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QTS Q29

Year 13 Revision Lessons & Exam Prep

By PGCE, POT 3, Reflection, TeachingNo Comments

Over the last 5 weeks I have had the opportunity to get some experience with year 13 KS5 computing lessons.

This has been a steep learning curve for me and I have seen how complex a topic this is.

The main area that we have been working on is Internet security.

Please see this Lesson plan http://bit.ly/mQ4HgO and this PowerPoint  http://bit.ly/iRSE1i to observe what I did in this lesson.

 

For these lessons I only had two pupils so I really tried to make sure that they it was setup like a tutoring session rather than a lecture. This I achieved by just sitting with the pupils either side of me. I was also able to show them a few not taking tools and barnstorming applications such as bubl.us.

We went the various aspects of networks and how they can be protected with firewalls I asked them to sod some research to see what firewalls where available. I also asked them how they thought antivirus programs worked and what the virus vault was. It was good to talk to them about their experiences with antivirus software and to compare this to macs.

I also then went onto teaching some revision lessons where we were looking at a past paper. These lessons where fairly simple as it was just to ask the pupils to get on with the paper. Please see my Lesson plans for what I did.

The main observation was that the pupils need to understand the concepts clearly and be concise with their answers in orders to achieve all the marks. It was really useful to use the mark scheme to get what was exactly needed it also showed the pupils what the examiners wanted.

It’s a hard task to get them to understand the concepts and not just teach to the test. At A-Level most of the questions do require pupils to understand what is actually going on so it does balance the scales I feel.

24/05/2011

Evaluation of the Apprentice Year 8 Unit

By PGCE, POT 3, Reflection, Teaching124 Comments

Evaluation of Year 8 Apprentice Unit

Over the last 5 weeks I have been teaching Year 8 a new module that I have created a medium term plan for. This unit has been called the Apprentice unit. The main concept for the project is to come up with a product that they can sell to pupils at their school. The product needs to be small and affordable with the average pocket money that pupils have per week.

To start with I asked the pupils to think about what sort of people they are targeting and what sort of products they might like. I gave them some clues to get them started with the product one of which was a usb lipstick product that could sell to females.

Above is an example of how I designed a simple poduct in firework and then asked them to create a similar sketch for their product. This particular idea really gave them the chance to be creative with their product. It was important that they undertook this task so that they could have an idea of what the product would consist of for the production phase. This lesson worked particularly well with some fantastic produces being produced.

They also had to think about how they would brand their product and come up with a logo. This was a good chance again to use the program fireworks to design it. It was important to give them a few examples of different logos and take them through the program in steps otherwise the pupils forgot it by the time they had a go.

Finally the pupils had to go through and sort out the finances of the product to figure out how much money they intend to make. This needed to be done with an element of competition.

At the end of this unit the pupils will be assessed via a presentation and they will have to present their PowerPoint that they have collated their research in and pitch it as if they where in a boardroom.

All in all this was a great project that is suited for an end of year project to consolidate a series of skills .

Please see this folder for all the resources files and folders. http://bit.ly/ivXjSw

21/05/2011

Year 9 OCR Nationals Database Lesson 2

By PGCE, POT 3, TeachingNo Comments

What went well?

I was able to adapt well to the fact that some of the pupils had not completed the work that they should have in the previous lesson. I was able to be assertive and raise standards and expectations when i did not feel that they where working as best as they could. I was not afraid to be stern.

I had to modify my planning and teaching to adapt to the fact that they where all at different stages of development.

The iportant part of this lesson is to make sure that their anotations and descriptions are of a decent standard. For the lower ability children they where not quite able to come up with good arguments that really explained why they did this. This meant i had to intervene and give guidence to the pupils in how to describe to process that they where doing. This was a good chance for pupils to use literacy in their lessons.

What could have been done better?

Work was meant to be covered over homework but this was an oversight and i should have not assumed that they would definitely complete it during their own study time. I need to raise the standards for this and expect it more and set sanctions in place if they have not completed the work on time.

My demonstration of the work was possibly not as clear and i did not pre empt the issues that arrose.

I need to keep working on tackling low level behaviour.

