I made some baklava yesterday and, as I do occasionally, I took some photographs of the process and posted them on Flickr. I just noticed that Google have a photo web-site too, so I'm posting this as a demo.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Cooking (and Blogging Software)
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
So my Apple iBook G4 is in the shop. Again. Getting repaired. Again. Having its logic board replaced. Again.
I love the system — OS X is, hands down, my favourite operating system — but I don't think I'll be getting another Mac. I need a computer that will work, not one that needs a major component replacing twice in two months. As soon as I can afford to replace it, I think I'll get a PC laptop to run a Linux or BSD and retire the Apple to desktop use or even as a household server.
I love the system — OS X is, hands down, my favourite operating system — but I don't think I'll be getting another Mac. I need a computer that will work, not one that needs a major component replacing twice in two months. As soon as I can afford to replace it, I think I'll get a PC laptop to run a Linux or BSD and retire the Apple to desktop use or even as a household server.
Monday, October 30, 2006
A well-rounded practical experience
I've just put in my preferences for my Professional Experience 3 placement next semester. In the interest of a well-rounded set of practical experiences, I've requested a placement in either of the senior secondary colleges in Launceston — Launceston College and Newstead College. I did put both down as my first and second preferences for prac. this semester, but didn't reckon with exams, or whatever else made them decline prac. students (or, maybe, just me). Once I have some senior secondary experience, I'm planning on doing my internship at one of the private schools, hopefully Scotch Oakburn College or the Launceston Church Grammar School.
If everything goes to plan, I'll have had six weeks in public secondary schools (7-10), four weeks in a public senior secondary school (11-12), and about seven weeks in a private secondary school. I'll have covered the full secondary age range (12 y.o. to 17 y.o.) from a range of socio-economic backgrounds in both the public and private systems.
If everything goes to plan, I'll have had six weeks in public secondary schools (7-10), four weeks in a public senior secondary school (11-12), and about seven weeks in a private secondary school. I'll have covered the full secondary age range (12 y.o. to 17 y.o.) from a range of socio-economic backgrounds in both the public and private systems.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
A Second First Lesson
Today I took my first CAD lesson as teacher. I'd intended for the students to use this first lesson to being the self-paced tutorials for SketchUp, the program we'll be using. Rather than start the tutorials, most of the class had them finished half way through the lesson.
As a stop gap, I drew some simple figures on the board (just a few basic roof, door and window shapes) for the ones who finished earlier than I was expecting to complete and asked the students that finished even those to model items from around the class room. The main thing that I got out of this lesson is the need to have extension work planned and ready to go — making up extension problems one at a time doesn't work nearly so well when it's the whole class.
Feed back from my colleague teachers includes the need for me work on getting and maintaining the students' attention (e.g. when giving instruction) as I have a tendancy to try to talk over the top of them which doesn't work very well as a) I'm not loud enough, and b) they listening. I also need to make sure that I keep them on task.
This post was written ex post facto.
As a stop gap, I drew some simple figures on the board (just a few basic roof, door and window shapes) for the ones who finished earlier than I was expecting to complete and asked the students that finished even those to model items from around the class room. The main thing that I got out of this lesson is the need to have extension work planned and ready to go — making up extension problems one at a time doesn't work nearly so well when it's the whole class.
Feed back from my colleague teachers includes the need for me work on getting and maintaining the students' attention (e.g. when giving instruction) as I have a tendancy to try to talk over the top of them which doesn't work very well as a) I'm not loud enough, and b) they listening. I also need to make sure that I keep them on task.
This post was written ex post facto.
Monday, October 02, 2006
The Teaching Begins
The second week of PE2 began with my colleague teacher off ill. This was a little inconvenient, but everything went well with the relief teacher. In the science lesson first up, the students had plenty of work to do on their inquiry projects which are due this Friday, but we could only use the computer lab for the first half of the period. This left some of them with little to do for half a lesson, but on the whole, they were on task and much more settled than they were during the lesson I taught last week.
During the two periods between recess and lunch, we had maths and both classes went quite well. Some of the students got their assignments on perimeter, area, volume and surface area handed in, whilst others will [hopefully] have them finished for my colleague teacher's return tomorrow. Many of the students that hadn't finished managed to get it polished off, and all of them worked relatively well, so it was good.
During the final period, I took my first IT class. As the grade tens were attending a whole grade event, I had the ninth grade students from mine and two other classes. As it was a one-off, I took them through a Google Earth my colleague teacher had ready. The students has to locate a number of features ranging from relatively easy (just type it in a Google Earth will find it for you) to more challenging (such as streets in towns Google Earth doesn't know about). All up I thought that it went pretty well, especially with the potential for disturbance posed by the mixture of three classes together.
After school ended there was a general staff meeting which, while interesting, I have no intention of writing about here.
During the two periods between recess and lunch, we had maths and both classes went quite well. Some of the students got their assignments on perimeter, area, volume and surface area handed in, whilst others will [hopefully] have them finished for my colleague teacher's return tomorrow. Many of the students that hadn't finished managed to get it polished off, and all of them worked relatively well, so it was good.
During the final period, I took my first IT class. As the grade tens were attending a whole grade event, I had the ninth grade students from mine and two other classes. As it was a one-off, I took them through a Google Earth my colleague teacher had ready. The students has to locate a number of features ranging from relatively easy (just type it in a Google Earth will find it for you) to more challenging (such as streets in towns Google Earth doesn't know about). All up I thought that it went pretty well, especially with the potential for disturbance posed by the mixture of three classes together.
After school ended there was a general staff meeting which, while interesting, I have no intention of writing about here.
Friday, September 29, 2006
A Week Accompli
The last day of my first week began with the IT class talking about web-page design and Dreamweaver. The discussion about "the aspects that make a web-page good or bad" did not, in my opinion, go as well as it might have — many questions went unanswered and when they were, the responses tended to be focus more on content than design. Whether this was a result of the natural reticence of adolescents to single themselves out by volunteering the answer to a question or a lack of sophistication in their current understanding of design, usability and æsthetic appeal, I'm not sure.
In the second lesson of the day, the science group continued thinking about gravity. In particular, they looked at the formula for the magnitude of the attraction between two masses and the role both the masses and the distance between them has in determining the force exerted. One thing that I'll need to bear in mind during future science teaching is the utility of diagrams as a pedagogical device. Getting a student to draw a diagram of a situation and the forces at play really helped explain buoyancy to them.
During the C.A.D. lesson, the group finished off their current project and many of them began looking at SketchUp in anticipation of next week. Judging by their performance today, the next two or three weeks (I'm not sure if this class will be affected by the impending time table change) will be interesting for them and me both. If all goes well, there will soon be a few more objects in the Google 3D Warehouse.
