Placement Journal. Salesian College, Chadstone. 12 – 23 May 2014

DATE CLASS/SUBJECT JOURNAL ENTRY – WEEK 12 – 16 May 2014Monday 12 May

INF09C (double Year 9 Robotics)

TAUGHT CLASS: Students were at various stages of building their NXT robots so few were ready to write and download programs to their robots. I spent most of the first session of the lesson assisting with the building of robots.During the second half of their double lesson, I was able to deliver the lesson, introducing basic programming, introducing the MOVE blocks. However only a few groups began programming as others needed to finish building.LESSON PLAN: I delivered a lesson plan that I had written for the Lego NXT TRAINING activity MOVE FORWARD, however I did also take groups of students through:

Finding and opening the software Beginning and naming a new program Selecting ‘MOVE’, ‘SOUND’ ‘LOOP’ and SWITCH’ programming blocks Properties of programming blocks Programming to MOVE FORWARD and TURN

CONCLUSION: Ideally, robots would be built before formal lesson begin and ready be to program; this would also prevent the sets of Lego and parts becoming disorganised. In the dynamics of NXT Robotics, students will usually be at different stages of progress and skills mastery.FUTURE DEVELOPMENT: More practice with advanced robot programming.

Monday 12 May

INF09A (double Year 9 Excel/VBA)

OBSERVED CLASS: Students were independently building their own ‘Personal Budget’ websites using Excel and development software program - VBA (Visual Basics). I assisted students in basic skills of excel; however I had limited experience in troubleshooting the VBA code. This teacher had written training videos for the students to follow and I am working through these to develop the skills of Visual Basics.CONCLUSION: The training videos made by the teacher for VBA are a good way of keeping the students working at their own pace, allowing teachers to assist where necessary.FUTURE DEVELOPMENT: Development of Excel/VBA skills

Monday 12 INF01A IT Year 11 TAUGHT CLASS: Students were beginning new Information Technology topic: ‘ICT in a Global Society’,

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May (double Information Technology)

culminating in their SAC (assessment) requirement of a webpage concerning an ICT application of either Computer Gaming, Robotics, e-Commerce, Social networking or Cloud computing and discussing social, ethical, legal and environmental issues related to these topics. This would require student groups to conduct extensive research.LESSON: I had a lesson plan prepared, with a glossary worksheet of key terms that students could attempt while I was taking the roll – this was not taken up by many students. I did notice that a student from a non-English speaking background was looking up the meanings of the key glossary terms. There was a rich discussion of the issues surrounding the use of ICT and a suitable video shown.CONCLUSION: The video that was shown to the students was begun a little too late and was not finished and the students were interested in the discussion of issues arising in the use of Facebook. Also, it would have been beneficial to discuss the planning and outcomes of their SAC as an introduction to give the students direction for the Unit.I realised, after delivering this lesson that there were three major components to the SAC task the students would undertake:

The research into the issues surrounding their topics The gathering of information and data, particularly surveys and questionnaires, into graphical

representations for their website The building of their websites with at least 5 pages that introduced and discussed the issues and

stakeholders of their ICT application/software.FUTURE DEVELOPMENT: Improved planning – including reading Ch. 4. ‘Onscreen Solutions’

Tuesday13 May

INF01A IT (Year 11 double Information Technology)

TAUGHT CLASS: I presented the content of Chapter 3 for the ICT applications and associated issues from Chapter 3: ICT Issues in a Global Society. The students were then asked to choose groups and select one ICT application on which to concentrate their research the social, ethical, environmental and legal issues surrounding these applications and the implications for (and to) the stakeholders. THE groups the decided which of their members would concentrate on particular issues.LESSON PLAN: I used PP presentations that outlined the content and issues, however I realised that the students should have been taken through the requirements of their SACS and be clear of the expectations before the content was presented. I also reminded students of the resources available to them both on their SAC Requirement documents, through databases in the school via the Rua resource Centre and also how to use Google effectively using advanced searching.CONCLUSION: Although I feel we made good use of discussion time and widely discussed the

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applications/software and issues, more examples and looking directly at the content from my eText Book would have been more effective. Also we did not allow time to discuss the further aspects/requirements of their SAC assessment

The gathering of information and data, particularly surveys and questionnaires, into graphical representations for their website

The building of their websites with at least 5 pages that introduced and discussed the issues and stakeholders of their ICT application/software.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENT: Improved planning – including reading Ch. 4. ‘Onscreen Solutions’Tuesday13 May

1CGI0A (Year 10 Computer Graphics)

OBSERVED CLASS: Class developing 3D images using ‘MAYA’ computer graphics software. The teacher has developed training videos for this unit for the students to follow; Students are expected to work independently. Students were willing to help others with some dilemmas and issues. Most students worked well and independently, however some students found the programming very complex and did not get past the introductory stages while others accelerated through the subject.CONCLUSION: Most students undertaking this computer graphics unit thoroughly enjoy the creation of animated 3D images and rise to the challenges of mastering the software. However as the tasks are often complex, some students may not receive the assistance and support the ideally want and/or need.FUTURE DEVELOPMENT: Develop skills and understanding of Maya software.

