Monday 1st November – Learning By Doing …
Posted by Bernadette on January 17, 2011
I was in full flight today…handouts prepared, questions at the ready, explanations at the ready, computers all set, audio equipment on standby, speakers, software … everything done …
I began the day by overseeing CM 2 & 3 discussion and introducing them to some new ideas with regards to the concepts of audio files, transferable and portable ones, mobile phone technology, software packages and somehow … The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe … Their them was WW1 and the evacuation projects so it seemed quite apt for a primary school topic and a beautiful movie to watch ….
Anyway …CM1 …
The topic of today’s lesson was to introduce Audacity which had only been demonstrated and talked about … a comment sparked a light in my brain over the counter at WTMS in RSAMD …
Today both groups were given a computer, Audacity, audio files from their respective placement groups, Audacity Handouts, Notes, access to me, instructions on what I wanted them to do and …amazingly off they went, laughing, experimenting, questions flying about the room, handouts being read there and then, comparison being made by other students who had never disclosed or imparted that they had ever used Audacity let alone industry standard software such as Protools, Cubase, Sound Forge or Garage Band for Mac’s … I had asked the questions, but this was obviously the correct decision today to actually get them involved in participation with each other, moving them around, setting individual tasks, setting them thinking on different keyboard short cuts, different combinations of how to cut, edit and paste a file and which ones would be most suitable them depending on their preferences … some people like short cuts others don’t but all the handouts contained key strokes and the traditional elements of using the menus ….
I felt very satisfied that I had finally broken down the barriers and the resistance to technology that I had experienced the Monday prior … but phones were out dictaphone were also in existence and I was moving about the room like a fly caught in a honey trap …
The flow of concentration and the usual looks of the clock were not evident and when I finally had to bring the session to a close the gasps of oh that went so quickly echoed around the room…I think Mary was also pleased that I had saved the best for last and that they were more hands on than she or I gave them credit for …
How did I feel … absolutely devastated at having to say my goodbyes so soon … there was so much more that I wanted to share with Mary and the students, there were other technologies, other software packages, other Web 2.0 apps that were relevant to the students teaching resources repertoire … and just to be there within RSAMD just one more time. I would miss not being there to see the students on that daily basis where I could chat with them over tea, juice or just over the cafe bar at 9pm when I was finally being evicted from my hidey hole in the Whittaker Library …
The teaching aspect was over all too soon for me … I was also engrossed in the Gilly Salmon Five step Framework in which I was putting myself into when looking at today’s lesson plan and how quickly I could evolve the students from the base of the ladder to the top … and to my surprise some of them actually powered up those steps today with no problem at all … my concerns were turned then to how the others would manage, but I would soon see this when I would have all the evaluation materials at the end of the month.
There were more aspects though that required attention and that was hoe best to demonstrate the use of mobile phone technologies in the placement settings on friday … adn how would I feel knowing that then would be my last placement … this did not feel good … I don’t want to leave Mary …
