2nd blog for October

The application of ICT can take many forms and has the capability to transform the way teaching and learning occurs. The contemporaneous use of multimedia and computers allows the improvement of new pedagogical strategies involving lively and interactive learning. So, on date 15th of October, I taught class V, social studies. The topic I taught was our family history. In this lesson we had quiz completion where I prepared the question on ppt. The children were alert and very interactive in the activity.

Next, I prepared another ppt to disseminate the information on the topic with the help of lots of images. It was quit enriching lesson that I saw all the children participating actively and the class was lively. 

The students were given an activity where they need to draw their own family tree using MS office word. Actually I have planned to give this activity in group, but since, all the children were eager to fiddle the computer, they wanted to do individually. They were really enjoying doing the activity. And the most interesting thing I have observed was, they didn't want the teachers, instead they were teaching each other and did an incredible work.

Finally, they presented their family tree with their own explanations. It was a great lesson and there were lots of interactions between the students.

5th ICT integration

On date 3rd October,  I taught class PP, English and the topic was parts of plant ( integrated from EVS). Since it was a block period of 50 minutes each, I designed varieties of activities to make my class lively. The first was a field trip, a short field trip, around the flower garden in the school campus. I asked them to observe the plants in the garden. After reaching in the class, I asked them to tell what ever they saw during their field trip.

Then I took them to the IT room. Since the students of class PP were visiting the IT lab, I found very difficult to control them. But with the help of the IT in charge, I could manage to settle them down. There they are taught how to brows Google to search for information. Since our topic was on Parts of plant, I wrote the title on the white board and made them to type in the Google search. Unfortunately, due to some problem, internet didn't work well. Still I didnt gave up. With the help of some colleagues,  I borrowed smart phones from the staff and made them to do Google search. 

The activities that were done after this were amazing. Of course, I had a tough time teaching the students how to handle the gadgets and even I was trying to teach them how to browse Google, but the out come of the lesson was great. Children were able to draw the parts of plant levelling them correctly. 

Integration of ICT in our lesson can create conducive environment and at the same time it's quite hectic for us, especially with class PP children. I thought it's their first time experiencing this type of activity and its obvious  because small children are by nature restless, but I am positive that next time if I plan any activity on ICT integration and take them to IT lab they would behave much better.

ICT integration in English Class

We have a system of switch teaching amongst the member of each department at least two to three times a term. So when we plan for the switch teaching, all the members sit together and plan the lesson to make the pace of the lesson smooth and continual. Here I am going to state about class V English lesson. The objective of the lesson was to make the children collect information from different sources and write an essay at the end.

In the previous classes, we made the students to plan and prepare a presentation on the topic “Positive effect of television”. Of course, they were given choices whether to present in chart or ppt. The students were given two periods to plan and prepare their presentation in their group. So, in those periods students are given the opportunities to visit the IT lab and library with the permission from the in charges.

As they were instructed clearly, we didn’t monitor how they were preparing. On date 19^th September, the students were asked to present their work in the class. Out of six groups, four groups have prepared PowerPoint presentation. The presentation done by the students were awesome and I was surprise to see how talented the students wore. If given opportunities, students do much better than us. In additional, other students who were listening were really enjoying and participating actively by asking lots of questions.

At the end when we made them to write the essay, they have marvelous essay which was totally different from what we had given as an individual work in the earlier classes.

ICT AND LEISURE TIME

Today I am going to share something different from the classroom teaching, something that is practiced in our school.

Here in our school, we have a system of organizing departmental meeting every week. On 27th August, PP and class I department met and discussed on how to improve reading habits in these classes students. With much discussion, we came up with a number of strategiest. So we together planned our strategic plan. One of the actionable  strategy that we could immediately implement was to play nursery rhymes in our classes during reses time. Nursery rhymes are part of children's pre- literary skills and serves as an important pillar in their cognitive and language development. Rhymes also helps in language acquisition and auditory skills such as discriminating between sounds and developing the ear for the music of words.

Departmental meeting chaired by our Academic Head.

Unlike other schools, here we are very fortunate to have smart TV in all the classes from PP to  III. So from early in the morning, we open our classroom and play rhymes and keep the children freely and continue during the reses time. At first, we were quite worried that some naughty children might damage the television, so without the notice of the children, we kept an eye on them. Surprisingly,  I found out that my PP children were not even touching the screen, but they were dancing and singing the rhyme together.

Now, it has been around two weeks since we have following this. Although, there was not much differences within these short period, still we can see a slight change in them. The children were able to use the vocabularies they hear often from the rhymes. Some children could sing the rhymes along with correct pronunciation. And now we are expecting a greater impact in the students life through this intervention.

The journey of ICT

There can be infinite uses of computer and of new age technology, but if teacher themselves are not able to bring it into the classroom and make it work, and then it fails. To make use of these ICT in classroom, I started making a video tutorial, which was of course our assignment, and tried out this in my class.

There was excitement in the children’s face, when I informed them that we are going to learn today’s lesson through video. As was anticipated, the children were enjoying the lesson, but I could also feel that they understood the concept too. They were participating equally through the lesson. At the same time they were conscious as they see my face on the screen too explaining the concept. Moreover, I was not tired of explaining the concept again and again. If the children could not understand in the first go, we can replay it. So, we don’t feel exhausted at the end of the class. We can also dedicate our class time to the weaker students. In that way, my class was an effective one and was very satisfied with my lesson.

Through this experience, I was motivated. I thought, if we teachers do little home works after the class, we would never get exhausted in the classroom. So, now I am going to edge forward in making some more videos and project them in the class.

Technology based instruction in our classroom.

As we sail through the 21^st century, technology is becoming more and more predominant. It has now become a hand tool for the educationist to enhance teaching and learning process. Social media has become commonplace, and the way we use technology has completely transformed the way we live or lives. 

 Children being digital natives, they don’t enjoy the old traditional lecture method of teaching. So, to motivate the learners, use of technology has become a prime method in the classrooms. Moreover, as we are living in a competitive world, the world invites people with more skilled and knowledgeable people. So, students should be trained for 21^st century skills to battle up with the fast economic growth. These 21^st-century skills are essential in order to be successful in this day and age. Jobs that may not have had a digital element in the past may have one now. Education isn’t just about memorizing facts and words, it’s about solving complex problems and being to collaborate with others in the workers.

Furthermore, not all the children in the class are same. Despite of their age, sex and physical feature, different children have different learning abilities. So, to meet the needs of these children, technology can play a vital role in teaching and learning process.

Thank You.

integration of ICT in classroom

With the paradigm shift of education system in Bhutan, there is a need of ICT education in our schools.The students are more of information consumer rather than information gatherer. The learning environment should be created in such a way that there are a varieties of activities which meets the needs of the students. The children nowadays do not enjoy lecture method of teaching,so teachers must plan their lesson in such a way that they engage the students actively.

 Moreover, children nowadays are called a Digital Native and they are very much exposed to the new technology and it has become the part of their life.