Tuesday13 May

1ITA03A (Year 12 IT Applications)

OBSERVED CLASS: The students were developing a MS Office ‘ACCESS’ database for a company selling car parts. Most of these senior students worked well and independently and most were self-directed or sought occasional help from classmates. Some students required lengthier assistance from the teacher.CONCLUSION: The students seemed to enjoy the challenges of this subject as many could see the application of this type of relational database to real life situations.FUTURE DEVELOPMENT: Develop increased skills and understanding of Access database.

Tuesday13 May

1ENG01A (Year 11 VCE English)

OBSERVED CLASS: These senior students were beginning to understand the power of “persuasive Language” and how emotive and expressive language is used to persuade or dissuade us in our thinking. The teacher interspersed the lesson with practical writing tasks and practice in text responses.Some students were quick than others to master the concepts of persuasive language, while others needed further explanations and examples to realise they needed to analyse the writing swell as explain it.CONCLUSION: My observation was that this initial class on persuasive language was difficult for many students, however most seemed to grasp the concept of how a writer may sway their audience in their thinking.

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FUTURE DEVELOPMENT: Development and practice of persuasive language at VCE level.Wednesday14 May

INF01B IT (Year 11 Information Technology)

TAUGHT CLASS: This was a short 30 min. class, leaving only enough time for an overview of the ICT applications, and a brief summary of the issues associated with them. I showed a brief video of the uses of robotics in a news broadcast of a robotic arm made for veterans who had lost arms during war.I briefly introduced the necessary components of the assignment. I invited discussion from the students and attempted to relate issues with their own use of ICT e.g. Facebook etc. as social networking.LESSON PLAN: I was not able to cover the steps in my lesson plan in this time and did not cover all the content. I had problems with the PP, so discussed the overall content for the assignment. Made students aware of how many pages they would need in their website and an indication of what would go into each of them. I reminded students that there would be training videos on Dreamweaver by the end of the week. I also reminded students of the resources available to them both on their SAC Requirement documents, through databases in the school via the Rua resource Centre and also how to use Google effectively using advanced searching.CONCLUSION: Lesson was too general. Should have left out the video. I decided we needed to go over the SAC assignment in more depth for next lesson. Rather than the PP, I decide to make notes in the text eBook (in highlights) of issues associated with ICT and relate research into issues to the assignment. The teacher also agreed that the students should also be introduced to Dreamweaver and become familiar in constructing their individual websites based on their ICT issue.FUTURE DEVELOPMENT: Increased emphasis on early project planning and development of research and analysis skills.

Wednesday14 May

INF01A IT (Year 11 Information Technology)

TAUGHT CLASS: I used the PP on ICT Issues to run through the ICT applications and the issues. Students confirmed their roles in their research group. The individual students also decided on their role within the group. I briefly introduced the necessary components of the assignment. I invited discussion from the students and attempted to relate issues with their own use of ICT e.g. Facebook etc. as social networking.LESSON PLAN: I was able to deliver an overview of the content in this time without going to any in depth analysis of the issues. I had problems with the PP, so mainly discussed content to the assignment. Made students aware of how many pages they would need in their website and an indication of what would go into each of them. I demonstrated Google advanced function for research.CONCLUSION: Some group members stayed away from the group, and I needed to encourage them to be engaged in-group work. Teacher reminded students that training videos on Dreamweaver would be ready by the end of the week.

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FUTURE DEVELOPMENT: Increased emphasis on early project planning and development of research and analysis skills.

Wednesday14 May

1ITA03A (Year 12 IT Applications)

OBSERVED CLASS: The students in this class were developing a MS Office ‘ACCESS’ database for a company selling car parts. Although students were at different levels of their project, they were engaged in the problem solving aspects, helping each other as well as seeking help from the teacher.CONCLUSION: The students seemed to enjoy this subject and were engrossed in working towards a solution for their ‘real life’ scenario of becoming a vendor selling car parts online.FUTURE DEVELOPMENT: Develop increased skills and understanding of Access database.

Wednesday14 May

1CGI10B (Year 10 Computer Graphics)

OBSERVED CLASS: Students are using the ‘Maya’ software to create computer graphics; The teacher has developed training videos that the students follow. The students seem to enjoy the creation of a 3D model, although some find the steps difficult. A couple of students were stuck on the first stages of downloading their template graphic and on suggesting they watch the video carefully, were eventually successful.CONCLUSION: The students were at different stages of completing their computer graphics project and some were probably not able to finish the entire project.FUTURE DEVELOPMENT: Develop increased skills and understanding of MAYA software.