In the second lesson of the day, the science group continued thinking about gravity. In particular, they looked at the formula for the magnitude of the attraction between two masses and the role both the masses and the distance between them has in determining the force exerted. One thing that I'll need to bear in mind during future science teaching is the utility of diagrams as a pedagogical device. Getting a student to draw a diagram of a situation and the forces at play really helped explain buoyancy to them.
During the C.A.D. lesson, the group finished off their current project and many of them began looking at SketchUp in anticipation of next week. Judging by their performance today, the next two or three weeks (I'm not sure if this class will be affected by the impending time table change) will be interesting for them and me both. If all goes well, there will soon be a few more objects in the Google 3D Warehouse.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Planning and Professional Development
Today was the fourth day of PE2 and I spent it mainly on planning and professional development. Before school started I attended the staff meeting where a number of issues were discussed, particularly enforcing the school's policy on mobile telephones. If teachers see students using mobile phones during class, we are required to confiscate them and hand them in to school office to be collected by the child's parent or guardian. The principal emphasised the need for consistency in our implementation of this policy and this is something that I'll have to work on as I returned confiscated phones at the end of the lesson several times on Monday.
During the first two blocks, I got the opportunity to take part in a professional development session on anger management. The session was given by a community social worker based in a near by major town and focussed on a programme for boys with anger management problems and their families that the school will be joining next year. It was a great opportunity and I got a lot out of it, but I would have liked to hear more about specific strategies for helping students deal with their anger.
Between recess and lunch I was in the C.A.D. class I'll start teaching next week. I managed to learn a few more names and I think that by the end of tomorrow, I'll know most of the boys' (the whole class is boys) names.
After lunch I spent the last two periods of the day planning for the IT class I'll start teaching next week. I'm going to take them through a unit on computer hardware, common components of computer systems and the like. I'm pretty sure I know what I'll cover and how I'll present it, so it should work out pretty well. After I finished at the school, I went in to Ulverstone's CBD and took a few photographs of buildings that I'll take the C.A.D. class to see on their excursion.
I think that's about it. I'll have to remember to phone my university supervisor tomorrow.
During the first two blocks, I got the opportunity to take part in a professional development session on anger management. The session was given by a community social worker based in a near by major town and focussed on a programme for boys with anger management problems and their families that the school will be joining next year. It was a great opportunity and I got a lot out of it, but I would have liked to hear more about specific strategies for helping students deal with their anger.
Between recess and lunch I was in the C.A.D. class I'll start teaching next week. I managed to learn a few more names and I think that by the end of tomorrow, I'll know most of the boys' (the whole class is boys) names.
After lunch I spent the last two periods of the day planning for the IT class I'll start teaching next week. I'm going to take them through a unit on computer hardware, common components of computer systems and the like. I'm pretty sure I know what I'll cover and how I'll present it, so it should work out pretty well. After I finished at the school, I went in to Ulverstone's CBD and took a few photographs of buildings that I'll take the C.A.D. class to see on their excursion.
I think that's about it. I'll have to remember to phone my university supervisor tomorrow.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
My First Lesson
I taught my first lesson of PE2 in a year ten science class today. Last term they began a physics unit on forces and today, to help review what they learnt last term and introduce some new material, I spent a lesson working with them on the subject of mass, weight, and gravity. I had them use spring balances and sets of weights to measure the force of Earth's gravity (~9.8 newtons). They then weighted themselves (and/or each other) and calculated the weight of their own mass on other planets.
I think that the lesson could have gone better, but my colleague teacher was fairly happy with it. I would have liked it if they had been more interested in what I thought would be an interesting topic and activity, but they did seem to get what I wanted to teach out of it. The main thing that came out of it for me is that I still need to work on ways to manage students, particularly my voice. I speak and shout (in the "speak loudly" sense, of course) in from my throat and mouth rather than my chest, so talking for longer periods tends to give me a sore throat, never mind having to control a distracted class.
On the planning front, we've decided that I'll need to get my unit on computer hardware for the IT class ready for us to review on Monday before I start teaching it next week. When I'm finished this post, I'm going to go and revise the plans for my Sketch Up unit to include some design theory content and a possible excursion and to fit in the shorter time span I'll have to teach it.
I might have the opportunity to take part in a professional development activity on anger management tomorrow morning depending on spaces, etc., which will be good (though I'm not sure when I was last 'angry').
I think that the lesson could have gone better, but my colleague teacher was fairly happy with it. I would have liked it if they had been more interested in what I thought would be an interesting topic and activity, but they did seem to get what I wanted to teach out of it. The main thing that came out of it for me is that I still need to work on ways to manage students, particularly my voice. I speak and shout (in the "speak loudly" sense, of course) in from my throat and mouth rather than my chest, so talking for longer periods tends to give me a sore throat, never mind having to control a distracted class.
On the planning front, we've decided that I'll need to get my unit on computer hardware for the IT class ready for us to review on Monday before I start teaching it next week. When I'm finished this post, I'm going to go and revise the plans for my Sketch Up unit to include some design theory content and a possible excursion and to fit in the shorter time span I'll have to teach it.
I might have the opportunity to take part in a professional development activity on anger management tomorrow morning depending on spaces, etc., which will be good (though I'm not sure when I was last 'angry').
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
The First Day of Classes
Today was the second day of PE2 and the first day of classes for term three. We've sorted out my time-table, office, computer and photocopier accounts, and keys and I have a list of things to plan and teach during the next four weeks.
I started the day with a double lesson Computer Graphics class. The students are going to spend this week finishing off an TurboCAD assignment from last term and starting next week I'll take them through my Designing with SketchUp unit. Part of the feedback I got from the lecturer is that the unit could do with some design theory, so I'm going to look at cutting down the work (one project instead of two) and adding in some discussion of design movements and the like. Hopefully it'll wind up being about three weeks.
After recess, I was with my primary colleague teacher in two maths classes. It was reasonably similar to my experiences during PE1 and left me even more convinced that my experience of mathematics as a high-school student was unusual.
After lunch I had a free block and began thinking about the lessons and units I'll be teaching in the coming weeks. Tomorrow I'll be taking one lesson of a grade ten science class looking at forces. I'm planning to get the students to use force meters to measure weight and then calculate the weight of various objects under various strengths of gravity.
Next week I'll be starting my unit on SketchUp as described above and a unit on computer hardware for a class of students in grades nine and ten. I expect them both to go fairly smoothly. In two and a half weeks the time table changes, due to interference caused by the student production, and I'll have a class of students in grades seven and eight for IT for the last week. As these students will have such a wide range of ability (while some can program, others haven't used computers much at all) I'll be covering Internet safety and basic computer skills with them.
After school ended I spoke with a teacher who had a few questions about getting audio materials from the Internet (streaming audio, podcasts, that sort of thing). In the course of the discussion, I mentioned the resources I have from the outreach programme at NICTA last year, so I might present those short lessons to a maths extended class.
That's about everything that's happened so far. I'm off to plan tomorrow's science lesson.
