Busy build up to Christmas!

Last week was a very busy week as we had our Edtech proposal and assignments to hand in. It was a relief to finally get the overlay transperencies handed in as this was one of the assignments which i found the most challenging.

School is also very busy as Presentation Day was on last week and tomorrow is open day in the school which means we are involved in supervising extra classes. The students seem to be hyper at the moment as they have Christmas tests next week and some of them seem to be quite anxious about them! My supervisor also came last week for her second visit which i felt went quite well. The students behaved really weel and my supervisor gave good tips on how to improve my teaching methodologies. My ideas are good, i just need to reconsider how to implement them differently in my lessons.

This week i have to set Christmas tests for my students and really focus on my curriculum and assessment project. Next week i will be attending my first parent/teacher meetings which is quite daunting but at least i will have the support of my mentor teacher. So really it's a very busy time for us PGDE students! Roll on december 22nd!!

Edtech assignments

Out of all the assignments we were asked to complete for edtech to date, i found the handout the easiest to complete and also the most useful for the classroom setting. I enjoyed learning about clip art which i had never used up to now, but managed to use quite alot of on the handout! The handout supports more effective learning as it acts as a good aid to provide extra activities and exercises along with the textbook. I find the handout exercise very beneficial and will definitely use it time and time again in the classroom in the future.

The single transperency was also very useful and i will certainly use it during grammar classes. I feel the transperencies will support more effective learning as they will aid and emphasise the key grammatical points made during a grammar class for example for students to focus their attention on. I have been having difficulties creating the overlays for the second transperency and have still not completed this assignment. While i feel these overlays would be very beneficial to a science or geography teacher, i believe they are of little benefit to a language teacher unless they could be used for teaching grammar. However as this assignment specifies the use of graphics i am unable to produce a grammatical exercise on the transperency.

I have yet to present the WebQuest presentation however our group have completed the proposal for the presentation next week. I like the idea we are proposing for the WebQuest and feel that i will learn more about various French cities and French culture when we complete the webquest itself. I think that the presentations are a great idea as the whole Edtech group will benefit and learn more about different curriculum areas, constructivism and education technology.

The only assignment i would do differently is perhaps the overlay transperencies. I do feel i have benefited greatly and learned a great deal from completing all of the other assignments.

This week we had no lectures in college as the block students were out on teaching practice. It was nice to get a break, however i was still really busy trying to work on my Edtech proposal and presentation on Switzerland for my german course. Our group are doing a proposal for a transition year French class. My job is to research and present the curriculum section and i feel that it has given me a good opportunity to learn more about the curricular area .

It was back to school last Monday after the mid-term break and i have to admit i was dreading going into school. It was fine once i got into the swing of things though and the staff room is already full of chat about Christmas holidays. The next few weeks are going to be very busy in the run up to the Christmas holidays in school as i have to prepare Christmas tests and attend parent teacher meetings. The fifth years are going on work experience next week so that will give me some time to prepare their tests in advance.

This week i also starting teaching a sixth year oral French class as part of the ALIVE programme in the school. My job is to attend the class along with the other French teacher and prepare the leaving cert students for their oral exam in March/April. I will rotate between the higher and ordinary level groups every second week. I really enjoyed teaching this class, the students were really focussed and it makes such a difference when you don't have to spend time disciplining a class!

I went to the cinema to see a french film " Le grand voyage " in the townhall as part of the youth film fleadh with the transition year students and my mentor teacher. It was great to have the opportunity to see a French film in the cinema as the occasion rarily arises in Ireland.

Mid-term break!

This week we're on mid-term break which is nice for a change as it gives us quite alot of time to focus on course work. I found edtech really useful this week as i have finally mastered how to use basic clip art on a handout. The next step now will be to master overhead transperencies! We also started our webquest proposal. I like the idea the group has come up with and hopefully will learn more about French cities which the other members of the group have previously visited or lived in . My task is to focus on the curriculum aspect of the webquest. We have decided to do a proposal for Transition year and as i don't teach transition year this year it will give me an opportunity to learn more about the curriculum for this year.

Last night we had our second SPHE lecture which i really enjoyed. The lecturer is very down to earth and it made a nice change to focus on another subject other than languages. I found the topics on the course really interesting. Some of the topics which are covered really surprised me, however i feel they are very realistic of what is happening in the lives of teenagers and could ellicit some fantastic discussions in the classroom!