Wednesday14 May

1INF09A (Year 9 double Excel/VBA)

OBSERVED CLASS: Students watch training instructional videos, taking them through the steps to create a Personal Budget using Excel and VBA programming. Some students are much further ahead, while some lag behind and have only just started.Most students that have arrives at the stage where they are programming their pages with functionality can see the benefits of this program.CONCLUSION: The students were at different stages of completing their personal budgets and some were probably not able to finish the entire project. I noticed some students spent a great deal of valuable time deciding on the colours and shapes of the programming buttons, instead of concentrating on programming their excel sheets.FUTURE DEVELOPMENT: Development of Excel/VBA skills

Wednesday14 May

11INF09F (Year 9 Robotics)

TAUGHT CLASS: I had prepared a lesson plan for the students to challenge them to program their robots to ‘Hit Red Ball’ that involved conditional programming. However this lesson plan did not eventuate as some students were still building their robots and others were already taking up the challenges in the Lego NXT ‘Green City Challenge’.OBSERVATION: Students are in various stages of progress and those that have not yet finished their robots entirely will have few lessons left to meet all the Green City Challenges.

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CONCLUSION: It is difficult to write a formal lesson plan for this class, however a plan that developed a method to assist bringing groups of slower students further ahead would be helpfulFUTURE DEVELOPMENT: Become more familiar with ‘Green City Challenges’.

Thursday15 May

INF01B IT (Year 11 double Information Technology)

TAUGHT CLASS: In this class I planned the lesson to thoroughly go through all the content of Chapter 3, addressing all ICT issues and the requirements of the SAC (including how to structure their webpages, conduct their research and organize the content. This was a good opportunity to get the students up to speed for the assignment, however due to half the class being on an excursion, I taught only 4 students. My lesson took up one session and in the other session of the double, the teacher taught the basics of Dreamweaver webpage editing software needed to create their website for the assignment.OBSERVATION: and students like the practical task after (PST) teacher talking for 40 minNot much feedback/input from students. Covered lots of content and requirements/CONCLUSION: Conferring with the teacher, we would have only one session to allow the other students to catch up. The lesson for the following day would have half the class that missed this session catching up with Dreamweaver set up with the teacher and I would assist the others in their research.FUTURE DEVELOPMENT: Plan activities where students research and structure an analysis of an issue in class.

Thursday15 May

1CGI0A (Year 10 Computer Graphics)

OBSERVED CLASS: Students are using the ‘Maya’ software to create computer graphics; The teacher has developed training videos that the students follow. The students seem to enjoy the creation of a 3D model, although some find the steps difficult. A couple of students were stuck on the first stages of downloading their template graphic and on suggesting they watch the video carefully, were eventually successful.CONCLUSION: The students were at different stages of completing their computer graphics project and some were probably not able to finish the entire project. I could see the progress most students were making and they seemed to enjoy the class more as their project progressed.FUTURE DEVELOPMENT: Development of MAYA software.

Thursday15 May

1SDV03A (Year 12 Systems Development)

OBSERVED CLASS: Complex programming for VCE specific programming (Visual Basic.net for Education) language and finding solutions. Students were working on a project of ‘card shuffling’ and finding solutions to ‘broken’ programs.Group of 4 students spent at least 30 minutes fixing a student laptop computerCONCLUSION: Students enjoy (although sometimes frustrated) finding solutions to programming problemsFUTURE DEVELOPMENT: Development of skills in systems software and programming language (Visual Basic.net for Education)

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Friday16th May

1A3D08 (Year 8 Art) OBSERVED CLASS: Students were studying the principles of ‘sculpture’. They were making additions to their ‘design folios’ and beginning to make their own sculptures based on their models of mythical hybrid creatures.CONCLUSION: Although sometimes a little chatty and distracted to begin with, most students enjoyed beginning their projects with coloured modeling clay. The students seemed to enjoy the tactile feel of the clay and moulding it slowly to develop their sculpture project.

Friday16th May

INF01B IT (Year 11 Information Technology)

TAUGHT CLASS: Students preparing for SAC for the topic ‘ICT in a Global Society’. The SAC assessment requires the development of a webpage concerning an ICT application of either Computer Gaming, Robotics, e-Commerce, Social networking or Cloud computing and discussing social, ethical, legal and environmental issues related to these topics. At this stage the student groups have not conducted theextensive research necessary to use as the content for their websites.LESSON: I decided to thoroughly run through the requirements of the SAC, emphasising the two major parts of the development of content (with evidence of research and survey data) and the completion of a 5 – 6 page website using Dreamweaver as the editor. The students were shown the marking criteria matrix with allotted marks to be given for all components. In the remainder of the lesson the students were assisted by myself and the teacher to get their website files up and running on the school Moodle server.CONCLUSION: With only one week to complete this SAC assignment, I emphasised to the students that they needed to place importance on gathering their evidence of their research and formulate surveys and questionnaires in order to develop graphical representations using primary source data. This class seemed distracted and disorganized and even to some extend, disengaged with this topic and its requirements. In the next class, I have decided to speak to each group individually, record the responsibilities of each member of the group and ensure they are conducting effective research.FUTURE DEVELOPMENT: Development of improved Project planning from beginning of the unit. Planning structures sessions where students must structure and analyse research and report to the class.

