Blog 5 - Video Lesson on the Solar System

Hello everyone, this will be my final blog for this term but I would definitely love to post more in future.

For the blog, I have posted the video lesson on Solar System under the subject Social Studies of class six. I integrated power point presentation and simulation in order to create the video tutorial/ video lesson. In the following paragraphs I will be narrating on the creation of the material (video lesson) and how I am going to use it in the classroom. I have also attached links to visit the power point presentation and simulation separately which I have integrated into one video lesson.

Creation of the teaching material

The foremost step for creating the video lesson was planning on creating power point presentation and simulation. I made use of the Microsoft power point to create the power point presentation as well the simulation. I designed the presentation on the blank slide where I wrote the topic of the lesson. I inserted the picture of solar system along with the title. To insert the picture I clicked on the Insert pane, followed by picture from where I selected the location of the picture and then selected it. Since my topic was on solar system, I borrowed the pictures of the solar system and the other planets from the internet. I used the picture of a black board (customized ones) as a background for all the slides. For the text font, I used Consola for headings and Corbel for the body throughout the slides. I wrote the key ideas for the content in the slides. I kept the sentences short and simplified to make sure the students can comprehend easily. I put the explanation on the eight planets of solar system one by one using the picture in the rest of the slides. I implied animations for all the slides using the Animations pane. When comes to timing of the animations applied, I used On Click for all the slides.

After having included the information input, I had to design and mention the activity for the students. I felt the need of brain break before letting the students do the activity. So I designed a simple simulation on solar system which can be served as a brain break in between the lesson. To design the simulation, I started working over the new Microsoft power point file. I saved the earlier power point presentation in the desired location on the laptop. For the simulation, I had to work on the one slide only. In the simulation, I included the definition of solar system and the eight planets along with their pictures. To make the simulation more interesting, I inserted energizing music background by clicking on Insert pane and then Sound from where I selected the required music in the simulation. I made fully use of the features available in the Microsoft power point. I even applied animations on the picture of the planets. When comes to the timing of the animations, I mostly made use of the timing With Previous in order to make adjustment in timing of effect for the pictures in my simulation.

When I was done with creating the simulation, I went back to the previous power presentation where I hyperlinked the simulation in it. To hyperlink the simulation, I clicked on the Insert pane and selected hyperlink, where I selected the simulation from the desired location. After creating hyperlink in the presentation, I wrote the activity for the lesson. The activity was clearly mentioned in the later part of the slides. This was how I created the power presentation and the simulation. After that I had to record the narration of the presentation. In order to record the narration by showing my face, I used Camtasia Studio. Since the camtasia was linked with the power point presentation I could easily record the narration. I clicked on Add-Ins pane and then selected the icon of record audio and record camera to record the narration.

I used the features available in camtasia such as trimming of the unwanted parts of the video, splitting the video, adding of transitions and adding of call outs. When I was done with the edition of the video, I selected the option produce and share in camatasia to produce the finalized video. A dialog box appeared where I renamed the video file of my choice and selected the location of the file too. This was all about I made the video lesson on the topic solar system. The video lesson will help my students to learn about the composition of the solar system and the names of the planets in the solar system through ICT. 

Instructions for the use of content-based material

I will use the video lesson during LESSON DEVELOPMENT to convey the information input of the lesson. Firstly I will introduce the topic to the students by activating their prior knowledge about the topic and recapitulating the previous lesson. When the lesson introduction is done, I will present the video lesson for teaching the content of the lesson. Students will carefully watch the video lesson and comprehend the key ideas from it. The video lesson comprises of two things i.e. the power point presentation with my recorded narration and the simulation which is hyperlinked into it. Students will get to watch the power presentation along with the simulation.

After the simulation, students will be directed with the activity instructions in the video lesson. While playing the video if it reaches to the activity instructions, I will pause the video and let the students read the activity instructions. Then students will do the activity following the directions highlighted in the video lesson. The activity is for 10 minutes. Activity will ask the students to answer three questions based on the video they watched some time ago.  The video lesson will be presented to all the students in the classroom. Students will most probably enjoy the video lesson as it comprises of the texts, pictures, simulations and activity. Students may also watch the video lesson whenever they are convenient both at school and home. They can use the feature of forward, backward, rewind, pause and resume when watching the video tutorial.

