Gemma D’Albora 30318449 EDBED 1008

EDBED 1008
Gemma D’Albora
30318449
Tutorial Class: Thursday 10:30am- 12:30pm
Portfolio
Due: Wednesday 1st of May
Gemma D’Albora 30318449 EDBED 1008

Eggy Words
Eggy Words, an application released
by Reading Eggs, is an app created to
enhance children’s ability to recognise
letters and words in a way that would
keep them engaged and interested.
The program consists of multiple levels
that each has a different difficulty
setting. In each level the student will be
given a word or a letter in an ‘egg’
shape that they will focus on for the
duration of the level. They will then be taken to a screen
where eggs with different words or letters will pop up and the
student will have to click on the egg with the specific word or
letter that they were shown at the beginning of the level.
Obstacles will also pop up, such as chicks and regular

looking eggs, to try and confuse and distract the student.

I believe Eggy Words could be classified as Learning and

Thinking concepts as it teaches the students the identification
skills needed that allows them to comprehend language.
Children are able to construct how they interpret language
through their own activity and thinking. This demonstrates
how they take control of their learning and how much effort they chose to put into
wanting to learn (Neuman & Roskos, 1993, p. 29).

When I was on placement, my Mentor Teacher set the students up to use Eggy Words in
reading groups, which were activities that would be rotated everyday so each group
had a turn of the app. Students work effectively when using this app as it is used on an
iPad, and they are therefore excited to use it. Because of this, I used the thought of
being able to go on ipads to get them to complete other work tasks before they can go
on it. I believe Eggy Words is a useful resource to be used in the classroom as students
are willing to play it because of it being on ipads. The excitement of using technology
tricks them into learning.

Integrating iPad’s into classroom learning will no doubt assist the students and teachers
to be able to learn and teach more effectively, as “when embedded in thinking
classrooms as an everyday learning tool, results indicate iPads may be a powerful
resource for supporting collaborative learning” (Falloon, 2015, p. 76).

Seeing iPad’s used in classrooms has made me realise the extent of how classroom
teaching had evolved since i was in primary school. These changes have undoubtedly
made the classroom while not exactly better, but more stable in the ways of teaching.
Using apps provide an easier, more structured way to track student progress when they
are learning. This i believe to be a valuable asset when teaching as being able to know
how a student is progressing moulds how a teacher will teach them.

Overall i wonder just how dependent technology will be in classrooms by the time i
become a teacher and how drastically it will affect student learning; whether it will be
more beneficial or harmful.
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There’s a Hippopotamus on Our Roof

Eating Cake by Hazel Edwards
This artefact, in relation to the lesson that was given
to the students, could be related to all three of the
concepts given; Learning, Thinking and Creativity.
This is so because the children are working multiple
different parts of their brain to be able to
successfully achieve what my Mentor Teacher
wanted them to learn.

How the lesson began was the teacher read the

story to the students before snack. After she made
them sit down and went through different location
words, getting them to think of some of their own
and acting them out. She then gave them a stencil of a hippo cut out and allowed
them to decorate their hippo using markers and pencils. She then got them to go
outside and took pictures of them with their hippo using the location words they
discussed before. Finally she got them to stick the photos of them and their hippo on a
piece of paper and got them to write a sentence saying where the hippo was using the
location words. She then gathered up all the papers and made them into a book.

The students were very invested in creating their hippo and made effort to make their
page for the book colourful and made sure to write out the sentence neatly. Telling the
students that their work was going to be put into a class book encouraged them to
make that extra effort to make their page look presentable and to be proud of their
work.

When designing a creative lesson like this one, it is important that whilst the students
learn critical content and have targeted learning throughout the lesson they must be
able to have fun and enjoy themselves,. This will allow the students to show what they
already know before they have learnt what will be taught (Drapeau, 2014, p. 3). This
activity I believed to be useful as it allowed the students to think about how they would
place the hippo and what new words they could incorporate into their sentences.

Taking part of the lesson outside allowed the students to get some fresh air and procided
them with a different learning environment other than the classroom. I thought this was
important as some of the students tended to be restless and getting them outside
encouraged them to get rid of that extra energy whilst also learning at the same time.
Neuman and Roskos (1993) state that, “children’s thinking develops through active and
largely unconscious structuring of input they perceive from the environment” (p. 33-34).
This i believe was what my Mentor Teacher was trying to achieve with her students as
they were unconsciously learning. As well as this, taking them outside also allowed them
to broaden their thinking abilities, as my Mentor Teacher encouraged the students to
think of their own locations for their hippos to construct a sentence.

