What can a rubber fish do?

Last week, the 3rd assignment of PKEY3101 came to the end. We handed in the SmartBoard activities that we had compiled and burned in a CD. I really felt happy that my group members and I succeed to complete them. Suddenly, my attention turned to the rubber fishes which were brought out from Prof Maznah’s bag. The squeaky sound made by the fishes had attracted many people to look. In a split second, Prof Maznah threw the fishes, one after another to us. Almost everyone was shock of her act. Then, Prof Maznah asked those who were holding fishes to throw at their friends. I saw the fishes were ‘flying’ everywhere around the classroom. The whole class was involved. I had a chance to grab one of the fishes. I quickly took it and threw it at my target, Aichoo. She was in fear as well as excited when I was about to throw at her. Without wasting time, I just threw and OH NO! The fish landed on Azliza’s head. Azliza was tremendously shock yet she was laughing about it. Then, the fish flung somewhere else. It was really fun! After that, Prof Maznah asked us to reflect on the purpose of asking the pupils to throw the fishes around. We agreed that this activity is good enough to be used in set induction of a lesson in order to grab pupils’ attention and also arouse their interest on the topic. In my point of view, this activity also awake pupils who are less energetic and low concentration to learn. Besides that, Prof Maznah told us that it is not necessary for teachers to prepare or spend much to attract pupils. I totally agree with Prof Maznah. There is no need we as teachers to struggle a lot in order to draw pupils’ attention. We could just utilize simple things in a fun way that brings excitement for children.

Reconstructing SmartBoard activities

After preparing hard on the SmartBoard activities, it was time for us to present them in front of Dr. Maznah, Ms Ng, Ms Chin, Mr Hafiz and other class members. My heart was galloping fast because afraid that Dr Maznah would call out my name to present my SmartBoard activities. Even though I had completed 90 % of the work, I was not actually satisfied with it. I know there was something lacking in my activities. Thus, I was not confident enough to present. During the three hours of PKEY3101 lesson, I really focused on the presentation of others. Some SmartBoard activities were designed to be simple and easy to handle. Whereas, some activities were created with quite attractive animations and videos. As for me, all were “PERFECT” and I was amazed with their exploration of SmartBoard software. However, after each presentation, we reviewed on it and figured out that almost all the activities presented had plus and minus. Dr Maznah as well as the students pointed on the good side and weaknesses of the activities so that they can mend the activities to be better and the rest can gain some ideas out of it. Prof Maznah highlighted on certain features that should be taken into consideration when constructing the SmartBoard activities. For instance, the font size must not be too small as the children at the back would be struggling and straining their eyes to see. Besides that, the background color of the activities and images can be used to attract the pupils. However, it should not distract the pupils from receiving input. In addition to that, the number of questions in a slide should be limited to one or two. I was very glad that Prof Maznah gave us the tips which were very useful to all of us. In order to avoid further mistakes, I showed my SmartBoard activities to Ms Chin and Ms Ng right after the presentation. They both patiently looked at mine and told the positive and negative effects if my activities are used in future with primary school children. At first, I was very sad and disappointed because I need to change the whole activities as Ms Ng said there is no connection between each task. However, I was relieved and thankful when Ms Ng said it is still early to do changes and she gave me some ideas. I began working with the SmartBoard activities that night and finally completed them. Now, I am very satisfied and confident with my activities.

Working with SMARTboard software

As we know, we are required to construct English, Mathematics or Science lessons using the SMARTboard software as our 3rd assignment.Day and night I was designing and mending the activities for better product. However, yesterday I got to know that I was working on the activities using the trial version of the SMARTboard. No wonder the countdown of days was keep appearing on my laptop screen. I was panic when I could not open the SMARTboard folder. I tried to activate the software on my own bt it was unsuccessful. I realized that some of my friends face the same situation too. Thanks to my friend, Wai Lai Yee for informing me on the activation of the software through product key. So, my dear SMARTboard-users, please do not be like me...do not use trial version of the SMARTboard. Activate the software as soon as possible for your own convience.