I started the day with a double lesson Computer Graphics class. The students are going to spend this week finishing off an TurboCAD assignment from last term and starting next week I'll take them through my Designing with SketchUp unit. Part of the feedback I got from the lecturer is that the unit could do with some design theory, so I'm going to look at cutting down the work (one project instead of two) and adding in some discussion of design movements and the like. Hopefully it'll wind up being about three weeks.
After recess, I was with my primary colleague teacher in two maths classes. It was reasonably similar to my experiences during PE1 and left me even more convinced that my experience of mathematics as a high-school student was unusual.
After lunch I had a free block and began thinking about the lessons and units I'll be teaching in the coming weeks. Tomorrow I'll be taking one lesson of a grade ten science class looking at forces. I'm planning to get the students to use force meters to measure weight and then calculate the weight of various objects under various strengths of gravity.
Next week I'll be starting my unit on SketchUp as described above and a unit on computer hardware for a class of students in grades nine and ten. I expect them both to go fairly smoothly. In two and a half weeks the time table changes, due to interference caused by the student production, and I'll have a class of students in grades seven and eight for IT for the last week. As these students will have such a wide range of ability (while some can program, others haven't used computers much at all) I'll be covering Internet safety and basic computer skills with them.
After school ended I spoke with a teacher who had a few questions about getting audio materials from the Internet (streaming audio, podcasts, that sort of thing). In the course of the discussion, I mentioned the resources I have from the outreach programme at NICTA last year, so I might present those short lessons to a maths extended class.
That's about everything that's happened so far. I'm off to plan tomorrow's science lesson.
Monday, September 25, 2006
QMAP Day
Today was the first day of my second practicum which I shall spend at Ulverstone High School. It was also a pupil free day, whether by coincidence or by design, I am unsure. During the course of the day, the teachers of the Central Coast cluster gathered at Penguin High School to participate in the Quality Assurance and Moderation Process. The day was broken up into three sessions -- two of moderating the assessment of work samples, and one of professional development.
During the first moderation session I was part of a group looking at work samples to be assessed for Being Numerate. We assessed a number of work samples from a class activity based on identifying patterns, finding rules and synthesising symbolic expressions of those rules. It was a relatively straightforward process and the group achieved consensus fairly easily in most of the cases.
During the second session, we looked as two work sampled assessed under Being Information Literate. As I experienced doing QMAP during PE1, everyone seems to have their own interpretation of the BIL standards and progression statements. The requirements about the safe, ethical, etc., use of information especially seems to cause much strife - why, some ask, should an other wise excellent piece of work be relegated to standard two just for a lack of referencing? In any case, it took us quite a while and a number of deviations from the QMAP protocol to come to a decision.
In the afternoon, I worked with a group of secondary teachers on "good questions" in numeracy. We used Bloom's Taxonomy along with the Being Numerate standards to explore questions we might ask of, and explore with, students about the concepts of money and finance. The suggestions and discussions we had were quite interesting.
During the first moderation session I was part of a group looking at work samples to be assessed for Being Numerate. We assessed a number of work samples from a class activity based on identifying patterns, finding rules and synthesising symbolic expressions of those rules. It was a relatively straightforward process and the group achieved consensus fairly easily in most of the cases.
During the second session, we looked as two work sampled assessed under Being Information Literate. As I experienced doing QMAP during PE1, everyone seems to have their own interpretation of the BIL standards and progression statements. The requirements about the safe, ethical, etc., use of information especially seems to cause much strife - why, some ask, should an other wise excellent piece of work be relegated to standard two just for a lack of referencing? In any case, it took us quite a while and a number of deviations from the QMAP protocol to come to a decision.
In the afternoon, I worked with a group of secondary teachers on "good questions" in numeracy. We used Bloom's Taxonomy along with the Being Numerate standards to explore questions we might ask of, and explore with, students about the concepts of money and finance. The suggestions and discussions we had were quite interesting.
Monday, September 18, 2006
Illiteracy
I read this comment on a story a few days ago and was appalled.
i am a 15 year old australian i think i am what americans would call a jok id prifer to run laps around a football or soccer field then reed eny thing i havent read eny thing in years but i started reeding this story at 11 at night and finished at 7in the morning i reeded 233 pages (i red some the night bifor) with out stoping and i reely injoyed it i reely want to know how it ends
I'm not sure which is worse, the abysmal spelling and grammar, or the idea that the writer hadn't "read eny thing in years." If I hadn't encountered students with such poor literacy before, I'd think that it was a joke.
Monday, August 14, 2006
Alas, the knitting, it would not felt
I finished my knitting off last night and today I tried to felt it to no avail. I shall have a go using the washing machine and tumble drier, but the thought has occurred to me that perhaps the wool was treated to prevent felting?In any case, I'll give it a go and if it doesn't work, I'll just use my knitting as knitting (instead of felt).
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Internet language resources for the win!
I've been thinking about trying to learn another language for a while now. I'd really like to learn Japanese or Welsh, but I think that I'm going to start with French. As in all things, I think that the best way to go about picking up a new skill is probably to start with something I'm familiar with and two years of French at primary school have made me much more familiar with it than Katherine Kerr's books have done for my knowledge of Welsh; my anime habit has done for Japanese; or a few years of lessons at high-school did for Indonesian.
After a little bit of searching, I found the 'French for Beginners' podcast from the French Ecole. I'll post a review after I've listened to a few episodes.
After a little bit of searching, I found the 'French for Beginners' podcast from the French Ecole. I'll post a review after I've listened to a few episodes.
Internet cookbooks for the win!
Rather than buy a few cookbooks, or a guide to leather-work or knitting, I usually hit the 'Net. For some reason, though, I often have difficulty finding recipes for really basic things. All too often, All Recipes won't have a simple no-frills recipe or, more often, will have dozens and dozens of variations.
This is where sites like the Wikibooks Cookbook and Cooking for Engineers can come in handy. Concise, clearly written instructions based on personal experience (although wikibooks, like all things wiki, can be a mess of contradictory information) with all the constraints so implied — they are simple, realistic and provide few, if any, endless variations on a particular theme.
This is where sites like the Wikibooks Cookbook and Cooking for Engineers can come in handy. Concise, clearly written instructions based on personal experience (although wikibooks, like all things wiki, can be a mess of contradictory information) with all the constraints so implied — they are simple, realistic and provide few, if any, endless variations on a particular theme.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Working with wool
This is the first of what will be a series of posts over the next few days. Each of them will cover a topic from my work at uni that I found interesting. This post, as the title may have hinted, will be about my work with wool in Curriculum and Method Studies: Technology Education 1B.
We started the semester with felting — take some wool fibre, apply warm soapy water, rub vigourously and hey presto! It's felt! All I've got so far is a beanie that I don't feel too bad about done and a number of bits and pieces of felt in a few colours that I don't have any plans for as yet. As our felt work is to be handed up at the end of next week, I've been thinking about what else I want to submit.