This style of teaching i warmed to immediately, as i believe it is important for students to

embrace their creative side whilst also learning important skills. Allowing students to
discover their own sense of learning and taking the learning outdoors should also is
something that all schools should encourage.
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Tin Men

Through the duration of my time at placement, the class topic for the semester was
focussing on the environment, how litter is taking over nature and how they can prevent
it from happening (recycling, composting etc.). This particular project was to teach the
students that certain materials could be reused instead of being thrown away where it
would sit in the tip and take years to decompose.

Each student was allowed to create a tin creature out of recycled materials. The
children were required to make a ‘design brief’ before they began to make their tin
creature. This consisted of them writing down the materials that they would need and
drawing a picture of what they wanted their tin creature to look like. Throughout the
process, many of the students altered their tin creature and drew up a new design brief
to go with those changes. They were very excited to be making something like this and
after they were finished they were displayed in the classroom for everyone to see.

The making of a design brief before they began I thought was something that was
interesting as I allowed them to think about their project before they began so they had
an idea of what they wanted to create. It showed what the students were thinking and
how they modelled their thinking process and i believe that this is something that
teachers should be more aware of in order to successfully be able to teach their
students. For an example, whilst this lesson was being carried out, i noticed that one of
the lower standard students in terms of academics was delighted and had many ideas
for what they wanted to create for their tin creature. The student ended up making two
different creatures, his second being a submarine fit with a container filled with material
to look like water and he even made little pom pom fish to go with it. Using the arts as a
way to reach lower skilled students allows them to feel accomplished and engage more
with the class and their learning (Ward, 2013, p. 168).

This task I thought was extremely effective as it taught the children about recycled
materials and encouraged them to bring in their own materials which made them focus
on the environment topic that they were currently learning. The environment is a topic
that should be taught at all schools as it is these children that will be in charge of taking
care of it in the future. Sustainable development is a very important aspect not only in
schools, but in everyday life. Teaching children about this at a young age will encourage
them to explore how and why it is important and what they can do to make a
difference (Brundiers, Redman & Wiek, 2010, p. 311).

This artefact i thought to be related to all three of the concepts as it allowed students to
create and think as well as learning about real world issues that occur every day. I
believe that learning about this topic is extremely important because of the real life
effects that us as humans have on the environment. If there is any way that the future
generations can make the world a better place by protecting the environment, then
teachers should definitely support and foster the information that is given to their
students.
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Number Bean Bags

Number Bean Bags as a resource is
highly useful as they can be used in
multiple different ways to convey
number and how to count. My
Mentor Teacher used these in a
variety of ways to teach the
students how to count to and from
20 and order the numbers. The two
group activities which she used
them in are both different yet they
attempt to teach the students the
same skills.

One way was to gather the students in a circle and put all the numbers on the floor in
the middle. She then asked two of the students to stand up. She then called out a
number and the two students would have to find it within the middle of the circle. The
student who found it and picked it up first was the winner and kept going around the
circle. I thought this activity was successful as it allowed the students to use their quick
thinking to establish the numbers. Although there were negative factors as the slower
learners became ‘out’ quickly and they became discouraged.

Another way was to give each student a number and make sure they didn’t tell anyone
what it was. They would then spread themselves out across the room and the teacher
would have a bag full of numbers and would pick one out and call it out in a riddle. Eg ‘I
have the number that comes after 7,’ the answer is 8. If their number was called, they
would have to come up to the front and put it down in a line where they think it would
go in order. The last person to have their number read out was the winner. I felt like this
exercise worked considerably better as the calling of the number was by chance and
not by the skill level of the individual students. Although they had to be able to recognise
their number, I believe this was a better, fun way to teach them number order.

I believe that this artefact falls under the Learning and Thinking concepts because it
encourages students to determine how numbers fit together and where they are
ordered. Group activities offer the students valuable opportunities to construct solutions,
especially when learning about mathematics (Mercer & Sams, 2006, p. 507). Referring to
the two group activities, working as a class to discover and explore different aspects of
numbers and processes used to get answers is an effective way to allow students to
share their ideas.

As suggested by Bolden, Harries and Newton (2006), “mathematics can be much more
creative, it just needs the right person to make it creative” (p. 153). I believe my Mentor
Teacher was very creative in her outlooks to teaching mathematics and i one day hope
to teach my own students with that type of creativity.
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Soundwaves
Soundwaves was an
important part of my Mentor
Teachers framework when
teaching her students as she
used soundwaves as a main
focus to teach the students
language and
comprehension. Soundwaves
fall in to the concepts of
Learning and Thinking as they
encourage the students to
explore language and
develop knowledge on
various ways of learning new
words.

Framework when teaching language is an important part of teaching as it provides

scaffolding to the student learning and allows them to feel supported and able to
complete set work (Makin, Campbell, & Jones Diaz, 1995, p. 2).