Friday16th May

1ENG07( 7 English)

OBSERVED CLASS: These students were all working on four English tasks; the writing of a fable, the text response to their novel ‘The Silver Donkey’, exercises from their Text book and wide reading.CONCLUSION: I was able to assist students with their tasks and most were on task. I could see the benefits of finishing these different activities as each student need to attend to his own work.FUTURE DEVELOPMENT: Develop expository and text analysis skills and strategies.

Friday16th May

1ENG08B(Year 8 English)

OBSERVED CLASS: Small groups in his class were working on responding to specific chapters of the set novel ‘A Bridge to Wiseman’s Cove’. Each group had a different chapter and the groups were pre-determined by

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the teacher. The students did not seem to mind doing this as the teacher emphasised the importance of working in different groups (not necessarily friendship groups).CONCLUSION: I worked with a few of the groups and the students and all could relate well with the text and identify themes and character development.

Friday16th May

INF01A IT Year 11 (Information Technology)

TAUGHT CLASS: Students preparing for SAC for the topic ‘ICT in a Global Society’. The SAC assessment requires the development of a webpage concerning an ICT application of either Computer Gaming, Robotics, eCommerce, Social networking or Cloud computing and discussing social, ethical, legal and environmental issues related to these topics. At this stage the student groups have not conducted theextensive research necessary to use as the content for their websites.LESSON: I decided to thoroughly run through the requirements of the SAC, emphasising the two major parts of the development of content (with evidence of research and survey data) and the completion of a 5 – 6 page website using Dreamweaver as the editor. The students were shown the marking criteria matrix with allotted marks to be given for all components. In the remainder of the lesson the students were assisted by myself and the teacher to get their website files up and running on the school Moodle server.CONCLUSION: With only one week to complete this SAC assignment, I emphasised to the students that they needed to place importance on gathering their evidence of their research and formulate surveys and questionnaires in order to develop graphical representations using primary source data. This class seemed distracted and disorganized and even to some extend, disengaged with this topic and its requirements. In the next class, I have decided to speak to each group individually, record the responsibilities of each member of the group and ensure they are conducting effective research.FUTURE DEVELOPMENT: Development of improved Project planning from beginning of the unit. Planning structures sessions where students must structure and analyse research and report to the class.

Friday16th May

1TLC07A (Year 7 Literacy support)

OBSERVED CLASS: This class of five year 7 students is specifically designed literacy learning support for struggling students. As the class set text is too complex for these boys, they were responding instead to a picture story text, also on the theme of war.CONCLUSION: In this small specially designed class, the students gain confidence in reading, writing and speaking skills aided by from almost one-on-one interaction with the teacher, the content and each other.FUTURE DEVELOPMENT: Development of skills to target literacy skill for students.

DATE CLASS/SUBJECT JOURNAL ENTRY – WEEK 19 – 23 May 2014Monday19th May

INF01B IT (Year 11 Information

TAUGHT CLASS: Students preparing for SAC for the topic ‘ICT in a Global Society’.Reminded students of OVERALL TOPIC OBJECTIVES:

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Technology)1. Working towards outcomes 3:“Contribute collaboratively to the design and development of a website that presents an analysis of a contemporary ICT issue and substantiates the team;’ point of view”

LESSON: I briefly spoke to students to remind them of the expected outcomes (as above) and the two major parts of the development of content (with evidence of research and survey data) and the completion of a 5 – 6 page website using Dreamweaver as the editor. The students were shown the marking criteria matrix with allotted marks to be given for all components and also the students were reminded to thoroughly read the SAC Assessment Notification sheet to make sure they are clear on all the components required in their final product (ie the website). In the remainder of the lesson I spoke to each group in turn, asking the groups to some key questions as how their project management is organized, how is the research divided up, how their research and websites were progressing.I was able to have a conference with each group to make sure they were addressing all requirements of the SAC especially the component of ‘primary research’ and conducting online surveys and questionnaires.CONCLUSION: With only one week to complete this SAC assignment, I emphasised to the students that they needed to place importance on gathering their evidence of their research and formulate surveys and questionnaires in order to develop graphical representations using primary source data. This class were now thinking more seriously about their final projects and were busy either constructing their site or gathering information.FUTURE DEVELOPMENT: In future, I feel there is a need for students to complete a compulsory Project Management task as a means to become better focused and directed in the completion of the SAC. Guided Inquiry modeling including project management would be useful here.