The goal of the assignment is to develop our skills through making a example pieces we can use as a teaching resource when we're out in schools teaching felting. As such, our submission is supposed to demonstrate a range of techniques. My beanie shows the use of a template (a piece of plastic slipped into the middle gives the beanie its basic shape and size) and felting several pieces together to get a pattern.
I'm planning on using another technique whereby the wool is bonded to a light fabric ("you need to be able to blow through it" according to the lecturer) during the felting process. This can result in interesting textures, colour effects, etc., especially if you use something like a lace or fishnet material. I can't see this being anything more than a sample, though one of the other students has made some rather interesting gloves using this technique.
If I can figure out how to roll them properly, I'll make a felt ball or two for fun — and because my few attempts today failed — and I imagine I'll wind up making some baby's booties out of the pieces I have on hand following the pattern we were given in class.
My last piece, if I can get it finished, will use knitted and embroidered wool in an attempt to add a design to a felt product in a more satisfactory way than by felting two pieces, then trimming them to shape and felting them together. I plan on knitting panels in my base colour and then embroidering them with other colours before felting the whole lot. If I can manage to knit enough, I'm also going to try to make a genuinely nice pair of baby's booties, rather than some made out of odds and ends, with little pom-poms and everything (I was just reminded of the technique for making pom-poms — the Patons web site is a great source of information on knitting and the like).
When everything is finished, I'll post a few pictures.
We started the semester with felting — take some wool fibre, apply warm soapy water, rub vigourously and hey presto! It's felt! All I've got so far is a beanie that I don't feel too bad about done and a number of bits and pieces of felt in a few colours that I don't have any plans for as yet. As our felt work is to be handed up at the end of next week, I've been thinking about what else I want to submit.
The goal of the assignment is to develop our skills through making a example pieces we can use as a teaching resource when we're out in schools teaching felting. As such, our submission is supposed to demonstrate a range of techniques. My beanie shows the use of a template (a piece of plastic slipped into the middle gives the beanie its basic shape and size) and felting several pieces together to get a pattern.
I'm planning on using another technique whereby the wool is bonded to a light fabric ("you need to be able to blow through it" according to the lecturer) during the felting process. This can result in interesting textures, colour effects, etc., especially if you use something like a lace or fishnet material. I can't see this being anything more than a sample, though one of the other students has made some rather interesting gloves using this technique.
If I can figure out how to roll them properly, I'll make a felt ball or two for fun — and because my few attempts today failed — and I imagine I'll wind up making some baby's booties out of the pieces I have on hand following the pattern we were given in class.
My last piece, if I can get it finished, will use knitted and embroidered wool in an attempt to add a design to a felt product in a more satisfactory way than by felting two pieces, then trimming them to shape and felting them together. I plan on knitting panels in my base colour and then embroidering them with other colours before felting the whole lot. If I can manage to knit enough, I'm also going to try to make a genuinely nice pair of baby's booties, rather than some made out of odds and ends, with little pom-poms and everything (I was just reminded of the technique for making pom-poms — the Patons web site is a great source of information on knitting and the like).
When everything is finished, I'll post a few pictures.
A paucity of posts
I've been neglecting this blog quite badly. I had intended to post semi-regularly about my studies toward a Bachelor of Teaching but I've dropped the ball fairly thoroughly. As an attempt at redressing the balance, I'll post several entries over the next few days.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Resources for Teaching Pythagoras' Theorem
I've decided to make the lesson plans, materials and such I write freely available under an Attribution, NonCommerical, ShareAlike license from Creative Commons.
The first lot of material I'm making available are the lesson plans for teaching Pythagoras' Theorem that I developed last semester (and wrote about using). If you're interested in teaching, mathematics, or teaching mathematics why not have a look at my free lesson plans.
The first lot of material I'm making available are the lesson plans for teaching Pythagoras' Theorem that I developed last semester (and wrote about using). If you're interested in teaching, mathematics, or teaching mathematics why not have a look at my free lesson plans.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Inclusive Education
I'm currently sitting in a lecture about inclusion and inclusive schooling. We're discussing a case-study about a primary school class and approaches that we might take to differentiating our curriculum and practice for students with disabilities. In particular we're considering a hypothetical student with Down Syndrome in a grade 5/6 class. We've had some interesting points raised including the inherent inclusivity of the Essential Learnings and the possible effects of differentiating the curriculum (will we be, in effect, "dumbing down" the curriculum?).
More later.
More later.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
LaTeX output for HsColour
On a somewhat related subject to my last post (the one about LaTeX), I've just started working on adding LaTeX support to hscolour. The structure of the program has made it easy to add support for LaTeX output: all I had to do is add two items to a pattern match (for option handling), and define a function to render the code to LaTeX (plus a few helpers to escape LaTeX special characters, etc. ).
Once I've managed to get it working adequately, I'll submit a darcs patch to the maintainer.
See also Malcolm's posts about hscolour: one and two.
Once I've managed to get it working adequately, I'll submit a darcs patch to the maintainer.
See also Malcolm's posts about hscolour: one and two.
Monday, May 29, 2006
Wanted: LaTeX packages
I've got a hankering to dig out my incomplete thesis and polish it off as an excuse to really get up to speed with LaTeX. As such, I'm looking for LaTeX packages that accomplish a number of tasks: lot more consistency in Google's LaTeX search results.
- Unicode and symbols
- The main thing I'm after is a package that will allow me to '∧' instead of '\wedge' in my LaTeX source and have it Just Work(TM). A single package that provides consistent symbol handling would be nice too.
- Metadata support
- While hyperref can be used to add PDF metadata, and xmpincl can include an RDF license when using pdftex, you still need to do it all yourself. It'd be nice if there was a module that would do it for you.
- Font handling
- A single, consistent way to handle real fonts. I like Computer Modern as much as the next person, but once in a while I'd like to be able to use another font without having to wrestle with TeX.
Sunday, May 28, 2006
An Interesting Find
It is constructed of four wooden segments of equal length joined with what I assume to be brass pins and hinges. Both sides bear scales. The inside face has a single scale on the lower edge with inches and sixteenths marked. The outside face bears an inch scale marked on both edges and three different sub-inch scales: the bottom edge is marked in inches and eighths, the first seventeen inches of the top edge are marked inches and twelfths, the last seventeen inches of the top edge are marked in inches and tenths, and the middle two inches of the top edge are unmarked as the hinge makes them unusable as a line or measure.
The ruler has a number of markings in addition to the scales marked: each of the sub inch scales are labelled with the appropriate number, and each face bears a "3FT" before the brass end cap. The outside face bears what may be some manufacturers marks between the thirteen and sixteen inch marks. While they are too faint to make out with any degree of certainty, the first appears to be a rectangular border containing an entirely illegible first line and a second line: "LUCAS". The second might be "made in England" but is even fainter than the first and only "and" may be made out reliably. The third mark is quite easily made out and reads "354".
