Samsung tablets in the classroom

In my place of work, we have all been given Samsung tablets (10.1) to use in the classroom. The children that the tablets are being piloted on are around 10-11 years old and are, of course, in love with technology, as am I. Advantages of the tablet; -we have an excellent system called Smart School on the tablet. This has been designed for Samsung only as far as I am aware and enables the teacher to prepare a lesson for the students to join into. Once all the students are in, you can see all of their 'boards' on the tablet and everything that they are doing, such as writing or doodling. It also lets you connect to a system called all share cast which connects your tablet to the smart board so all of the students can see whatever is on there. So far for English lessons, we have only really used it for vocabulary lessons and are still exploring other ways we can use it for teaching. You can disable interaction for one, some or all of the student's boards and it also hs a lockdown system where the students boards are paused and a sign comes up saying "Be quiet please!" or any other message you type into it. Great for off-task students. Disadvantages Being a piece of technology, it can be temperamental. If the internet goes off for even a split second, it stops the lesson, kicks you and all of the students out of the lesson and you're left with a class full of bewildered, confused students who hit the roof. Also, the students have found ways to disable school screen mode (when they join the student network at school, it only allows them access to whatever the school chooses and their normal screen disappears, stopping them from playing on facebook and playing games). I think these are minor hitches that are more to do with the internet server at work and they are looking into them as I write. Overall outcome This needs "to be continued" as I am curious about how it will play out in the long run. Will the students get tired of this expensive piece of technology? Will we? Will they hack the system no matter what and be able to get out of school screen mode? And will we find a decent course book that we can use on this £450 tablet? ....

DELTA

The beloved DELTA... so many covet it and so many fail it. At the moment, I am in the middle of module two and it will probably be the reason I don't get to write much again! the only reason I decided to write is that I looked high and low for something on the DELTA but it seems others are reluctant to share their experience and knowledge. I have wanted to do the DELTA for years but there was always some reason that I never got to do it, be it time, money or both. Now I am back in Istanbul (have been since June 2012), I knew it was time to pick myself up from the module one exam fail letter floor and start again. I attended the module one course at ITI - aka International Training Institute - but decided not to take the exam for the second time as I knew I would get the results during the second module and another fail letter probably would have put me off altogether, plus I felt that the more knowledge I gained in the second module would all contribute to the exam I am to take in June. There still is the issue of Cambridge expects you to answer things in certain ways but at least now I know more than I did three months ago (I hope I do anyway!) Back to module 2 -I'm preparing for my second assessed lesson at the moment (same institution) and as I type that I am wondering why I am sitting here writing this instead..I guess my brain has had enough of tone units and learner problems for one evening. Finding time to concentrate on the focus I have chosen is difficult as I need a fresh mind and I am one of those people that prefers to study for long blocks of time, say for three or four hours on the trot, and I have dealt with a lot of learner problems at work already today, that's why I thought taking up my blog again would be a good idea, and now there is a mobile app too, I can blog to my hearts content :) If you are debating doing module two, make sure you have done module one first, it is a good way of getting back on the knowledge horse even if you don't take the exam right away. Please don't expect it to be easy, and make sure you have the commitment to see it through to the end, it is stressful but I know it's going to be worth it in the end. I am doing the DELTA for better career prospects but I am also doing it for me in the sense that I want to be a better teacher, not just earn more money as much of a bonus as that will be in the long run. Don't let your place of work pressure you into it if you are not 100% up for doing it..it could end in tears. Well, I think that's enough for tonight and hopefully this time, this blog will stay alive. Well, it will if someone is reading it :)