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Monday 19th May

INF09C (Year 9 double Robotics)

TAUGHT CLASS: Students were all ready to continue or begin programming their robots for the ‘NXT Green City Challenge’ activities and went about changing the ‘arms’ for the particular activities as required.LESSON PLAN: My lesson plan was to encourage all groups to achieve as many of the Lego NXT TRAINING activities as possible and to persist in their predictions, programming and execution of robot maneuvers.Some of the tasks I assisted in were:

Finding and opening the software Beginning and naming a new program Predicting how to program blocks for specific outcomes Properties of programming blocks Programming to MOVE FORWARD, TURN and move ARM

CONCLUSION: I felt this large class worked well in their groups and were organized and engaged in their challenges. All students seemed to work well together in taking turns at accessing the equipment for each challenge and it was pleasing to know the some groups achieved up to three challenges in this double session. Boys need to become more articulate and responsible in their use, organisation and pack-up of their Lego NXT kits.

Monday19th May

1INF09A (Year 9 double Excel/VBA)

OBSERVED CLASS: Students watch training instructional videos, taking them through the steps to create a Personal Budget using Excel and VBA programming. Some students are much further ahead, while some lag behind and have only just started.Most students that have arrives at the stage where they are programming their pages with functionality can see the benefits of this program.CONCLUSION: The students were at different stages of completing their personal budgets and some were probably not able to finish the entire project. I noticed some students spent a great deal of valuable time deciding on the colours and shapes of the programming buttons, instead of concentrating on programming their excel sheets. I gave a some disengaged students small challenges in a given time frame ie ‘Complete inserting all the buttons required for your Personal Budget onto your Excel spreadsheet’ before the end of the session. This seemed successful in some cases.

Monday 19th May

1DAT07F(Year 7 Design & technology)

OBSERVED CLASS: THE students were at the design stage of making a wooden box. They needed to carefully draw a 2 D template or plan of the box parts to scale. The students were taught the correct names for the different ‘views’ of objects. At the end of the lesson the boys received their ‘box parts’, place their initials on the parts and they were stored for next lesson.CONCLUSION: As the lesson progressed from concentrating on their technical drawing to handling the ‘real

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parts’ the enthusiasm and excitement grew in anticipation of putting it all together next lesson.Monday19th May

INF01A IT Year 11 (Information Technology)

TAUGHT CLASS: Students preparing for SAC for the topic ‘ICT in a Global Society’.Reminded students of OVERALL TOPIC OBJECTIVES:

1. Working towards outcomes 3:“Contribute collaboratively to the design and development of a website that presents an analysis of a contemporary ICT issue and substantiates the team;’ point of view”

LESSON: I briefly spoke to students to remind them of the expected outcomes (as above) in particular the two major parts of the development of content (with evidence of research and survey data) and the completion of a 5 – 6 page website using Dreamweaver as the editor. The students were shown the marking criteria matrix with allotted marks to be given for all components and also the students were reminded to thoroughly read the SAC Assessment Notification sheet to make sure they are clear on all the components required in their final product (ie the website). In the remainder of the lesson I spoke to each group in turn, asking the groups to some key questions as how their project management is organized, how is the research divided up, how their research and websites were progressing. However, as this is the larger class, I did not have the chance to speak to each group and will need to catch up with three groups in the next lesson.I was able to have a conference with each group to make sure they were addressing all requirements of the SAC especially the component of ‘primary research’ and conducting online surveys and questionnaires.CONCLUSION: With only one week to complete this SAC assignment, I emphasised to the students that they needed to place importance on gathering their evidence of their research and formulate surveys and questionnaires in order to develop graphical representations using primary source data. Most students in this class were now thinking more seriously about their final projects and were busy either constructing their site or gathering information, however there were still some students that seem to large degrees still disengaged with the preparation for this SAC. Although I am fairly sure they understand the requirements if the task, I feel the students find it difficult to organize and manage their project.FUTURE DEVELOPMENT In future, I feel there is a need for students to complete a compulsory Project Management task as a means to become better focused and directed in the completion of the SAC. The steps of a ‘Guided Inquiry’ process would be useful here, ie Inquiry project learning and planning.

Tuesday INF01A IT (Year 11 TAUGHT CLASS: Students preparing for SAC for the topic ‘ICT in a Global Society’.

