Reemsaqer TP’s Weblog

Smart Board 

I was very amazed by the fantastic features of the smart board I have ever never knew before this session.  Before explaining the feature, I would like to admit that the soft keys located on the sides of the board ease teacher usage when teaching the lesson.  These keys were shortcuts to the most necessary functions such as highlighting, using spotlight, keyboarding and many others.  I must admit this intelliboard is easier to be used than the one we have in the college.  It really irritates me when moving to the next point in just touching the screen by mistake particularly when presenting in front of an audience.  I was thrilled when Mr. Muneer showed us how to use the on-screen keyboard which is available in one of the soft keys, this function is very handy when the teacher want to type directly on the board.  However, he suggested that using a wireless keyboard is more powerful as it is faster.  I was impressed when I discovered that the board can highlight the text in on-line articles to emphasis the important information to be focused by the learners.  Another beneficial feature in the board is the availability of different shapes such as triangles, squares and circles that is adjustable and re-sizable.   I think the teachers will no longer have to worry about their awful drawings when teaching math and science.  I was delighted when I played around the board I discovered a feature in which all teachers’ previous work is saved and the teacher can easily retrieve the process whenever she need.  Furthermore, I was delighted when I knew that the teacher can answer a MS Word worksheet of matching for example in the smart board via using the line.  It came to my attention that some teachers are not able to reach the toolbar as it is in the top of the board.  To solve this problem, I suggested Mr. Muneer to build a one-step stage under the board so that the short teachers can easily reach the tools.  However, I believe that this will make the class a volleyball room which as a result makes students play on it.        

Robotel                                                                  

This small session was taught by the head of IT in the school, Mr. Mohammaed whome I appreciate highly for giving us his time in training us.  This device is used mainly to monitor students’ progress and recommend head set and a software to be installed in every PC including the teachers’ one.  I learnt that it allows the teacher to see what each student is doing on the computer and check whether they are doing their work or just playing around, if not the teacher can send a warning to the student to focus on their work by sending a message.  I was delighted when Mr. Mohammed told us that the teacher can talk to the student who needs help or faces difficulty without interrupting the other students if they use the microphone to talk and even other students can hear them if it is agreed by the teacher.  The students can call for teacher help and guidance by pressing a button in a machine placed near to each computer.   What is more is that the teacher can print screen students’ work if not acceptable and show it to the administrator staff  as an evidence if required and as a result of students’ misbehavior.  In general, I strongly feel that this technology makes educators’ lives easier. 

A robotel device placed near each PC in the lab 

Oyned software   

This is an educational software which assists the learners in most of their subject which are English, Math, Arabic and Science.  In order to use this software, the teacher have to enter students’ name and the intended course they must go through.  Each course should be protected by password so that the teachers guarantee their records are saved.  What I like in this software is that it have record keeping features and gives the students informative feedback which motivate the students.  I noticed that the teacher can check what each student is practicing.  I was happy to know that this software can be done individually without teachers’ helping because the students will be constructing their own knowledge interactively.   

Kids Yellow day

I also attended a function called the yellow day.  It was very enjoyable to see that whatever surround KG children was in yellow color.  I strongly believe that one of the benefits of these events is that they encourage the children to come to school happily everyday in order to learn as well as play with other children.  It was very exciting to see the students’ and teachers’ customs in yellow and the snacks were also in yellow.  I tend to think that the yellow is a bright color that makes us feel happy and comfortable.  I was delighted to see them coloring but I realized that they can’t color small shapes.   In the end of the day I remember the importance of dealing with innocent children kindly.  Mr. Muneer also reminded me to the importance of the profissionalism in the school and to cope with the problems in a good manner as well as doing 0ur job as better as we could and don’t worry about the people who might hate us in any workplacement.  I wish I will be using the up-dated technology in my future teaching to create interactive and constructivist environment. 

Pictures taken from the KG section 

Today, I took the intiative to talk to the collegues and offer my help.  For example, It delighted me when I helped a teacher disabling the sound function in her caluculator.  Also, I offered my typing skills for an English teacher whose typing is to be honest was very awful.  The teachers in the staff room were very kind and made me feel as if I am a teacher like them.   The only thing that upset me is that the staff room had only 2 computers which were most of the time very busy so I recommend the school to provide more PCs for the teachers as they keep making worksheet, weekly lessons plans and searching for online activities and information.