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One of my three modules this semester is Teaching across the Curriculum. A bit chaotic at the first look of the timetable- this module consists of lectures, workshops and TDT’s across all of the eight curricular areas: Health & Wellbeing; Mathematics; Technologies; Language; Expressive Arts; Social Sciences and RME.

This post really constists of my thoughts and feelings about the areas within the module that I have started to take – as well as some TDT tasks that the module tutors have asked me to do.  I will continue to update this post as I continue through the module.

 

ICT.

I had great fun in Sharon’s ICT Animation class- it was very engaging and creative.

 

• Spend one hour going through the animation presentation and spend time looking at some of the resources and reflecting on how you could use these to teach animation.
• Spend one hour getting to know how to use the online software Pivot.  Create a Pivot animation and think about what key skills you would be teaching children.
• For both tasks, place evidence in your ePortfolio and reflect on your learning as a learner, what ICT skills you would need to teach children when creating an animation. Also, reflect upon where animation sits in the ICT experiences and outcomes. Finally, you may wish to consider what style of learning is associated with creating animations through reference to different theorists.

 

– The presentation was full of brilliant resources used in creative ways. I was really taken by the use of the video in the start of the presentation. It engaged us all straight away- and created a dialogue immediately by using questions based up on it. Some practicioners may consider this a lazy method; but the use of a video as a lead in is genuis. I have often used it as an EFL teacher- and seeing it used inside this lesson made we want to continue to use it. Sharon used a great task to help us all understand what an ‘Onion Leaf’ is. It was simple, using paper and pen. It was a quick, easy task that did more than explaining, or even visualising what an ‘Onion Leaf’ is; but actually gave us the practical experince of creating one.
The main software that was used for the bulk of the lesson was- Zuedem. This teamed with a camera, a large piece of paper and some objects; and boom! We’re animators. I loved the entrustment that this software and this part of the lesson gave us. As well as allowing, and enabliing us to creatively use our ideas in making our own animation- it also created a personal space for us; alikened to our own studio. I would love to use this software in future lessons.

-Pivot! The hours I spent on this game during my early years of high school are probably quite embarassing. In addition to being one of the only games downloaded on our School computers, I also had it at home. I use the term game beacuse it is so much fun. Its basic essence allows us to use our imagination to create basically anything. I was so impressed with what I had made, but looking on YouTube showed me that the options are really limitless. I think it is a good piece of software to use for many reasons. Firstly the nature of it really improves, what I call, our cognitive ICT skills- working on pivot dramtically and quickly improves ones work with the mouse or trackpad. For this reason I think it could even be appropriate for early years. The endless possibilities of Pivot also make it appealing as a tool to teachin with- children can really make anything, even a christmas lesson could be based around this software.