I had a bit of a poke around on eBay and did a bit of Googling, but haven't been able to find out much. Any information would be appreciated.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
The Other Shoe Drops
Today was the third day of Professional Experience One and the other shoe dropped. Continuing with the material I've planned, the first class ripped along, even those who were absent yesterday and needed to catchup.
The second class was another matter entirely. A number of them managed to finish everything and I wasreally happy with three or four of them in that we've managed to resolve their initial confusions and get them to the point where they are completing problems quicker than 90% of the class. Other students in this class managed to avoid completing much at all, even when I was stood next to them trying to find out if they needed assistance or were just being lazy. Some of this is to be expected (they were distracted by an event being held after my class), but I'm not sure how I'll be able to get through to them if they're like this tomorrow.
The second class was another matter entirely. A number of them managed to finish everything and I was
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Categories and Tags
I've added support for tags to this blog using Del.icio.us. New posts will be tagged with links to the appropriate tag on my Del.icio.us account and readers with Javascript enabled should see a list of categories at the top of the right-hand column.
I'll need to experiment some more before I make up my mind just how useful this'll be.
Update: It looks like Technorati has managed to index the tags on the last two posts.
I'll need to experiment some more before I make up my mind just how useful this'll be.
Update: It looks like Technorati has managed to index the tags on the last two posts.
Teaching; A Second Reaction
My second day of teaching went quite a bit better than the first. I managed to address quite a few of the points my colleague teacher raised yesterday as well as improving my structure and delivery. Where yesterday the way I presented the examples and instructions wasn't as effective as it should have been introducing a new unit of work (I think that I was still stuck in 'university seminar' mode rather than 'high-school lesson' mode), I think that the main thing lacking today was the polish that will come with experience. One reflection of this is that the comments provided by my colleague teacher amount to one-and-a-bit pages today rather than the three pages of notes on yesterday's lessons.
The most glaring omissions yesterday were:
Tomorrow, I'll try to focus on my structure ('scaffolding' is the key word here) and learning the students' names.
The most glaring omissions yesterday were:
- my lack of action toward learning the students names;
- my poor use of the whiteboard to reinforce and record explanations; and
- the structure of the lesson.
Tomorrow, I'll try to focus on my structure ('scaffolding' is the key word here) and learning the students' names.
Monday, May 08, 2006
Teaching; A First Reaction
Today was the first day of my first block of professional experience at a high-school in Tasmania. I'm teaching a unit on Pythagoras' Theorem (which states that the square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides usually written:
I introduced the topic by drawing a right triangle on the board, labelling its angles A, B, and C in ascending order, then labelling the sides a, b, and c after their opposite angle. C is obviously the right angle, and c is the hypotenuse. I then stated theproposition that:
I introduced the students to two different dissection proofs of Pythagoras' Theorem:
My colleague teacher (who usually teaches these classes) gave me a lot of feedback on my performance. I managed to miss many, many,many of the little bits and pieces that keep things together:
a2+b2=c2) to two classes.I introduced the topic by drawing a right triangle on the board, labelling its angles A, B, and C in ascending order, then labelling the sides a, b, and c after their opposite angle. C is obviously the right angle, and c is the hypotenuse. I then stated the
a2+b2=c2; illustrated that proposition by way of drawing a triangle abc with a square of the appropriate size on each side and proposed that we would, as a group, be proving that it is true (that it is a theorem).I introduced the students to two different dissection proofs of Pythagoras' Theorem:
- The first dissects two squares
(a+b)2, one intoa2,b2and four triangles0.5ab; and the other intoc2and four triangles0.5ab. We can describe the relationship between the areas of the two squares asa2+b2+2ab = c2+2ab. The2abon each side cancel each other out (being trivially equal) and we are left witha2+b2=c2. Q.E.D. - The second proof beings with a diagram of the square
c2(drawn using four right triangles arranged within a square(a+b)2). If we draw within thec2four right triangles arranged to leave a gap in the centre (a square of(b-a)2). These five pieces taken fromc2can be rearranged to forma2+b2. Q.E.D.
My colleague teacher (who usually teaches these classes) gave me a lot of feedback on my performance. I managed to miss many, many,
- introducing myself;
- beginning with a question (to find out what they already know and get them thinking about the topic);
- writing pertinent terms on the board (like "Pythagoras' Theorem" for example);
- structuring the lesson into 'direction' and 'doing' blocks effectively; and
- three pages of other bits and pieces.
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Stark Effect
Stark Effect has a number of MP3 tracks up ranging from We Like Repartee (dictionaraoke -- songs sung by the pronunciation guides from online dictionaries) to Wonderbottle (Christina Aguilera Genie in a Bottle vs. Oasis Wonderwall). Take a look.
Del.icio.us
Del.icio.us
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Even Spammers Need Subsidising
Even spammers, it would seem, need to subsidise their operations with advertising. In the screen capture above, you can see that this Nigerian scam email has a couple of ads (for Yahoo! messenger) appended to it. This is probably the result of some bit of filth spammer sending their message from Yahoo!'s web-mail service to an e-mail list instead of doing the job properly. It appears as though spammers standards, low though they have always been, are slipping.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Order of Operations
A recent experience reminded me of some posts on Math and Text, a blog on mathematics education. So Long, Aunt Sally! discusses mnemonic devices for the order of operations (and reasons that such are a Bad Thing(TM)) and Order of Operations motivates the standard order of operations in terms of error reduction (performing those operations which will most effect the magnitude of the result first will reduce our error in the event that we've misread a number).
Both of these posts interest me as I think that they both contain within them interesting insights to mathematics as seen by most of us (the non-mathematicians). The standard mathematical notation (that is, infix operators interpreted according to the standard order of operations) has a long history and is very much embedded with our understanding of maths. Unfortunately it is also rather poorly suited to expressing complex sentences: it requires that we interpret sentences with respect to a specific order of operations (exponentiation, multiplication/division, addition/subtraction) and use grouping operators (parentheses, brackets and the like).
This shortcoming is, however, addressed in a class of expression languages called prefix and postfix languages. The difference between an infix language (like the standard mathematical notation), a prefix language and a postfix language is suggested by their names. An infix language situates operators in-between their arguments, a prefix language writes operators before their arguments and a in postfix language the operators follow their arguments.
Where there is an ambiguity in infix languages as to which operators ought to be evaluated first (Left-to-right? Inward? Outward? According to precedence?), sentences of pre- and post-fix languages have only one possible interpretation. In these languages operations are performed in the order that they are written and we can express every sentence without using grouping operators (like brackets).
In an infix language, the sentence "1+2*3" is ambiguous and can be parsed in two different ways: "(1+2)*3" and "1+(2*3)" (see figure 1). Without a system of operator precedence, there is no way in which we can determine which of these two interpretations is "correct." In a pre- or post-fix language however, these two different interpretations are actually written differently. In postfix form, they can be written as "1 2 + 3 *" and "1 2 3 * +" respectively.