In order to refer the power point presentation and the simulation separately, I have attached the links below respectively.

Click here to view the power point presentation on solar system

Click here to watch the simulation of solar system

Through the video lesson, I expect the students of class six to:

·         define the term solar system precisely in their own words after watching the video lesson

·         identify the eight planets with correct picture and name after watching the video lesson

·         tell the consequences of the earth being either closer or father to the sun precisely after the activity

With the accessibility of projector, laptop and a woofer box in the classroom, both the teacher and students will be able to access the video lesson. It will be difficult for all the students to watch the video lesson in the absence of the aforementioned tools. Well, the video lesson is created with the intention to use it in both the classroom and outside the classroom.

 Thank You!

 

 

Blog 4 - Video Tutorial on Rain and Rain Gauge

 

Everybody knows that ICT simply means any technology that has to do with information and communication. ICT has invaded and transformed many aspects of our lives to the extent that we live in an environment that is dominated by technology which itself is consumer-driven (Semenov, 2005). No matter how we perceive its presence, there is no denying that it is an important part of our lives and that it is here to stay. The presence of ICT in education allows for new ways of learning for students and teachers. E-learning or online learning is becoming increasingly popular in our country and with various unprecedented events taking place in our lives, this does not only open opportunities for schools to ensure that students have access to curriculum materials whilst in the classroom but also allows them to ensure students can learn outside the classroom such as at home.  

In this blog, I will be highlighting on teaching the class four students about rain and rain gauge under the subject, Social Studies. I have used the video tutorial on rain and rain gauge as the ICT tool for teaching my students. I was taught on using the software such as Camtasia Studio in the class in order to record the screen and power point presentation and also to edit various videos. I utilized the 8^th version of Camtasia Studio to produce a video tutorial based on my topic. It was very interesting and a new experience for me to explore the features available in the software. In the following write up I will be narrating on how I created the video tutorial and how to use the material in the class.

Creation of the teaching material

If I talk about how I created the video tutorial on rain and rain gauge is firstly I planned on designing a power point presentation. I referred the teacher’s manual guide to align the content of the topic accordingly in the presentation. I looked onto the internet to further explore the topic. Though the topic was familiar to me, I was little anxious and confused to prepare a video tutorial of it.  After done with all these brain storming and mind mapping on the topic, I started preparing the powerpoint presentation. As usual, the presentation was prepared on a blank slide where I wrote greetings for my video tutorial as ‘Welcome to the video tutorial’ and followed by the title of the lesson as ‘Rain and Rain Gauge’ on another blank slide. I also made sure to include the class level and subject. I used the picture of a rain (kind of animated ones) as a background for all the slides. I wanted to make a connection of my content with the background styles of the slides. I used the text font as Century Gothic throughout the slides. 

 I mentioned the overview of the lesson using the SmartArt graphic (i.e. diverging radial). To insert that diverging radial graphic, I went to the Insert first then selected the SmartArt tools from which I utilized the diverging radial graphic. Instead of writing the over view of the topic in prose, I wanted to display it in different manner. So I made use of the smart art graphics. For the rest of the slides, I wrote the key points with regard to the topic. When comes to the formation of rain it was little challenging for me to portray the information in one slide. I used diagram to teach about the water cycle of the rain. While designing the diagram on water cycle, the animation tool became the mandatory and the must used tool. For creating the diagram on water cycle I fully utilized the features available in the Animations pane. The main objective of the lesson was to teach the students on how to prepare a rain gauge using local materials. I wanted to impart all the instructions on preparing rain gauge. I thought that just simply reflecting the instructions on the slides will not be enough so I worked on coming up with self-made video on creation of rain gauge. I gathered all the required materials to make rain gauge. It was not comfortable to make the video all by self so I had to seek help from one of my classmates to be a camera man. I made the video on preparing a home-made rain gauge with simple use of language.

