Hi all,

I had an awesome spur of the moment idea the other day at my school where I work. I was in one of my regular year 7 classes assisting the teacher during a T&E/S&E lesson on world culture. While we were waiting for some students to be ready to present their work I took the opportunity to show the class my E-portfolio through the projector. Many jaws dropped when I told them they would have to produce stuff like this at University with 40+ slides. However, most of them were fascinated when I demonstrated how I had embedded music and videos into my portfolio. The best bit was showing the class my photo story on my family. I really felt like it was going to be a great way to connect even more with the kids and it did. I had a great ovation from the class at the end which was really beautiful. I guess it’s all about making human connections with students and letting them into your life a little. I hope that in future I can possibly have the whole class making photo stories.

-Mat

As the title of this post suggests, I am talking about the misuse of electronic whiteboards in the classroom. What I recently saw in a year 7 classroom was a teacher using the electronic whiteboard in the same manner a regular white board could be used. She had merely created a simple yellow background and red text mathematics template that simply saved her from having to write sums up on the board. The students were no more stimulated than usual and the colour scheme was not easy on the eyes. Some weeks prior  to this I had also seen a teacher delivering a power point lesson to her class which was equally dull and un-stimulating. I am not against electronic whiteboards, just the misuse of them.

A friend of mine put electronic whiteboards into good context for me. He simply uses them as an introuction to lessons and then re-engages students in a more traditional manner. I quite like this approach because it avoids becoming reliant and lazy on electronic whiteboards.

Thoughts???

To answer Joshs post, yes, Capoeira can be integrated into the school Curriculum.

Primarily it links to Health & Physical Education through its use of bodily kinesthetics, stretches and various other activities. It also has strong links to The Arts learning area for its dance and music focus. Capoeira also links to LOTE because it is an Afro-Brazilian martial art where moves are named in Brazilian Portuguese, and the songs of Capoeira are sung in Portuguese as well. In the SOSE learning area Capoeira can be heavily linked through the Culture strand because of its roots in African slavery, religion, music and the culture of Brazil. I’m sure that it could probably be linked indirectly to other learning areas as well.

Over the course of my 10 week program I will be taking research notes and displaying my findings on this blog. I also plan to do use it as my research essay for a 4th year unit at Curtin University.

Peace out

Before I begin this post if you don’t understand what Capoeira is, check out this website http://capoeiraperth.com/

So, last Friday was the official opening of Gilmore College which is the school I work at. As part of  the festivities I was allowed to teach 3, 1 hour classes of Capoeira to students from year 7. I knew it was going to be good but I never imagined getting the results I did. I averaged around 20 students per class with a dominant mix of boys, particularly the more difficult fellas. As we stretched I talked to the class about my expectations and how I was looking for leadership. This leadership also came with a prize at the end of a very cool Capoeira t-shirt for top girl and boy. When I asked the class about what the thought leadership involved I had some fantastic responses, including respect, compassion, sportsmanship, and not being a sheep. Not one student lacked enthusiasm and many were buzzing with energy and excitment showing me how they can kick really high or do really great cartwheels and handstands.

Throughout the course of the day I had various visits from Deputy Principals, the Principal, Education Department members, and many impressed teachers and students. I often had students who were meant to be elsewhere trying to enter my class and convince me they were year 7 students.

Out of the 6 t-shirts I had given away by the end of the day, 4 of them had been given to students who were typically spoken negatively about by their teachers. This reaffirmed for me the good that exists in every child, aswell as the importance of teachers structuring their teaching around the students, not their personal desires or curriculum expectations.

There are many great benefits that have come from this very energetic day. For one, the rapport I have with my students has been taken to a new level. Consequently, I am able to help them with any problems they may have, as well as have a fantastic and meaningful relationship. The greatest thing that has happened (so far) is that my schools’ Principal has given me a significant amount of funding to teach Capoeira after school 2 days a week for 10 weeks! I am now inviting students to come along and train and am specifically focusing on ‘at risk’ students in hope that Capoeira will help them better themselves.

Anywho, I’ve still got plenty more info coming in about Capoeira, Tai Chi & T&E in schools.

Peace

-Mathieu

So, if you’ve mananged to somehow come across my page, well done!

What I plan to present here are my experiences with technology in the classroom, and the benefits of Tai Chi and Capoeira for young students. I have labelled myself as a teacher, however I am still a student teacher studying at Curtin University, Western Australia. The reason being is that I work in a local middle school as an education assistant in year 7 where I often end up teaching classes in the absence of qualified teachers.    I am quite new to blogging so learning how to navigate around this web service is a very fresh experience for me.

I hope you find this blog informative and original!

Peace

MrMat