As they don't need an operator precedence scheme to determine which possible interpretation, these languages are much easier to parse and evaluate. This makes them ideal for use in constrained environment like calculators and printers. It is no surprise then, that many printers use the language Postscript to describe documents to be printed (with operators like draw-line and change colour, in addition to add and multiply) and some calculators use a programming language called RPN (though newer calculators also provide more complete languages).
The algorithm for evaluating an expression is postfix form is:
Both of these posts interest me as I think that they both contain within them interesting insights to mathematics as seen by most of us (the non-mathematicians). The standard mathematical notation (that is, infix operators interpreted according to the standard order of operations) has a long history and is very much embedded with our understanding of maths. Unfortunately it is also rather poorly suited to expressing complex sentences: it requires that we interpret sentences with respect to a specific order of operations (exponentiation, multiplication/division, addition/subtraction) and use grouping operators (parentheses, brackets and the like).
This shortcoming is, however, addressed in a class of expression languages called prefix and postfix languages. The difference between an infix language (like the standard mathematical notation), a prefix language and a postfix language is suggested by their names. An infix language situates operators in-between their arguments, a prefix language writes operators before their arguments and a in postfix language the operators follow their arguments.
Where there is an ambiguity in infix languages as to which operators ought to be evaluated first (Left-to-right? Inward? Outward? According to precedence?), sentences of pre- and post-fix languages have only one possible interpretation. In these languages operations are performed in the order that they are written and we can express every sentence without using grouping operators (like brackets).
In an infix language, the sentence "1+2*3" is ambiguous and can be parsed in two different ways: "(1+2)*3" and "1+(2*3)" (see figure 1). Without a system of operator precedence, there is no way in which we can determine which of these two interpretations is "correct." In a pre- or post-fix language however, these two different interpretations are actually written differently. In postfix form, they can be written as "1 2 + 3 *" and "1 2 3 * +" respectively.
As they don't need an operator precedence scheme to determine which possible interpretation, these languages are much easier to parse and evaluate. This makes them ideal for use in constrained environment like calculators and printers. It is no surprise then, that many printers use the language Postscript to describe documents to be printed (with operators like draw-line and change colour, in addition to add and multiply) and some calculators use a programming language called RPN (though newer calculators also provide more complete languages).
The algorithm for evaluating an expression is postfix form is:
- Read a token;
- If it's a value push it onto the stack;
- If it is an operator:
- Pop the appropriate number of arguments off the stack;
- Perform the operation on those arguments; and
- Push the result of the operation onto the stack
- Repeat until there is no more input and the answer will be the [single] item remaining on the stack.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Design and Technology
This week's practical session we started working on the first three of the C.A.D. worksheets we're using to learn VectorWorks.
In the lecture, Robyn talked about the format we'll need to use for the essay we're to do later on in the semester (Harvard referencing, etc.). After a recap of last week's material (technology as systems and processes rather than just hardware; the drivers of technological development; the dichotomy between science and technology; the situation of technology within a social context) we watched the first part of 2001: A Space Odyssey (the bit with the apes). I'm still not entirely sure what we're supposed to have gained from that other than an appreciation of just how cultish some cult films are and that tools provide an advantage.
Next Robyn talked a bit about ways to communicate with others. Specifically, she discussed a list of "don'ts"; things like judge, criticise people, diagnose, threaten, divert, question, rationalise, etc. Some of these are fairly self explanatory and other took a little more explanation than the single word she started with. Say that we ought not criticise, question, advise or use logic in a discussion didn't make a great deal of sense until she narrowed them to ad hominem criticism, excessive and provocative questioning, giving unwanted or inappropriate advise and rationalising problems and concerns.
After a discussion about these issues to do with communication, we watched part of another video; this time on Philosophy for Children.
In the lecture, Robyn talked about the format we'll need to use for the essay we're to do later on in the semester (Harvard referencing, etc.). After a recap of last week's material (technology as systems and processes rather than just hardware; the drivers of technological development; the dichotomy between science and technology; the situation of technology within a social context) we watched the first part of 2001: A Space Odyssey (the bit with the apes). I'm still not entirely sure what we're supposed to have gained from that other than an appreciation of just how cultish some cult films are and that tools provide an advantage.
Next Robyn talked a bit about ways to communicate with others. Specifically, she discussed a list of "don'ts"; things like judge, criticise people, diagnose, threaten, divert, question, rationalise, etc. Some of these are fairly self explanatory and other took a little more explanation than the single word she started with. Say that we ought not criticise, question, advise or use logic in a discussion didn't make a great deal of sense until she narrowed them to ad hominem criticism, excessive and provocative questioning, giving unwanted or inappropriate advise and rationalising problems and concerns.
After a discussion about these issues to do with communication, we watched part of another video; this time on Philosophy for Children.
Yet Another Blog
I've just started yet another blog: The Education of an Educator. As the title might suggest, this new blog will focus on the classes, discussions, readings and experiences I have during my training as a teacher. All of the relevant posts I've made here are already posted there, as is some new material, so go and have a look.
Update: the new blog has now been deleted and the content (what there was) migrated back here. Wordpress may be nice, but it failed to save drafts and make posts one too many times, especially when compared with Blogger which has not yet failed me once. The only thing that Blogger lacks over Wordpress is categories, and I could emulate those with Technorati or Del.icio.us if I could be bothered.
Update: the new blog has now been deleted and the content (what there was) migrated back here. Wordpress may be nice, but it failed to save drafts and make posts one too many times, especially when compared with Blogger which has not yet failed me once. The only thing that Blogger lacks over Wordpress is categories, and I could emulate those with Technorati or Del.icio.us if I could be bothered.
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Development in an Educational Context
This afternoon (though I'm posting this the day after) we had Dr. Marion Myhill give a lecture on development in an educational context, the first lecture in the developmental strand of professional studies.
Dr. Myhill described the reasons that we, as educators, are interested in development (it allows us to understand students as members of a cohort, gives us a way to understand them according to the ranges of capabilities typical of specific age groups, etc.). Developmentalists look beyond individuals to the generalities, to systematic changes and continuities seen across the cohort. This is particularly interesting to teachers as they deal with students as a group more often than with a specific individual.
We can view the development of children as a series of orderly changes. Individual children will have individual capabilities and characteristics (physiological, psychological, emotional and cognitive), but there will be a range within which most of the cohort are situated. We can also examine the rate at which development progresses. The development of an infant is very much faster than that of a late adolescent.
Where once there was a perception that development took us from undeveloped infants to developed adults, we now recognise that it is a life-long process -- deficiencies in early development can be remediated (as opposed to the view that short-comings in early development become insurmountable obstacles). While we now recognise that development is life-long, our potential for change does reduce over time (e.g: it is easier to learn a second language as a child than as an adult).