Students are encouraged to use the charts as they can assist them when learning
new words, sounds, or even spellings of words. The charts cater for students of all
learning levels, as they are there to assist. Using them for various activities is a way
that they can be used for different instructions on the basis of student ability
(Drapeau, 2014, p. 5).

A technique she used as well as the charts was to use rhyming words to assist in
helping the students learn different contexts of the sound. I found this to be
extremely useful as it encouraged the children to not only learn about the sounds,
but to think of sounds that sound similar and are therefore making connections to
their prior knowledge. This assisted students in learning words with the same sound
and also learning how to spell words that have the same sound but different spelling.
I found she repeated words that she was trying to teach at least twice and got the
children to say it after her so they would learn more effectively. When words are
repeated several times in the context which supports its meaning, children are able
to link them to learning strategies whilst also getting confirmation from their teachers
(Makin, et al., 1995, p. 10).

Using these charts in the classroom i believed to be extremely helpful as there were
soundwave charts on every table for the students to use when writing. The students
were taught to first look at the charts and asking another classmate before asking
the teacher for help. Observing this, i think the students discovered that learning new
words and comprehending different sounds wasn’t as hard as they thought as they
rarely had to as my Mentor Teacher for help.

I feel as though Soundwaves won’t be going anywhere through the years as it is

such a successful way of teaching and i can see myself using this method of
teaching when i graduate and i have my own students.
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Bubbles the Turtle

The idea behind Bubbles the Turtle is that
each student will take him home for the
weekend and take him on an abundance
of adventures. He comes with a large
scrapbook in which the students have to
record, with pictures, drawings or writing,
what they did and where they went with
Bubbles. This exercise helps the students to
think of exciting things to do with Bubbles
and also helps them expand on their
writing knowledge and vocabulary.

My Mentor Teacher made it more personal

for the students by letting them choose the name of the turtle. This created an
attachment to Bubbles from the start as the students were the ones to give him a
name. The class had a fondness of the topic of the ocean so using a turtle as their
“sleepover buddy” was a perfect fit for that particular class. By linking this to the
children’s interests, this makes them want to be a part of the activity more and
encourage them to be more engaged (Ward, 2013, p. 168).

Bubbles connects to all concepts but more closely with Thinking and Creativity. This is
because the children will have to create scenarios for Bubbles to be a part of. By
students exploring and recognising different ways of making their weekend with
Bubbles seem magical and exciting, this will make the students proud of their work
and encourage others to want to do better too (Brundiers et al., 2010, p. 312).

Using a stuffed toy as an extra activity for the students to do is a great way to
explore their ways of using creativity and to encourage them to want to do things
that are outside of the box. When i was in prep, my teacher had the same idea with
using a ‘Bubbles’, except instead of a turtle it was a toy lion named Leo. I remember
the excitement of taking Leo home and that weekend we went to the zoo so my
parents took a photo of me with Leo near the lions and i remember everyone in my
class thinking that it was amazing that i’d taken Leo to meet his ‘family.’ As a
teacher in the future i would definitely use this as a concept as it allows students to
create their own scenarios and let them be creative.
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References
Bolden, D. S., Harries, T. V., & Newton, D. P. (2009). Pre-service primary teachers’
conceptions of creativity in mathematics. DOI: 10.1007/s10649-009-9207-z

Brundiers, K., Redman, C. L., Wiek, A. (2010). Real-world learning opportunities in

sustainability: from classroom into the real world. International Journal of
Sustainability in Higher Education, 11(4), p.308-324.

Drapeau, P. (2014). Intentional creativity fostering student creativity from potential to

performance (Ch. 1) in Sparking student creativity practical ways to promote
innovative thinking and problem solving. ASCD Alexandra Ebook. p. 1-13. Retrieved
from
http://ebookcentral.proquest.com.ezproxy.federation.edu.au/lib/ballarat/reader.ac
tion?docID=1802379

Falloon, G. (2015). What’s the difference? Learning collaboratively using iPads in

conventional classrooms. Computers & Education 84, p. 62-77.

Makin, L., Campbell, J., & Jones Diaz, C. (1995). Early language. One childhood,
many languages. Harper Educational: Australia, pp. 1-36.

Mercer, N. & Sams, C. (2006). Teaching Children How to Use Language to Solve
Maths Problems, Language and Education, 20(6), 507-528, DOI: 10.2167/le678.0

Neuman, S. B. & Roskos, K. A. (1993). Understanding language and literacy

development. Language and literacy learning in the early years: and integrated
approach. Harcourt Brace: USA, pp. 27-48.

Ward, K. S. (2013). Creative Arts-Based Pedagogies in Early Childhood Education for

Sustainability (EfS): Challenges and Possibilities. Australian Journal of Environmental
Education, 29(2), 165-181.