#abceducation

Created by ABC Education. 

A peer within my course included the role of technology in learning, particularly for number lines. This intrigued me enough to make me research for others.  I came across an internet source that incorporates number lines and number patterns. The source is called ‘Hoppity, hop! Help Hopper hop Whole Numbers on the number grid’. This interactive allows children to examine the location of the numbers upon the number line and identify how the pattern can represent an answer (Bobis, 2007). The source also. Allows children to view the frog leap upon the number line positions, allowing children to visually see the patterns and number sets. Please, take a look!

Overall: The game provides a multiliterate and multimodal experience for students to engage with reading and writing skills, with a particular focus on similes prompting students to consider their word choices.  It would be a suitable addition to a literacy rotation, as it allows students to work at their own pace, and provides a finished product at the conclusion, allowing opportunity for the teacher to review and follow up.

I have chosen to review ‘Eerie Encounter’ for this weeks prompt. For this review I have created a short video that could be presented to the team teaching team. http://education.abc.net.au/home#!/media/31437/show-and-tell-eerie-encounter

For students, learning to appreciate literacy texts and to create their own literary texts is important and a personal teaching goal of mine. In ECL310 class and seminar we discussed for students to interpret, appreciate, evaluate and create literary texts, they need to be engaged. This can be done through mediums such as short stories, novels, poetry, prose, plays, films and multi-modal texts. Therefore, Splash.abc.net.au is a useful resource and one I will use throughout my teaching. It provided multiple videos that can be used to engage students in literacy. While watching these videos, I reflected on how I could use these in my lessons. One video I particularly enjoyed was ‘A journey into world music’. I could use this video as a front-loading activity to start conversation about how we are all different in the world and a topic on Indigenous Australians. As part of the Literature unit based on Australian and Torres Strait Islanders, I would be encouraging students to think of creative ways they can display their learning. This clip focuses on music, which level 5/6 students would find interesting, as it is relevant to them. If students wanted to create their own song to represent their learning at the end of the unit, then a variety of literature techniques would be part of this. Even though the video discusses world music, the teacher can bring the focus back to Indigenous Australians and generate discussion around the emotion being portrayed, the story taking place etc. This activity would then lead into reading a text about/written by an Indigenous Australian. The Splash link also provides useful points for discussion, such as asking what the main differences noticed between different forms of music. All of the questions/activities can be linked to literature, by having students respond in written format and even generate a particular style of writing. For example students could write a narrative using the information they have learnt, they could create their own instruments using materials they can find around home/school and then write about their instrument or write a play about their learning and include Indigenous music. In ECL310 class and seminar, we discussed the Literature strand should aim to “engage students in the study of literacy texts of personal, cultural, social and aesthetic value”. We discussed how texts should be chosen because they have the potential for enriching the lives of students, expanding the scope of their experience and because they represent effective and interesting features of form and style. When reflecting on the variety of resources available for teaching, I believe Splash provides resources which can enrich, expand and interest students.