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20th May double Information Technology)

Reminded students of OVERALL TOPIC OBJECTIVES:

1. Working towards outcomes 3:“Contribute collaboratively to the design and development of a website that presents an analysis of a contemporary ICT issue and substantiates the team;’ point of view”LESSON: In this lesson I asked the students to continue the research and construction of their websites. A requirement of this class was for all groups to give a two-minute presentation to the class at the end of the double lesson giving an overview of their topic, the issues concerning this topic they have researched so far, how they will gather primary source data (what sort of survey?) and how the construction of their website was progressing.I had completed a skeleton of a sample website including all pages and an indication of the elements/criteria that needed to be included and presented this as an example of structure required.https://moodle.salesian.vic.edu.au/Yr11IT/jsendeckyj/CONCLUSION:Many students do not read the assignment requirements and the marking criteria and were surprised at the elements they needed to include. There were better signs in this lesson that students were engaging in either research and/or website building.There seemed to be an overall difficulty in grasping the concept of gathering data from ‘primary sources’ ie surveying stakeholders. IT was pleasing to see some students developing questionnaires such as Survey Monkey to gather data of how stakeholders felt and interacted with ICT technology.FUTURE DEVELOPMENT In future, I feel there is a need for students to complete a compulsory Project Management task as a means to become better focused and directed in the completion of the SAC. The steps of a ‘Guided Inquiry’ process would be useful here, ie Inquiry project learning and planning. The presentations were useful in making the students accountable.

Tuesday 20th May

1CGI10 A(Year 10 computer Graphics)

OBSERVED CLASS: Students are using the ‘Maya’ software to create computer graphics; The teacher has developed training videos that the students follow. The students seem to enjoy the creation of a 3D model, although some find the steps difficult. In this lesson the students were choosing their own 3D character blueprint. The students would take their drawing, scan it, download to CGI program MAYA and begin to develop it within the computer graphic program.CONCLUSION: The students were choosing and drawing their characters, however some students taking too

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much time just choosing!

Tuesday 20th May

1ITA03AU302 (Year 12 (Databases/relational database systems - Access)

OBSERVED CLASS: Teacher reviewing exam with students and reminded students where and why marks are given or deducted and clarified what is required to answer the questions. Students need to answer questions in relation to the case study rather than in general.CONCLUSION: Student need to remember rules and conventions in relational databases to pass the assessment. Students need to make connections from theory to practice, ie relationship of theory to the case study that they have been working on.

Tuesday 20th May

1BIO03ABiology

OBSERVED CLASS: This was a VCE (Unit 3) Biology Class. Observed students collaborating in pairs to complete a practice exam. Students were also researching unknown topics in their texts if they were unsure.CONCLUSION: Students helped each other out and worked well together in this small class. Some boys ere away and I could see how this may adversely affect a VCE student when the learning schedule is very tight and the exam is worth 60% of their final mark.

Wednesday 21st May

INF01B IT (Year 11 Information Technology)

TAUGHT CLASS: Students preparing for SAC for the topic ‘ICT in a Global Society’.Reminded students of OVERALL TOPIC OBJECTIVES:1. Working towards outcomes 3:“Contribute collaboratively to the design and development of a website that presents an analysis of a contemporary ICT issue and substantiates the team;’ point of view”LESSON: Reminded students that their SAC is due Monday 26th May. In this lesson I asked each group to stand in front of the class to give a progress report. This would enable each group to listen to differing approaches and strategies to the completion of the assignment. The intention for this class activity was for the students to articulate how they were putting their sites together and that all groups may gain ideas and strategies. I had constructed a basic website in Dreamweaver to demonstrate the inclusion of the structural elements the students needed to have in their site, where to place the Reference list and possible subject ideas for each page. Using the document on the projector reminded the students of the marks given for the elements and all the criteria they were required to present on their completed site.CONCLUSION: Students are tackling tasks from different perspectives and prioritizing different parts of the project, however each group seems to be clear of their individual tasks and how they are going to share information. This class has a double period tomorrow (Thu) which will be helpful in finalizing some website issues. Assisting students presents a range of conversations from research and perception of ICT issues to troubleshooting technical issues with Dreamweaver.

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IDEAS Can see a real advantage to having more project planning at the beginning of this units rather than going straight into content and then also having to introduce (for most) the skills of Dreamweaver and building a website. Perhaps a compulsory plan with Members, timeline, assigned tasks, information management (research results, files, images etc. The concept of a survey and/or questionnaire also needs to be emphasised earlier.FUTURE DEVELOPMENT In future, I feel there is a need for students to complete a compulsory Project Management task as a means to become better focused and directed in the completion of the SAC. The steps of a ‘Guided Inquiry’ process would be useful here, ie Inquiry project learning and planning.