M talked about the four aspects of development (physical, social, emotional and cognitive) and that these aspects are interrelated. Developments which affect one aspect will often affect the others in some way.
As said above, while development does occur in stages and their are commonalities across cohorts, the each child's development and capabilities are still individual and it is our goal in education to narrow the gap between the best and brightest and the less able in each area. "While not everyone has the potential to be a Cathy Freeman, almost everyone can run a marathon with training."
Dr. Myhill described the reasons that we, as educators, are interested in development (it allows us to understand students as members of a cohort, gives us a way to understand them according to the ranges of capabilities typical of specific age groups, etc.). Developmentalists look beyond individuals to the generalities, to systematic changes and continuities seen across the cohort. This is particularly interesting to teachers as they deal with students as a group more often than with a specific individual.
We can view the development of children as a series of orderly changes. Individual children will have individual capabilities and characteristics (physiological, psychological, emotional and cognitive), but there will be a range within which most of the cohort are situated. We can also examine the rate at which development progresses. The development of an infant is very much faster than that of a late adolescent.
Where once there was a perception that development took us from undeveloped infants to developed adults, we now recognise that it is a life-long process -- deficiencies in early development can be remediated (as opposed to the view that short-comings in early development become insurmountable obstacles). While we now recognise that development is life-long, our potential for change does reduce over time (e.g: it is easier to learn a second language as a child than as an adult).
M talked about the four aspects of development (physical, social, emotional and cognitive) and that these aspects are interrelated. Developments which affect one aspect will often affect the others in some way.
As said above, while development does occur in stages and their are commonalities across cohorts, the each child's development and capabilities are still individual and it is our goal in education to narrow the gap between the best and brightest and the less able in each area. "While not everyone has the potential to be a Cathy Freeman, almost everyone can run a marathon with training."
Professional Studies Tutorial 1
In our first professional studies tutorial, we formed our Professional Learning Teams. The purpose of these teams is to give us a small group (a total of five people) with whom to discuss what happens during our school placements.
My team consists of:
My team consists of:
- T (me) -- secondary IT and Technology and Design;
- P -- English and SOSE;
- K1 -- Primary education;
- C -- Design and Technology (I didn't get C's other specialisation down); and
- K2 -- SOSE and LOTE.
Teacher Identity
This morning's professional studies lecture was about teacher identity. Dr. Cole covered a number of topics beginning with the question: "What is a teacher?" He contrasted the rather anachronistic view of the teacher as authority and disciplinarian whose primary relationship with students is one of power (he drew parallels to similar relationships between Britain and the rest of the Empire) with a stereotype of the "progressive" teacher who is full of enthusiasm, a drive to change the world and is soon run down by the relentless grind. He then described a more realistic view of the teacher as a (small) part of the educational institution: a system whose structure, goals and values are fixed and within which we must work.
Dr. Cole talked about assessment and its role as part of the learning process rather than a separate and distinct thing (undertaken alone in a sterile environment).
He finished by talking about professional development and how we can become more professional:
When we do our professional experience, we will be assessed by teachers from our placement school according to certain criteria (he showed the New Beginning Teacher Criteria from 1996, but I think that we'll be assessed according to different criteria), but we may not have opportunity to demonstrate all of them in our first placement.
Dr. Cole talked about assessment and its role as part of the learning process rather than a separate and distinct thing (undertaken alone in a sterile environment).
He finished by talking about professional development and how we can become more professional:
- Action research -- reflecting on our own practice and the practice of others, and using this to guide our own development (i.e: acting upon research we do).
- Expert status -- most educational systems offer some form of "expert status" certification.
- Student relationships -- we can teach more effectively when we have closer relationships (e.g: empathy) with the students. This can be difficult when we are limited to two periods a week, etc.
- Team teaching -- we are not alone. Working together with our peers and colleague teachers can help us improve.
- Work within the school -- we must locate our own values, goals, etc. within those of the institution.
When we do our professional experience, we will be assessed by teachers from our placement school according to certain criteria (he showed the New Beginning Teacher Criteria from 1996, but I think that we'll be assessed according to different criteria), but we may not have opportunity to demonstrate all of them in our first placement.
Books
On this page I shall provide a partial list of the books required and recommended for my units. Where appropriate I will provide links to the author's, publisher's and book's web site as well as to Amazon.
ESA160 -- Professional Studies 1A
Required:- How to Make a Classroom Management Plan by Robert Cope. (buy)
- Educational Psychology for Learning and Teaching by Kerri-Lee Krause, Sandra Bochner and Sue Duchesne. (buy)
- Case Studies in Teaching and Learning: Australian Perspectives by Nola Purdie and David Smith. (buy)
- Teaching for Understanding by Tina Blythe. (buy)
- Effective Teaching Strategies: Lessons from research and practice by R. Killen. (buy)
- Disability in Australia: Exposing a social apartheid by Gerard Goggin and Christopher Newell. (buy)
ESA166 -- Information Technology 1A
Required:- Guidebook for Developing an Effective Instructional Technology Plan by L. Anderson. PDF 232Kb
- Tasmanian Certificate of Education Information Technology Documents. Online
- Introduction to Information and Communication Technology in Education by D. G. Moursund. PDF 952Kb
- Technology for Teaching by Priscilla Norton and Debra Sprague. (buy)
- Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching (2nd) by M.D. Roblyer and Jack Edwards. (buy)
- Learning to Teach ICT in the Secondary School: a companion to school experience by S. Kennewell, J. Parkinson and H. Tanner (eds). (buy)
- Managing School ICT by S. Hackett and B. Kennedy.
- The Java Tutorial. Online
- Australian Educational Computing
ESA184 -- Design and Technology
Recommended reading:- People skills: how to assert yourself, listen to others, and resolve Conflict by Robert Bolton.
- Technology Education for Teachers edited by John Williams and Anthony Williams.
- Technology -- a curriculum profile for Australian schools by Curriculum Corporation.
- The Idea of Design edited by Richard Buchanan and Victor Margolin.
- The Journal of Technology Education.
Friday, March 03, 2006
Week One Roundup
With the first week of classes over, it looks as though I'm going to enjoy this degree: Professional Studies looks like it'll be interesting (especially the school experience aspect); Multi-Literacies won't be too bad; Technology will be an opportunity to do things I haven't really though about before (design in wood, etc.); and it's going to be interesting looking at ways to apply information technology to other curriculum areas in IT as well as the details of teaching IT in its own right.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Technology Education
ESA184 - Technology Education (Single)
In the next few days (i.e: before Thursday), I need to decide on a technology module to do this semester. The co-ordinator told us this morning that there are six choices:
I'll probably do C.A.D. (what with my other specialisation being ICT and all).
In the next few days (i.e: before Thursday), I need to decide on a technology module to do this semester. The co-ordinator told us this morning that there are six choices:
- principals of design;
- design in wood; and
- food technology
- textiles;
- hard materials design; and
- computer aided design;
I'll probably do C.A.D. (what with my other specialisation being ICT and all).