Lesson Plan >> http://bit.ly/mO9F8f

Observation of me http://bit.ly/iyo6n0

19/05/2011

Behaviour Management – SD Seminar Week 9

By PGCE, SD - ICT, SeminarsNo Comments

Few points on classroom presence

Today we are going to look at some aspects of behaviour management.

We need to protect our voice as this is out most powerful tool to control aspects of the classroom. Pitch it at the right level and dont strain it from the throat.

We need to develop a real presence in the classroom this is done by having strong body language and conveying a almost dominance in the classroom that is not scary but commands respect of the pupils. This way they will feel more confident that they can trust you and believe what you are saying.

Tips from older PGCE students before block 1

  • Keep objectives simple and to the point.
  • Do not try to speak over noise when address the class.
  • Being alert to the whole class, take moments to look up and even walk around.
  • Don’t asses your lessons on how you feel they went but on how man of the learning objectives were achieved. I DONT AGREE WITH THIS AS WHAT IF YOU HAVE DONE REALLY WEL ON ONE AND ITS JUST TAKING THE PUPILS LONGER TO GRASP. ( It is important to get them to learn something and not to just be busy

Group Work

  1. Acknowledge the girl works in and then just say gena get yourself ready to learn and ill speak to you in 5 minutes. Don’t confront it to strongly. Cary on with the introductions. Then don’t invade space when talking to her..
  2. Diplomatic approach to speaking the TA say how you feel and then use specific example of when you felt undermined. You need to stick to your guns and be assertive saying that my authority is ultimate and that i need you to support me not undermine me
  3. Deal with the fight with your voice. Raise your voice in a strong way. know who you can call on and then if it is really escalating then you can get help.. separate the pupils immediately. calm the cheering and say its not goog to spur on.
  4. Dont stoop to their level… reprimand it but dont make a big deal of it. Dont cringe up and laugh about it too much as this will
  5. Give the pupil the opportunity to leave within a time frame and then give a clear ultimatum saying if you dot this is the punishment. Be clear and concise and black and white. Deal with the boys
  6. Have a starter activity that gets them on task and quiet and having something to do while you wait for all the other pupils.
  7. Give them an opportunity to own up and an amnesty to own up. maybe by email in with who it was and someone owning up. say its not acceptable and i will not tollerate this on my board.
  8. reprimand the Joke and maybe turn it on them selves and say that is not on.. maybe go up one to one and say the it was offensive. have a moral code that you expect in your classroom that is in line with the school policy.
  9. say maybe that well you will be an expert on it and you will be really good on it but state that this is what we will be doing in greater detail.

With-it-nes

Banter can cross the line really quickly and can become over familiar to quickly. Over a while you can develop it and build it up but you must have the respect of the class and the pupils.

Learn the lingo that you use and be aware that some words will have an effect on their imaginations.

Top tips

  1. Don’t take it personally
  2. Be consitent – follow it through
  3. Dont be threatening or push kids int a corner. Threats – how effective?
  4. Criticise the behaviour not the individual.
  5. Is “control” possible? can you ever really control a class and change behaviour? You can influence but you cant control
  6. Assertion NOT Agression
  7. Nip the lower level in the bud.

Experience will give you a world of good and will build all of this.

Useful sites

www.behaviour4learning.ac.uk

Chalenges in an ICT classroom and

  • Playing on games e.g. flash games.
  • listening to music on sites such as we7
  • playing with keyboards and mice –  fidgeting
  • Talking to other children and being distracted by their screens
  • walking around the classroom and checking up on each of them
  • leaning back on chairs
  • temperature of room
  • changing the keyboard keys around
  • saving work or not saving it correctly
  • forgetting to log off on another computer
  • always asking for help and being lazy to not listen

Responses to the chalenges

  • Chunk the lessons up to keep them on task each time.
  • Don’t talk for to long
  • Use a 5 minute timer to be in absolute silence

Better professional relationships will create a better learning environment and reduce the frequency of low level disruption.

Teach First Video

Get the pupils to take pride

Should be at least 5 praise points to one negative comment.

Patience, Persistence, Practice.

01/11/2010
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