Wednesday 21st May

INF01A IT (Year 11 double Information Technology)

TAUGHT CLASS: Students preparing for SAC for the topic ‘ICT in a Global Society’.Reminded students of OVERALL TOPIC OBJECTIVES:

1. Working towards outcomes 3:“Contribute collaboratively to the design and development of a website that presents an analysis of a contemporary ICT issue and substantiates the team;’ point of view”LESSONI displayed the SAC marking criteria and the Outcome document with the necessary criteria for inclusion in their projects.I once again showed a sample website including all pages and an indication of the elements/criteria that needed to be included and presented this as an example of structure required.https://moodle.salesian.vic.edu.au/Yr11IT/jsendeckyj/After this presentation, the students to continue the research and construction of their websites.CONCLUSION: I felt that students needed timely reminders of the requirements and most did not properly consider the requirements document. Assisting students presents a range of conversations from research and perception of ICT issues to troubleshooting technical issues with DreamweaverCan see a real advantage to having more project planning at the beginning of this units rather than going straight into content and then also having to introduce (for most) the skills of Dreamweaver and building a website. Perhaps a compulsory plan with Members, timeline, assigned tasks, information management (research results, files, images etcIDEAS: There seemed to be an overall difficulty in grasping the concept of gathering data from ‘primary sources’ ie surveying stakeholders. IT was pleasing to see some students developing questionnaires such as

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Survey Monkey to gather data of how stakeholders felt and interacted with ICT technology.FUTURE DEVELOPMENT In future, I feel there is a need for students to complete a compulsory Project Management task as a means to become better focused and directed in the completion of the SAC. The steps of a ‘Guided Inquiry’ process would be useful here, ie Inquiry project learning and planning.

Wednesday 21st May

1ENG09F (Year 9 English)

OBSERVED CLASS: The students were discussing ‘racial vilification’ after listening and reading the transcript to a video of the Bulldogs President Peter Gordon and how he condemns racism in the club. The students were given different ways to look at the importance of key words and concepts with applications such as ‘Wordle’.CONCLUSION: Students also need to finish reflective pieces in this lesson, however few wrote more than a few words. There was little sustained concentration with this age group, however there were two impressive oral presentations. Lots of student-centered activities for engagement would be beneficial for this cohort of student (ie Year 9 boys).

Wednesday 21st May

1INF09A (Year 9 double Excel/VBA)

OBSERVED CLASS: Students watch training instructional videos, taking them through the steps to create a Personal Budget using Excel and VBA programming.Most students that have arrives at the stage where they are programming their pages with functionality can see the benefits of this program.CONCLUSION: The students were at different stages of completing their personal budgets and some were probably not able to finish the entire project. Some students were making good efforts, especially after being assessed by the teacher. Some students were not applying little effort. The teaching videos are of great benefit for students to have a self-paced approach, however periodical checks with the teacher are necessary, even with the advanced students who need new challenges.

Wednesday 21st May

INF09C (Year 9 double Robotics)

TAUGHT CLASS: This lesson was designed for groups to challenge each other to complete a challenge of their choice in the ‘NXT Green City Challenge’ activities and points were also allotted for team effort and cooperation.LESSON PLAN: My lesson plan was to encourage all groups to work together on one Lego NXT Green City Challenge and program the robot BEFORE they ran the robot the meet the challenge. Previously the groups had been able to program the robots while they were connected to their laptops, enabling instant editing of their program. In this lesson students needed to correctly and as accurately as possible write the program

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BEFORE execution.CONCLUSION: The groups in this lesson were noisy while they worked on their challenges. While different groups executed their challenges, other sat around with little to do and consequently became restless and noisy. Boys need to become more articulate and responsible in their use, organisation and pack-up of their Lego NXT kits. Overall I believe the boys enjoyed this competitive exercise, however I fell I need to set clear time limits, e.g. to get programming ready and them to execute the challenges.

Thursday 22nd May

INF01B IT (Year 11 Information Technology)

TAUGHT CLASS: Students preparing for SAC for the topic ‘ICT in a Global Society’.Reminded students of OVERALL TOPIC OBJECTIVES:1. Working towards outcomes 3:“Contribute collaboratively to the design and development of a website that presents an analysis of a contemporary ICT issue and substantiates the team;’ point of view”LESSON: Reminded students that their SAC is due Monday 26th May that there were additional criteria that they needed to include in their project:

18. All formatting controlled by css 3

19 An example of css animation 6

20. An example of Java event (Menu auto hide) 7

Using the document on the projector reminded the students of the marks given for the elements and all the criteria they were required to present on their completed site.CONCLUSION: Students are tackling tasks from different perspectives and prioritizing different parts of the project, however each group seems to be clear of their individual tasks and how they are going to share information. Assisted students with research in relation to ICT issues to troubleshooting technical and structural issues with Dreamweaver.IDEAS Can see a real advantage to having more project planning at the beginning of this units rather than going straight into content and then also having to introduce (for most) the skills of Dreamweaver and building a website. Perhaps a compulsory plan with Members, timeline, assigned tasks, information management (research results, files, images etc. The concept of a survey and/or questionnaire also needs to be emphasised earlier.FUTURE DEVELOPMENT In future, I feel there is a need for students to complete a compulsory Project Management task as a means to become better focused and directed in the completion of the SAC. The

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steps of a ‘Guided Inquiry’ process would be useful here, ie Inquiry project learning and planning.

