharing that soon. Hopefully over the next week I will have a draft I am happy to publish on this site.

And until then, it’s back to work. I have a curriculum day tomorrow which should be interesting, then post-practicum drinks with my special lady in town to celebrate. Have a good weekend!

When I last poted, over a week ago, I posted about my success in using the smart board to teach pie graphs to year 7 students. SInce then, my students have sat their tests on the topic, recieved their marks and are now on to the next topic of measurement.

So today I had another smart board lesson for them, based around using scale. Basically, we made sure students knew how to use a ruler, read other scales (such as thermometers) then look at measuring long distances. We began with questions along the lines of “if the arrow is 20m long, how long is the bridge”, where I would display an arrow and a bridge.

So we worked through several examples, and as commented by one of the SSO stff who came into the class in the last 15 minutes, I “Had them eating out of my hands”, which I must admit I am just a little bit proud of.

I have been quite lucky to have access to the Smart Boards as much as I have on this placement, I’ve enjoyed having the freedom to play around with them and getting to know how they work. If you want a copy of any f my lessons I’ve created please leave a comment and I will send you what I’ve made. Eventually I hope to have an entire library of notes available to call upon as needed.

But until then, I suppose I shall just create.