Portfolio 8 Gold Digger & Week 11 Reflective Post

In this week’s Portfolio Item eight we the student teachers were required to create a recount of any given theme, subject or story and so forth. This was done using Photo Story Three. Utilizing Photoshop was a fun and interesting experience, allowing me to explore all avenues of creating and editing in a amusing and exciting way. The focal point of the task was directed to the creation of a visual-audio story using a range of sources, such as photographs, scanned images, illustrations etc, in which I chose to implement all in my Photo Story.

My Photo Story consists images of myself as I have superimposed them into images found on the WWW, This tells the story of a “gold-digger_1” Named Bianca, as I found this subject matter to be quite entertaining and a common interest of mine. Thus, I felt it was only natural to share my position towards the humorous issue with my audience, making my Photo story individual and meaningful.

Furthermore, the story was enhanced by the supplementary use of the song ‘Gold Digger’ By Kanye West, guiding and extending the audiences understanding and perception of my Photo Story. This presentation is an interactive learning experience in which I aim for my viewers to gain some understanding of the theme through a joyful experience. I found this portfolio most pleasurable and will definitely use it again in the future in my own personal leisure.

Moreover, whilst completing this portfolio I have come to realize that my skills in ICT have noticeably developed. This became apparent during the completion of my personal competency test. As comparing the results to my first attempt to the competency test (results can be located here: ICT Competency Test version 01-05-07 Date used; 6^th March 2008). It is apparent that my understanding and practice of ICT skills has increased substantially, and is evident in my new test score of 67 as opposed 56/75. (Click here fore recent results: ict-competencies)

Participating and completing in the required portfolios for the ICT workshops, I have strengthened my knowledge and confidence with using computers. This enhanced confidence has enabled me to help others to use programs and navigate through various computer scenarios such as uploading documents; an imperative skill required for a teacher. These skills include File Management, Word Processing, Email, Internet Use, Spreadsheets, Technology Presentation, Graphics and Photography and Desktop Publishing enhanced through a constructivist view of learning, Graphic organizers and Problem based learning (aided by programs such as WebQuests, Blogs and Wikis).

Despite a sound improvement in all areas there are also noticeable sections still showing some difficulty. These include using a digital video camera and editing the video on the computer. As I am aware the competency questions oneself to analyze as a teacher, I have placed my position as if I were teaching in conjunction with my capabilities.

In Conclusion, I am now more conscious of the significance of embodying the essence of a proficient ICT user in the classroom, specifically as the role of a teacher. ICT, I have found has a largely developing function in the classroom nowadays as it is ever rapidly being introduced into the school curricular in such a technologically based society. Students are provided with the opportunity to work collaboratively or individually. What I have learnt as a result of this course is that ICT is essential and contributes equally in children’s development and behavior. ICT is the mover and shaper, through new concepts opportunities to reflect new higher orders of thinking. It makes us what we are today, and will determine what our children will be tomorrow.