Prior Prac Students ?Advice?

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During this weeks learning path we have had to opportunity to view what prior students had to say after completing their Prac.

The first question was “What was the most important or useful thing you learned about integrating ICTs while on Professional Experience?”.

There were quite a few responses but the main points were:

  • Have a back up plan
  • Ensure students know how to use the ICT prior to the lesson
  • Students love ICTs and the interactivity of them, and it engages the students in topics that don’t interest them
  • Plan and pre-test, view, check and make sure you know everything is working prior to the lesson
  • Be flexible and don’t over cram your lesson, allow time for students to practice what has been taught.

My personal favorites:

  • technology is not always reliable and so I need to be flexible, and able to adjust to the need to change the lesson at the last minute if the technology doesn’t work. The lesson should not revolve around the technology. The technology should support the lesson.
  • The most important and useful thing I learned while on professional experience was that learning is occurring while children were having fun with the content.

Next question “What do you wish you had known about integrating ICTs before going on Professional Experience?”

  • That ICTs and time are limited but both are major factors in teaching intergrating ICTs
  • Knowing which programs are and are not allowed or blocked by EQ.
  • How to better deal with technical malfunctions
  • What students already knew and how familiar they were with ITCs
  • That the pre-service teachers had more knowledge of IWBs or ICTS themselves

And finally “has your Professional Experience changed your views on the role of ICTs in learning and teaching? If so, how?”

  • To see the students more motivated and interested to learn with the many visual aspects of ICT and being able to particpate.
  • Knowing how important it is to be up to date and how it can influence a lesson and the student’s learning.
  •  ICTs truly engages and motivates students to learn and discover new knowledge.
  • ICT are magnificent tools in the classroom they are able to aid in group work activities and are really flexible when it comes to different ability levels in the classroom. With many online programs for example I was able to adjust the difficulty levels to cater for the need of individual or groups of students.
  • No matter what setting you are in, it is possible to use ICTs but this should never be done simply for the sake of it. We should only use them if it will enhance student learning.

These are all great things to keep in mind when preparing myself for prac. I get a little worried/scared about prac from time to time as other students have expressed as well, including Aspen at MY JOURNEY- LEARNING AND TEACHING USING ICTS who said “So as prac becomes closer and closer I seem to become a little more and more scared” And  TYAHNIE WILSON states ” I find I have the jitters” in her post Placement Jitters.

All I can say is preparation, preparation, preparation. These statements from previous students is so valuable and should be used to learn from and aid our own preparation.

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