Tag Archive - Teaching

New Teaching Tool: Google Maps in 3D

May 22, 2010 in Education with 3 Comments

As a (preservice) teacher, it’s always great to find new resources, especially ones that are free!

Recently Google has upgraded their maps service to allow users to view certain areas of the world in 3D. Watch the video below that explains this.

I’ve had a quick look around this and I can see awesome opportunities to use this to teach students about different areas of the world. Great for HSIE lessons. And, it’s really easy to use! And, it would look amazing on a smartboard, and students could interact with it. It’s amazing how real we can make different parts of the world look.

Below are some screenshots that I have taken while playing around.

Eiffel Tower

Sydney HarbourVatican City

I Hope My Classroom Isn’t Like This…

March 17, 2010 in Fun with 0 Comments

Students can get up to all sorts of mischief in a classroom, but in this one everything seems to be going wrong…

A classroom with Chaos everywhere!

Source

Recently at Uni we had a lecture where it was suggested that “minor” classroom infractions aren’t really minor at all. When they are added up over time, they can really effect learning. I think the cartoon above demonstrates that.

I also hope that I wont be ignoring these small issues but will instead be concentrating on how to best teach the students so that they can learn.

P.S. Click on the picture to see a bigger version of it.

Misspelling

February 27, 2010 in Fun with 0 Comments

Its plain to see that I would loose at a spelling competition because I am not better then anyone else. Wierd huh?

How often do you spell simple words incorrectly?

Or just plain don’t know how to spell these words correctly?

I came across this great resource online which clearly, and visually outline these common errors and how to avoid them.

The resource is called 10 Words You Need to Stop Misspelling by The Oatmeal.

Here is an example of one of the words. You can find the rest on the site.

As a preservice primary school teacher, I think it would be great to have a resource like this up in my classroom.

Public vs Private #3 | Support

June 27, 2009 in Education with 9 Comments

Red FlowerTeaching is hard. Being a Christian is hard.

Therefore, being a Christian teacher is very hard.

At a public school, a Christian teacher is likely to be in the minority, with very few other Christian teachers if any at all.

There will be older teachers who will be able to support your teaching, they may even mentor you and give you excellent advice, but whatever they tell you, it will not be directly influencing your walk with God.

However, at a private school, there are likely to be many other Christian teachers, many of whom will have been teaching for a long period of time.

These Christian teachers will be able to support you not only in teaching, but in being a Christian teacher. This support would be very useful in the early years of teaching especially, as the teacher tries to understand how to best serve God in their field. The fact that the teachers can work together in glorifying God means that they can share experiences of discussions with students or parents, and also particular struggles that they may have.

Of course if every Christian teacher went to a private school, then there wouldn’t be a single Christian teacher in a public school. But it is something to consider in this debate. If you have an opinion on this, let me know in the comments.

Read the rest of the posts in this series at Public vs Private | Main Page.

Public vs Private #2 | Scripture

June 23, 2009 in Education with 4 Comments

ClassroomNSW is one of the few places in the world (I do not know of any others) that allows scripture to be taught in public schools.

This is an incredible opportunity.

(If you have not read the first post in this series, please read it here now, it is a basis for all thought)

Scripture (or SRE, Special Religious Education) is mandated to be part of NSW government schools.

“In every government school, time is to be allowed for the religious education of children of any religious persuasion, but the total number of hours so allowed in a year is not to exceed, for each child, the number of school weeks in the year.”

Education Act 1990 No 8, Part 6 – 32 Special religious education

So SRE has a definite space in public schools,. SRE in NSW is also mandated to be based on an opt-out system, rather than an opt-in system (Education Act 1990 No 8, Part 6 - 33 Objection to religious education).

Scripture is the norm, and the public support it as well! 65% of the broad population in NSW support SRE (From here).

So scripture is in schools, and it is important, but what does that mean for teachers?

Teachers can have an impact on the number of hours of scripture that is taught, and also on when it is taught. This can be done through a few main avenues.

  • Teachers can be a voice in the school that supports SRE, this is vital as the principal decides when and where scripture is taught.
  • Teachers can also support clergy and other lay teachers through actively encouraging scripture publicly.
  • Teachers can also encourage students to learn during scripture by valuing it themselves, rather than dismissing it as “time off”.

If you are a teacher in a public school, then you can actively support the teaching of scripture at your school. You cannot do this at a private school.

Read the rest of the posts in this series at Public vs Private | Main Page.

Public vs Private #1

June 16, 2009 in Education with 16 Comments

TeachingOver the coming months, I’m going to be trying to decide whether to teach in a private school or a public school. This is going to include a series of posts documenting my ideas on this issue.

A few things to note before I start

  • I know there are great reasons for teaching in both private and public schools. There is not a right or wrong choice.
  • I want to know which would be best for me in serving God.
  • My views on this could change, so although I am trying to work this out early in (not even half-way through) my degree, I may not feel this way in 2 years.
  • I would really appreciate others jumping in on the discussion.
  • This process will also hopefully help me (and others) to think about how we can actively serve God through teaching
  • This process involves thinking mainly about Primary schools, but a lot of it will be relevant for Secondary schools as well.
  • Finally, in this process I am referring to private (independent schools) and public (government schools). I personally do not think that I would teach at a Christian school or a Catholic school.
  • UPDATE: Will be referring to the school system within NSW, Australia.

That’s the basis from which I will be writing the rest of the posts.

Let’s see what happens…

Read the rest of the posts in this series at Public vs Private | Main Page.