After having prepared the video I hyperlinked the video with the power point presentation. I organized the video in such a way that right after displaying the instructions on preparation of rain gauge, the video will be presented. I used the real picture of the rain gauge (which was made by myself) in the presentation in order convey the concrete concept of rain gauge. I used the arrow available in shapes to label the diagrams in my presentation. First I clicked the Insert pane, then selected the shapes and among the many shapes, I chose the arrow to label the diagrams in my presentation. I used the text box to write the names of the labels. To use the text box, I selected the Text Box option available in the insert pane. I clearly mentioned the materials required for making rain gauge. To make the concept clearer, I put the images of the materials found in our locality. The images were not at all borrowed or downloaded but it was solely captured by me. These were all about how I prepared the power presentation. My power point presentation has total of fifteen slides.

When done with creating the power point presentation, I had to record the narration of the presentation by showing my face. Unlike the other narration I did not use the record narration option from the Slide Show. I used the video editing software called Camtasia Studio. The camtasia studio software that I used was the eighth version of it, which was quite advanced and latest too. The software was interlinked with power point presentation so I did not have to go separately and open the software. Instead I went to the Add-Ins pane in the power presentation only where I had the option to record the narration of slides. Before I recorded the narration, I selected the icon of record audio and record camera. I had my script all set for the narration and I had the final narration of the presentation after several trials. Then I edited the recording in the software. I found the software very helpful for video editors.

I made use of all the features provided by the camtasia software. I edited my video by trimming the unwanted parts of the video. I split the video when I wanted to add some transitions. I made use of call outs too when I wanted to emphasize key points in the video tutorial. After doing the necessary editions of the video, I selected the option produce and share to produce the finalized video. When I clicked the produce and share option, a dialog box appeared where I renamed the video file of my choice and selected the location of the file too. So these are all about how I could come up with a simple and effective video tutorial on rain and rain gauge.

Activity: There are two activities for the students. Instructions for the activities are clearly directed in the video tutorial. 

This video tutorial will help my students to provide a face-to-face learning atmosphere even in my absence. Unlike in real classroom, my students can pause the video tutorial and come back to them later. They will definitely enjoy learning from the video tutorial as the video is short and to the point.

Instructions for the use of content-based material

I will be using the content-based material i.e. the video tutorial on rain and rain gauge throughout the three phases of the lesson that are lesson introduction, lesson development and lesson conclusion. Instead of me lecturing everything in the classroom, the video tutorial will suffice all the aspects of the lesson. The video tutorial includes the introduction of the lesson by connecting the prior knowledge of the students with the topic, the clear description on the contents of the lesson, some activities for the students and the conclusion of the lesson.

The video tutorial will be showed to the entire students in a classroom; where students will be able to comprehend the concept of rain and rain gauge. The short video on creation of the rain gauge using locally available materials which is the part of the video tutorial will guide the students to create their own simplified rain gauge at home and also complete the activities.  Moreover the combination of the texts, pictures and video in my video tutorial will surely excite my students to learn. The video tutorial can also be used by the students to watch it at home whenever they want to. Students can use the feature of forward, backward, rewind, pause and resume when watching the video tutorial.

Through the video tutorial, I expect my students of class four to:

·         define the term rain and rain gauge precisely in their own words

·         construct their own simplified rain gauge by using the locally available materials

·          explain the formation of rain accurately with the help of water cycle

In order to make appropriate use of this content based-material, both the teacher and students must be ready with a projector and a laptop in a classroom. Probably the IT labs/rooms can be used to show the video to the students due to easy availability of the projectors and computers in the room. Without the presence of a projector, it will be difficult to show the video tutorial to all the students. Projector will help to present the video very clearly and visibly. Moreover the video tutorial can be send via social platforms like WeChat, Whatsapp and Facebook for the students to access it easily. It can also be shared in the google classroom by the teacher. Thus, the video tutorial is meant to use by the students  both in the classroom and outside the classroom.