Thursday 22nd May

1SDV03A (Year 12 Systems Development)

OBSERVED CLASS: The teacher worked through a practice SAC with the students and the students constructed their scenarios and solutions along with the teacher and the class.CONCLUSION: Working through the SAC, assisted the students to consolidate their understanding of the requirements of the SAC and also reinforced their prior learning.

Thursday 22nd May

1CGI10 A(Year 10 computer Graphics)

OBSERVED CLASS: Students are using the ‘Maya’ software to create computer graphics; The teacher has developed training videos that the students follow. The students seem to enjoy the creation of a 3D model, although some find the steps difficult. In this lesson the students had chosen their own 3D character from a blueprint and were now constructing their individual 3D characters.CONCLUSION: The students were choosing and drawing their characters, however some students taking too much time just choosing! Students also were required to complete a PP presentation of their project plan.

Thursday 22nd May

1ENG03F (double Year 12 English)

OBSERVED CLASS: The Year 12 class was engaged in analysing the language of topical newspaper articles, considering meta language elements such as tone, expression and contention.CONCLUSION: The students were asked to individually highlight articles and also form the introductions to their own analysis throughout the lesson and this was beneficial for both their language analysis skills and writing (essay) structure.

Friday 23rd May

INF01B IT (Year 11 Information Technology)

TAUGHT CLASS: Students preparing for SAC for the topic ‘ICT in a Global Society’.Reminded students of OVERALL TOPIC OBJECTIVES:1. Working towards outcomes 3:“Contribute collaboratively to the design and development of a website that presents an analysis of a contemporary ICT issue and substantiates the team;’ point of view”LESSON: Reminded students that their SAC is due Monday 26th May. I developed a Libguide with all the links and information students could utilize for completion of their SAC:http://libguides.salesian.vic.edu.au/ICTGlobalSociety Much of the information for this Libguide was taken from the resources and links from the SAC Criteria Sheet, the textbook and videos that had already been chosen by the teacher. I also added some useful links.CONCLUSION: I could see evidence of website construction progress and also gathering of relevant information. Some students had completed some analysis of issues for their ICT topic.IDEAS Can see a real advantage to having more project planning at the beginning of this units rather than

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going straight into content and then also having to introduce (for most) the skills of Dreamweaver and building a website. Perhaps a compulsory Project Plan with Members, timeline, assigned tasks, information management (research results, files, images etc. The concept of a survey and/or questionnaire also needs to be emphasised earlier.FUTURE DEVELOPMENT In future, I feel there is a need for students to complete a compulsory Project Management task as a means to become better focused and directed in the completion of the SAC. The steps of a ‘Guided Inquiry’ process would be useful here, ie Inquiry project learning and planning.

Friday 23rd May

1SDV03A (Year 12 Systems Development)

OBSERVED CLASS: Students completed a SAC in this sessionCONCLUSION: Working through the SAC yesterday, assisted the students to consolidate their understanding of the requirements of the SAC and also reinforced their prior learning.

Friday 23rd May

1CGI10 A(Year 10 computer Graphics)

OBSERVED CLASS:CONCLUSION:

Friday 23rd May

INF01A IT (Year 11 Information Technology)

TAUGHT CLASS: Students preparing for SAC for the topic ‘ICT in a Global Society’.Reminded students of OVERALL TOPIC OBJECTIVES:1. Working towards outcomes 3:“Contribute collaboratively to the design and development of a website that presents an analysis of a contemporary ICT issue and substantiates the team;’ point of view”LESSON: Reminded students that their SAC is due Monday 26th May. I developed a Libguide with all the links and information students could utilize for completion of their SAC:http://libguides.salesian.vic.edu.au/ICTGlobalSociety Much of the information for this Libguide was taken from the resources and links from the SAC Criteria Sheet, the textbook and videos that had already been chosen by the teacher. I also added some useful links.CONCLUSION: I could see evidence of website construction progress and also gathering of relevant information. Some students had completed some analysis of issues for their ICT topic.IDEAS Can see a real advantage to having more project planning at the beginning of this units rather than going straight into content and then also having to introduce (for most) the skills of Dreamweaver and building a website. Perhaps a compulsory Project Plan with Members, timeline, assigned tasks, information management (research results, files, images etc. The concept of a survey and/or questionnaire also needs to be emphasised earlier.

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FUTURE DEVELOPMENT In future, I feel there is a need for students to complete a compulsory Project Management task as a means to become better focused and directed in the completion of the SAC. The steps of a ‘Guided Inquiry’ process would be useful here, ie Inquiry project learning and planning.

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