Personal Reflections

Sunday, 3 August 2014

August 2014

What challenges and successes have I had in relation to planning my IBL unit?  

The implementation of my IBL unit came with many success as well as a few challenges. I have certainly up skilled myself in the regular use of ICT and have gained many new skills to incorporate in my classroom and share within my school community.

Successes: 

• My students and I really enjoyed the Inquiry approach to the unit and coming up with the BIG question for the unit "Are you ready?" 
• Developing the use of regular ICT in the classroom to enhance my teaching.
• The use of laptops in the class to share documents and research for the assessment task.
• Sharing my IBL practice with others in the school community - currently planning Religion units using an IBL approach.
• Reflecting upon my own teaching and learning.
• Writing better GTMJ's, ensuring they are aligned with the Australian Curriculum. 

Challenges: 

• TIME!! I was conscious of our reporting deadline and therefore feel that our assessment and my teaching practices and the students learning towards the end of the unit, was rushed. Upon reflection, there are many things I should have done differently - for example: I would have liked to have started my IBL unit earlier in the term. Technology issues within the school at the start of the term, meant my unit was stalled for a while at the beginning and therefore I felt behind the eight ball right from the start. 
• Remembering to film and take photos for the purpose of this Professional Challenge.

Hey Everyone,

1.  What challenges and successes have I had in relation to IBL - focused planning and teaching?
Challenges:

• Time restraints in trying to complete all tasks and activities planned for the IBL unit.
• Technology issues - Year 5 did not always have access to laptops (other classes had taken them etc) and therefore lessons were pushed backed and I have been trying to play catch up since the start of term.  
• Artifacts - the usual time constraints in trying to get through the planned unit and not always remembering to take photos and video as the lesson progressed. 
• Being overwhelmed with many resources and strategies - needed to go back and reflect on my unit and just implement what I felt was manageable for this busy term. 

Successes:

• One of the biggest successes throughout this IBL unit, has been the students enthusiasm and engagement of the unit (Bush-fires) and the fact that they were learning Geography (something new). They also enjoyed the regular use of the laptops (when they were available) and being emailed documents etc to open and view/discuss and complete in class. 
• Another success has been the increased collaboration of my class. Students working together in groups and peers offering support to each throughout the unit.
• Throughout the unit I have also learnt different things about my students - For example; those students that are skilled in using ICT or that have prior knowledge on Bush Fires as they have experienced first hand needing to be prepared for a bush fire. 

2. How am I leading/supporting IBL in my school? N/a

3. How am I progressing in terms of the IBL Professional Challenge?

• My knowledge of regularly integrating ICT into the classroom and implementing some skills and strategies gained from the IBL days is still a little limited and therefore the challenge I had was trying to remember the skill and how to upload photos etc to my blog. 
• Another challenge was collecting evidence as the unit progressed. I think with the daily interruptions of school along with the daily demands in the classroom, I would implement a lesson and then remember after, that I hadn't taken any photos or video footage. Throughout planned lessons, my students were engaged in rich conversation and group work and I also was going from group to group facilitating and adding to conversations about our Geography unit and the inquiry question: Are you ready?

4. What challenges and successes have I had in relation to using Google Apps for professional and classroom learning?

I feel that I am not very skilled in my use or knowledge of Google Apps and therefore I am having to up skill my knowledge to impart this with my students. Even simply using Google Drive is new to me, so creating documents and sharing them with my students has been a challenge. In saying that, over this term, I have continued to build and enhance my knowledge of Google Apps to benefit my Knowledge and Understanding and ultimately consolidate the learning of my students.