 Thank You

Blog 3- Voice Over Presentation on Domestic Animals

Recently I read an article on the internet about the ICT integration in modern classroom. From the article, I learnt that ICT acts as a catalyst for future innovation in teaching and learning practices. Since last year with the outbreak of the pandemic Covid 19 around the world, ICT has played a major role in the teaching and learning field. Now ICT has become mandatory tool for every teacher to use in their teaching profession. Teachers first need to be very well equipped with the knowledge of ICT in order to impart their lessons to the students. In this blog, I will be jotting on teaching the class one students about the domestic animals under the subject, English. Students in the classroom might have been bored with the everyday instructional teaching method. Well, for this blog I have come up with a new idea to integrate one of the ICT tools in order convey the contents on domestic animals to my students.

I will be using PowerPoint voice over recordings to teach on domestic animals to class one students. The PowerPoint voice over feature allows us to record and embed speech audio clips in our slides where we can playback the entire presentation complete with voice narration solely on Power Point. This voice over on power point will keep my students engaged because it will break the monotony of usual power point presentation. It will help my students understand the slides better.

Creation of the teaching material

Before narrating the voice over the presentation, I first created a presentation in Microsoft power point. I made use of all the tools present in the Microsoft power point. Since I was creating presentation for the students of grade one, I made sure to put more of photographs and graphics than the words in my presentation. I did a mind mapping on how I should go on with the presentation in order to enhance my students’ learning. Before starting with the creation of the presentation, I downloaded the real pictures of some of the domestic animals in our Bhutanese context from the internet. I started creating my presentation on a blank slide where I wrote the title of my lesson as ‘Domestic animals’ and included the subject as ‘English’ along with grade as ‘One’. To make the slide attractive I used some clip arts of animals by going to the Insert and then Clip Art. I kept the background for the slide a complete white throughout the presentation. I used Gill Sans MT for the text font throughout my presentation. I included six domestic animals in my presentation. In one slide I wrote a simple definition of the word ‘domestic animal’. To talk about how I presented the domestic animals in my presentation is first I wrote the name of the domestic animal at the title of slide. Following I inserted the real photograph of the particular animal by going to Insert and then Pictures. Then I wrote the description of that domestic animal in four to five lines with the help of Text Box. To drag the text box beside or below the picture, I went to the Insert and clicked the Text Box. After clicking the text box, wherever I kept my cursor and clicked on it, the text box appeared and I typed the text I wanted to. I was mindful of not putting too much information in the slide. I included simple and understandable sentences in the slides.

Further to make my students understand much better with visual representation, I made sure to insert pictures related to domestic animals. I added different types of animations in every slide to make the presentation interesting, lively and attractive for the viewers. To add animation on the texts and  pictures in the slides, first I selected that particular text or picture. Then I went to the Animations pane. After that I clicked on the Custom Animation where the custom animation dialog box appeared at the right side of the slide. From there, I tapped on Add Effect and selected my desired effect from the lists. For all the animations in my slides, I adjusted the start of the animations as One Click and the speed as Medium.  My presentation consists of sixteen slides. After having completed with creating the presentation, I put voice over the slides. To put the narrations over the slides, I went to the Slide Show pane. From there I clicked on Record Narration. I started recording the narration from the first slide and went narrating till the end of the slide. Then I saved the narration. I already had my scripts written on a notebook so that I can refer it in the midst of narration if I happen to forget the lines. I did the recording and I listened on my own narrations. I did the recording several times till I was satisfied with my own narration.  When narrating, I spoke so naturally in a tone similar to how I usually speak with the students in a classroom. I made sure to be in a place free of noises while recording the narration in order to avoid disruptive when my students listen to it.