Multi-Literacies 1
ESA196 - Multiliteracies 1A
After professional studies we had our first multi-literacies ICT class, in which the lecturer introduced all the ICT skills they'll be making sure we have. Word processing, spread sheets, presentations, multi-media, the Internet (and, more importantly, finding anything useful on it), etc. We'll also be covering the various bits of ICT stuff we'll need to know to be able to do the course (like using Vista).
He also made sure to cover the various rules we need to follow (don't look at porn at school; don't copy CDs at school; computer use is monitored; etc.) and be aware of. The thing that really,REALLY pisses me off is that the contagion that is plagiarism detection software, namely Turn It In, seems to have infected Education. The sole objection I have to using the software is that Turnitin keep a copy of all the work submitted in their database to check future submissions against: they are using my work as part of the service for which they charge lots of money.
We ended with a lot of confusion as to when and where our classes for the next few weeks are (the Bachelor of Teaching timetable is both complex and fluid as it has to work around the student's practicals and other staff commitments).
After professional studies we had our first multi-literacies ICT class, in which the lecturer introduced all the ICT skills they'll be making sure we have. Word processing, spread sheets, presentations, multi-media, the Internet (and, more importantly, finding anything useful on it), etc. We'll also be covering the various bits of ICT stuff we'll need to know to be able to do the course (like using Vista).
He also made sure to cover the various rules we need to follow (don't look at porn at school; don't copy CDs at school; computer use is monitored; etc.) and be aware of. The thing that really,
We ended with a lot of confusion as to when and where our classes for the next few weeks are (the Bachelor of Teaching timetable is both complex and fluid as it has to work around the student's practicals and other staff commitments).
Professional Studies Lecture 1
ESA160 - Professional Studies 1A.
The course has undergone a lot of change since last year, most of which regards the proportion of lectures and tutorials: this year’s course features more tutorial time and the tutorials have a more central role; they are practising what they preach in that they are going to be teaching us in the same way that want us to teach.
During the first 45 minutes, there was a little bit of touchy, feely stuff (the degree is not just a journey into teaching, it’s also a journey into knowing ourselves, etc., etc.), but on the whole it was a very interesting first hour.
In a few weeks, we will be starting our professional experience with the School University Partnership Programme (or SUPP), during which we each spend every Monday in a classroom observing specific facets of education in a real learning environment. The goal of SUPP is to give us some experience in the practice of education to help ground our understanding of the theory that we’ll be learning during lectures. While we don’t have any choice which school we wind up visiting, I am quite looking forward to it.
The lectures during the rest of the semester will focus on four themes:
According to the lecturer (whose voice reminded me of the woman from a popular show about current affairs on NPR), these same books will be used for professional studies during all four semester of the degree, so they'll be a good investment (especially compared to some of the $90+ books I bought for by Bachelor of Computing and didn't even open). She described Cope as a very good book (published last year); Krause as comprehensive, up to date and used throughout the degree; and said that we won'treally need Purdie until next semester.
The recommended texts are The Teaching for Understanding Guide by Tina Blythe (the theory upon which the Essential Learnings Framework of the Tasmanian Department of Education is based), Effective Teaching Strategies: Lessons from research and practice by R. Killen (good; basic teaching strategy; practice in theoretical context) and Disability in Australia: Exposing a social apartheid by Gerard Goggin and Christopher Newell (about special needs education in an Australian context).
20% of our final grade will come from our attendance and participation in tutorial and the remainder will be based on the documents we produce as a result of our observations during SUPP.
After about 45 minutes on administrivia, the lecturer moved on to looking at the topic of question and questioning. She began by presenting some dialogue typical of a teacher and students. The teacher used questions to provoke the students into thinking and to lead them to understanding of the topic by drawing an analogy between an orchestra (which needs a conductor to keep the players co-ordinated) and the hormonal system (which also requires co-ordination).
She presented five purposes for which questions are asked:
It looks, so far, that this is going to be a really interesting unit.
The course has undergone a lot of change since last year, most of which regards the proportion of lectures and tutorials: this year’s course features more tutorial time and the tutorials have a more central role; they are practising what they preach in that they are going to be teaching us in the same way that want us to teach.
During the first 45 minutes, there was a little bit of touchy, feely stuff (the degree is not just a journey into teaching, it’s also a journey into knowing ourselves, etc., etc.), but on the whole it was a very interesting first hour.
In a few weeks, we will be starting our professional experience with the School University Partnership Programme (or SUPP), during which we each spend every Monday in a classroom observing specific facets of education in a real learning environment. The goal of SUPP is to give us some experience in the practice of education to help ground our understanding of the theory that we’ll be learning during lectures. While we don’t have any choice which school we wind up visiting, I am quite looking forward to it.
The lectures during the rest of the semester will focus on four themes:
- Professional Perspectives: Teacher Identity;
- Development in an Educational Context;
- Schools and Schooling; and
- Curriculum and Pedagogy.
According to the lecturer (whose voice reminded me of the woman from a popular show about current affairs on NPR), these same books will be used for professional studies during all four semester of the degree, so they'll be a good investment (especially compared to some of the $90+ books I bought for by Bachelor of Computing and didn't even open). She described Cope as a very good book (published last year); Krause as comprehensive, up to date and used throughout the degree; and said that we won't
The recommended texts are The Teaching for Understanding Guide by Tina Blythe (the theory upon which the Essential Learnings Framework of the Tasmanian Department of Education is based), Effective Teaching Strategies: Lessons from research and practice by R. Killen (good; basic teaching strategy; practice in theoretical context) and Disability in Australia: Exposing a social apartheid by Gerard Goggin and Christopher Newell (about special needs education in an Australian context).
20% of our final grade will come from our attendance and participation in tutorial and the remainder will be based on the documents we produce as a result of our observations during SUPP.
After about 45 minutes on administrivia, the lecturer moved on to looking at the topic of question and questioning. She began by presenting some dialogue typical of a teacher and students. The teacher used questions to provoke the students into thinking and to lead them to understanding of the topic by drawing an analogy between an orchestra (which needs a conductor to keep the players co-ordinated) and the hormonal system (which also requires co-ordination).
She presented five purposes for which questions are asked:
- for review or revision;
- to make connections;
- for teacher feedback;
- to encourage students to ask questions (modelling); and
- to cause students to use a variety of thinking processes.
It looks, so far, that this is going to be a really interesting unit.
A Change in Focus
Today I took the first step on a new path, that of teaching, with orientation day for the Bachelor of Teaching. This semester I will be taking:The next few posts will concern my first impressions.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
What To Do?
So I'm back in Tasmania (at Mum's place) and I'm looking for something to do. At the moment, the plan is to do a teaching degree (at UTas), but we'll see how that goes.
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