Apple compatability

Right, here's the problem. I have an Apple ibook g4. I really like. I know some people think Apples are a waste of money, but the thing is my school had them so I'm used to them and also I was able to get one in a cheap deal. Its small and dinky and I feel happy working on it - at least until recently, where nothing is compatible. first off They only have me 256 mb memory, something apparently that Apple got a telling off for, the next models they have apparently a lot more memory( and I say apparently as I really have not researched it). So maybe it is possible to buy more memory at considerable cost, but does the memory have to be compatible too? The biggest problem is that my laptop runs on mac 10.3.9 panther, but I need to install 10.4 tiger. This will also cost. Thing is they are now selling version 10.5 and can't find tiger anywhere. The smartboard software is not compatible with my lap top until I can update. It's very very annoying and am finding more and more that I cannot download anything. I can't afford a new lap top so I'll have to find a way!! The trouble with apple is everything moves too fast with me to keep up with, or at least my bank balance. Still love them though.

IWB use in an English lesson

I am teaching poetry and the senses to reception and year 1. The IWB was useful as it enabled me to put the poem on the board for the children to see and to be able to recite it with me. I also was able to place some pictures around the poem to make it more visual and to help the poem come alive. I found that when you have saved work in a word document, all you have to do is move the images or indeed text straight from word by dragging your finger from what ever it is you want to move and then for a few seconds hold your finger over the smartboard document in the task bar and then it appears there. Doesn't always work but when it does it is very quick. I am currently thinking of ways to make teaching poetry and the senses more interactive on IWB- any ideas?

IWB in a maths lesson for reception and year one

My first maths lesson went well. I was teaching sorting as in for example, if you have two hoops and each with a different label on it, blue and red, then the children would have to put the correct coloured cube in the right hoop. I practised this on the IWB, where I let the children come and drag the cubes in to the right hoop. I also practised recognising what different shapes were. In one example, I had written circles and triangles in one hoop and pentagons and rectangles in another. Outside the hoops were a range of shapes, including these shapes and others. they then had to drag the appropriate shapes into the right hoops, leaving the other shapes outside the hoop. This went down well and they seemed to really enjoy it although some of the children need to practise putting their finger firmly on the board as some of them were having problems dragging.

I miss the Commodore 64

In an earlier post, I mentioned the fact that my parents had a Commodore 64 which they bought in 1985 and I last used in 1990. I loved that computer. I only ever played games on it of course. Really cool 1980's games. You actually had to type certain information which was unique to each game in order to load it up, something children don't do any more. The disks really were floppy disks, you actually bend them and they were bigger than floppy disks that we know today, although we do not actually use them any more either. I remember they had a hole in the middle. Does anyone else remember seeing one of these? We lived in New York then so maybe they were only in America. We also had these games that were in the form of a cartridge that you stuck in at the back of the computer. The last time I used the computer I think was 1990 when we moved house. we never actually got rid of it but we packed it up in a box and moved it with us every time we moved country. I wonder if it would still work or not? I hope so. From 1990 until 2001 we had no computer. It was weird to have one again, this time an apple mac that we got cheap. The old Commodore was my first experience of a computer and a happy one, slow to make work but I still feel a sentimental attachment to it.

Will ICT be a subject in its own right?

I overheard the other day someone saying that ICT will soon no longer be a subject in its own right, that it will simply be incorporated into subjects. I guess that this may be due the the fact that many children from a young age are so computer literate that they might not need to learn about it. but surely they have to start some where. I mean that ICT is not a human instinct where people are born knowing how to use it. Perhaps people think that parents will have already taught their children to work with computers which raises the question about the fact that not all parents will be able to have computers and the internet, unless the government gives them out for free.

Maybe this will only be in secondary schools, but even they need to learn. I hear that some schools are teaching the ECDL. I guess this is good as at least the pupils leave with a certificate.

ICT in my school so far

well, since the invention of wireless, it has made it possible for small schools like the one I am currently placed with to be able to have a mobile ICT unit. They last year bought 16 laptops, which are locked away safely and kept charged until they have a lesson. The children share the laptops, one between two. I am told before this they squeezed the computers in the library which was too small. Ideally, maybe every school should have a separate ICT suite, but this was not possible. Although, this raises the question as to whether a school really does need a separate room. The laptop idea seems to work very well. I personally, always liked the idea of a separate ICT room as it meant you could be in a different environment. The ICT lessons went well though and the children did seem very engaged. I have so far observed two ICT lessons, one in class 1 ( reception, year 1 and 2) and another in class two (year 3 and 4). In class 2, they had to read the information about monsters and find the relevant information e.g height, favourite food etc. then they will put the information into a database. In class 1 the children were learning about signs, e.g danger signs, and then dragging the relevant picture to the right word. Then they could practise typing ideas to each other. I was amazed at how advanced even the youngest children were. They were all very quick learners. The first few lessons were apparently a bit of a struggle, but once they learnt the basics of switching on and off etc. they have progressed very quickly. I guess that is the same with anything, the younger you learn, the quicker you take it in. They are probably used to computers at home too, taking away the fear factor. Whereas most people of my parents generation did not have a computer when I was younger, therefore the idea of the computer was alien. Luckily my parents had a Commodore 64! However, that was not like any computer I know today!

discussion boards

Dear Monty, sorry for late blog entry, I had real trouble getting into my blog , said it was wrong email, got so stressed out I left it, then found a piece of paper with a password and this time it worked. Also, during the week I have no internet because of where I'm living, which has reminded me how internet dependent I have become! Please let me know if there is anything else I'm not up to date with. Thanks for your comments, they were very useful and i liked the idea about using a black board in a history lesson.

Yes the discussion board was very useful in finding out what others felt about a certain issue, in this case the graphs that we analysed. I was amazed at the speed at which one could communicate with each other. Sharing ideas with another is really useful in order to get an idea of how others interpret things. The only thing I would say that as useful as it is I feel better meeting face to face with people to discuss things. Perhaps in this sense the discussion board is a very good tool for reading through something prior to meeting, in order to later share your ideas. However, I can see how many times it is simply not possible to meet with people, and being able to communicate in this way does take out the hassle factor. In some senses the same could be done with email if you are communicating with one person, but I can see how if you wanted more than one person to share their ideas then it is very useful indeed.
Overall I feel positive about discussion boards, it will take a little getting used to.