After having done with the recording of the narration over my slides, I converted the presentation into video. For doing this, I went to the File then selected Export and tapped on Create a Video. In the first drop-down box under the Create a Video heading, I selected the video quality I wanted. I clicked Create Video. After that in the File name box, I entered a file name for the video, browse for the folder that will contain this and then clicked Save. The voice over presentation on domestic animals will help me to impart the names of domestic animals found in Bhutan. Students will also learn about what those eat in order to live, where those animals live and what those animals provide to the human beings. Thus this voice over presentation will be my instructional material in the classroom. To check the understanding of the presentation taught to my students, I will provide them with a work sheet on which they will do an activity.

Activity: The activity is for individual. Students will be given a worksheet each. They have to write about one domestic animal found in their locality. They will first draw the animal and then write in about three sentences about the animal. They can also colour the animal if they want. They will be given 8 minutes for the activity. Through the activity, I can clearly make out whether my students have understand the presentation or not. Accordingly, I will do a follow up of the activity. 

Instructions for the use of content-based material

I will be using the content-based material i.e. the voice over power point presentation during the LESSON DEVELOPMENT. After having introduced the topic, instead of me giving lecture about the domestic animals, I will present them the voice over presentation where they will not only see but also will have to listen carefully. When the voice over presentation is showed to the entire students in a classroom, students will be able to see the real picture of the animals along with their description. They can relate the pictures way back at their home where some of them even might be rearing those domestic animals and most of them might have seen them. The pictures in the presentation will help the students to activate their background knowledge on domestic animals. The pictures will also give clear and concrete images of how those animals look in reality. Moreover the combination of the texts and pictures in my presentation with a voice over will help my students understand the explanation better. A voice over will also give extra information to the students where similar text and pictures won’t suffice on their own. It will give my students an extra medium through which to absorb important information. After students finish watching the presentation, they will be assigned an activity related to domestic animals in order to check their understanding of the presentation. Then the lesson will be wrapped up with some students summarizing the key points about domestic animals in the classroom. 

Through this voice over presentation, I want to ensure the students of grade one to:

·         tell the names of some domestic animals from the presentation

·         write few sentences to describe one or two domestic animals

·         draw any domestic animals of their choice

·         tell the importance of domestic animals in our lives

In order to make appropriate use of this content based-material, both teacher and children must be ready with a projector, laptop and also sound box in a classroom. Probably the IT labs/rooms can be used to project the presentation to the children due to easy availability of the projectors and computers in the room. Without the presence of projector, it will be difficult to display the presentation clearly and visibly to all the children. 

 Thank You

Blog 2- Teaching of National Symbols of the country through Simulation

In this blog, I will be writing on the teaching of the topic ‘National Symbols’ from the textbook of Social Studies, grade five. For me basically, it is important for all the citizens of Bhutan to know very well about the National Symbols of the country. Particularly I opted for this topic under Chapter six of the Social Studies textbook of grade five because I felt the importance of national symbols for the identity and sovereignty of our country. Therefore I made up my mind to integrate one of the ICT tools in this topic and convey the content to my dear students.

There are many ICT tools which I can use in order to teach the topic to the students. Lately in my ICT class I learnt about creating simulation in Microsoft power point presentation. Though it was challenging, it triggered me to create a simulation and use it in one of my blogs. This is the sole reason I will be using simulation to teach about the national symbols to my students. Simulations are instructional scenarios where the learner is placed in a "world" defined by the teacher. They represent a reality within which students interact. I believed that the simulation on National Symbols will promote the use of critical and evaluative thinking. Because they are ambiguous, they encourage students to contemplate the implications of a scenario. The situation feels real and thus leads to more engaging interaction by learners. Simulations promote concept of attainment through experiential practice. 

The above is the attached file of the simulation on National Symbol of the Country.

Creation of the teaching material

I have created the simulation in Microsoft power point presentation on the topic “National Symbols” for grade five by making the best use of all the features and tools available in it.  To transpire with my concluded simulation, firstly I chose a topic and grade level for my power point presentation. Next, I gathered all the prerequisite materials like image, GIF, background scene from google and saved it in a folder. Following I started preplanning on how to create a simulation with the help of all the required materials gathered. I made sure to plan on creating simulation step by step and wrote it in my notebook so that I can stay in track while creating the simulation.

Unlike other power point presentation, simulation has to be created over one slide only by adding one slide over another. Before creating the simulation, I started working on a blank slide first where I inserted a rectangle shape. The rectangle shape was my background scene at the initial of my simulation. To add the rectangle shape, I clicked the Insert tab first, clicked Shapes, selected the rectangle shape, and then clicked and dragged to draw the rectangle shape on my blank slide. To ensure a good color combination between the text and background of the shape I changed the background color for the shape. I selected the shape where the Drawing Tools appeared in the ribbon, with the Format tab active. Then I used the Shape fill available on the Format tab under Drawing Tools. Following, I added animation effect to it from Animations. I first selected the shape that I wanted to animate, selected Animations and chose an animation of my choice. Then I selected Effect Options and chose an effect of my choice. I followed the same procedures for animation on other images, graphics and texts that I wanted to put in my presentation.

There are different ways to start animations in the presentation such as On Click; With Previous; After Previous; Duration and Delay. Since I wanted to create a simulation where my presentation had to feature like real, I mostly made use of the timing With Previous in order to make adjustment in timing of effect for the images, shapes, clip arts, graphics and texts in my presentation. At times I needed to put more than one animation on the same image or text. In this case I selected an object or text with an animation. Then I selected Add Animation and chose one animation. In this presentation I also added animation to grouped objects or text. In order to do so I first pressed Ctrl and selected the objects that I wanted. I selected Format > Group > Group to group the objects together. Then I selected Animations and selected an animation of my choice on it. Since I had to feature national dress, national animal, national flower national bird and national flag of our country in the simulation, I downloaded the related images from the google and used those images. I did not create the image using shapes and all. I used the borrowed images.

After having created and put all the animations, background colours and all on the blank slide, I started compiling it over one slide to make simulation. It was not easy to create a simulation but since I already had preset of plans on how to arrange and make orders, I was able to complete the simulation. To copy and paste the objects having animation from one slide to another slide, I had to do it with the help of Format Painter. Without using the format painter to copy and paste the object from one slide to another, it could not copy the object along with the animation. Again I had to add animation on it. Therefore in order to save my time and energy, I copied and pasted the objects with animation using the Format painter from one slide to another. If I wanted to make any changes on the animations of the objects on the slide, I went to the Animations and selected Custom Animation. From custom animation, I could make the changes on the effects of animations I wanted to. So these are all about how I created a simple simulation on the ‘National Symbols’. My simulation comprises about the nine national symbols of our country with little description on each national symbol and also an activity for the students in order to check their understanding of the content.  

Instructions for the use of content-based material

With change of time, the way of teaching and learning must be transformed. Using simulation as a teaching material will help in enhancing students’ learning processes. Instead of sticking to the traditional monotonous learning method, we the teachers can teach using simulation which helps the child in long term memory retention. It can also be used as a reference and learning material in future for the students. I developed the material with a set of objectives in my mind. Through the simulation, I want to ensure the students of grade five to:

·         identify the national symbols of our country

·         explain the importance of each national symbol

I will use the material during lesson development. After having introduced the topic to the students, I will use the simulation for conveying the content during lesson development. Instead of me lecturing on the national symbols of the country, I will make best of the simulation created as an instructional tool in my classroom. Simulation will give the list of names of national symbols of our country. For each national symbol, they would be given some description of about few lines. Students will also perform an activity after the content has been conveyed to them. The activity will be instructed to the students through the simulation only after the explanation on the national symbols. The students need to carefully watch the simulation with full attention. The designed activity will help the children to further enhance their understating on national symbols of the country.

To present the simulation to the students, teacher must be ready with projector and a laptop in a classroom. So through the projector, teacher can show the simulation to the students and students can learn from it.

Thank You

Blog 1- Teaching of 2-D Shapes through ICT

 ICT (Information Communication & Technology) integration in the classroom is not about technology but teaching. It is the teacher’s innovativeness that makes lesson delivery meaningful. I believe that the purpose of integrating ICT is to improve the quality of teaching and learning. It will also equip learners with 21^st century skills such as high order thinking skills. I have selected the subject Mathematics of grade one. Particularly I went with the topic on ‘2 D shapes’. Among many tools of ICT, I chose to make appropriate use of the Power Point Presentation graphics to teach about the 2-D shapes to children of lower primary, grade one.

I believed that the Voice Over PowerPoint Presentation on 2-D shapes will help my children in engaging themselves in multiple learning styles. It will increase their visual impact of 2-D shapes, improve the audience impact, enrich curriculum with interdisciplinary, and break out topics into understandable points. 

The voice over presentation is attached above in the form of video.

Creation of the teaching material

First I created the PowerPoint Presentation by making best use of all the features and tools available in it. It was easier for me to integrate graphics and animations into my slides to illustrate the key points of the topic.  I made sure that colour combinations were put into consideration while preparing every slide show using PowerPoint. I used good colour combination that made the text readable. Some text were found to be read clearly and easily when good combinations were used while some text were found to be bad for those colour blindness  when bad colour combinations were used. I kept good contrast between the text and the background. Background of the PowerPoint slides was very important to teaching and learning. Since I was preparing the slides for grade one children, I used the background according to their standard and interests. 

Usually children of lower primary are fond of different colours. So I made use of attractive colours. In case of text font, I made use of two different fonts differentiating the topics and the body parts. I used Arial Black as a text font to write the key points in the slides which is very easy to read for many people. For the topic I used Bradley Hand ITC as a text font in order to make the slides more attractive with childish design in order to fascinate my children. I used different font colour whenever I wanted to highlight an important point in my slides rather than Italics, Bolds or underlining. To create the 2-D shapes, I used the various shapes available in the PowerPoint and used fill colour to make the shapes colourful, bright and attractive. Making use of the different colours for the shapes will help me to gain the attention of the learners. 

In order to show the features of shapes such as slide and roll, I made use of motion path effect from custom animation feature to move the shapes and make it look like reality. I added different animations in texts as well to make it interesting, lively and attractive for the viewers. I customized the 2-D shapes by adding eyes and mouth so that children will be excited to learn. As a teacher while preparing the PowerPoint slides, I was courteous of the use of slide layout tools. I did not put too much information on each slide.  I used bullet to state my points rather than continuous prose. For each slide maximum of three to four bullet points were used only. The PowerPoint Presentation on 2-D shapes will help me to convey the meaning of 2-D shapes, examples of 2-D shapes and features of 2-D shapes to the children. 

Then I recorded the narration for each slide by going to Slide Show pane and selecting the Record Narration. I already had scripts ready for the narration so that I can have smooth recording of the narration. I had to record for multiple times before getting the perfect and satisfactory narration for the slides. I wanted to add narration so that my children can read the slides as well as listen carefully which will also develop their listening skills. I further added some spice into my presentation. To make my narration look soothing and pleasant, I added a background music called 'Uplifting Acoustic' throughout my presentation. I found the combination of the music with my voice too good to be heard by my children. Well, I got the music from the internet. Finally I converted the voice over presentation into video to be uploaded in this blog. 

Henceforth, the Voice Over PowerPoint Presentation will serve as content-based materials for me in teaching the topic 2-D shapes to my children of lower primary grade one. My PowerPoint Presentation comprises of 8 slides including the introduction of the topic, description of the 2-D shapes, basic 2-D shapes along with its feature, activity for the children and conclusion of the lesson. 

To see whether my children have understood the topic taught through the presentation or not, I included a very simple activity for the children in the presentation .

Activity (8 minutes): In a group of three members each, you will discuss and write at least two things that you can see in a classroom similar to:

•       Square

•       Rectangle

•       Circle

•       Triangle

Instructions for the use of content-based material

Teaching learning materials in teaching are crucial to the success of student achievement. To integrate ICT in teaching material is not as easy as one think. I could not think of any other tool of ICT to develop my teaching resource on the topic ‘2-D Shapes’. I ended up creating a PowerPoint Presentation with voice over narration on 2-D shapes by making full use of all the features available in the Microsoft PowerPoint. I developed the material with a set of objectives in my mind. Through the presentation, I wanted to ensure my children of grade one to:

·             learn the concept of 2-D shapes

·             know the basic names of 2-D shapes along with the features such as number of edges and corners

·            identify things in real life that look similar to those 2-D shapes included in the presentation

·             relate their real lives with the 2-D shapes and make connections

·           know the spelling of 2-D shapes correctly

·             tell and write the features of 2-D shapes in correct sentence structure.

I will use the material throughout the lesson i.e. LESSON INTRODUCTION, LESSON DEVELOPMENT and LESSON CONCLUSION. Through the first slide of the presentation, children will be introduced with the topic of the lesson as ‘2-D Shapes’. The picture of some basic 2-D shapes on the first slide along with the topic will give the children a very crystal clear concept on the 2 dimensional shapes. Starting from the second till seventh slide of the presentation, children will be taught on the main contents of the topic. They will be taken to the lesson development. They will learn about the definition of 2-D shapes and basic names of common 2-D shapes along with its features.  Children will be able to see the shape with its feature on the slide one by one and it will not create confusion among the shapes in children. For some features of shapes like slide and roll, children will see the visual picture of the shape rolling and sliding with the help of animation put into it. These will give them concrete images of how the shapes slide and roll. Children will also perform an activity after the content has been conveyed to them. The instructions for the activity will be clearly displayed on the power point. The designed activity will help the children to further enhance their understating on 2-D shapes. The final eighth slide of the presentation will be used for lesson conclusion where I will ask some children to recapitulate the key points learnt and give examples of some 2-D shapes.

 In order to make appropriate use of this content based-material, both teacher and children must be ready with a projector, a laptop and a sound box in a classroom. Probably the IT labs/rooms can be used to project the presentation to the children due to easy availability of the projectors and computers in the room. Without the presence of projector, it will be difficult to display the presentation clearly visible to all the children. Projector will help to project the presentation very clearly and visibly. 

 Thank You

Self-Introduction

Kuzu Zangpo! I am Chimi Zangmo from Paro College of Education, Royal University of Bhutan. You can call me as Chimo, if you wish. I am pursuing my Bachelor of Education in Primary and currently, I am in my final semester of my college. To elaborate little more about myself, I am from Khaling, under Tashigang Dzongkhag. The people of my village are popularly called as 'Phakpa Lay' which literally means pig's intestine. Well, I am not advertising here to be called myself with that name. My education journey started from Daga Primary School where I studied from my pre-primary till fourth grade. Then I transferred to Samdrup Jongkhar Middle Secondary School where I studied from fifth till tenth grade. I proudly say that I am an alumni of Jigsher School. I spent my two years of high school education in Jigme Sherubling Central School in Khaling. 

To highlight upon my hobbies and interests, I love reading books and listening to music. Whenever I am free, I spend my time arranging the clothes in the closet, cleaning my room, washing my clothes and arranging the things in order in my room. I am very particular in nature when comes to the way I choose to live in a place. I do not like the things in my room to be kept all distorted and unarranged. I love order. I hate lazy people being myself very active. I don't like procrastination. I love to do my work on time. If people are good to me, am eventually better to them. I believe in some of the principles of life like being truthful to oneself and committed in every work one does. I am a jolly person who loves to socialize and interact with others. I want to say that I really envy my birth giver, my mother. I am always grateful for what she has done for me. I have immense respect for her and probably I miss her right now :(

I never dreamt of myself to become a teacher. I always wanted to become a nurse working in a hospital. I admired the white uniform of every nurses. I loved the smell of all kind of medicines provided from the hospital. I always wanted to serve my country in the form of a nurse. But life for me was not a bed of roses. I can vividly remember, how my teacher of English sir Jigme Dendup used to say the phrase "My dear future doctors, life is not a bed of roses". Now, I can feel the pinch of what sir told to us. However, given the importance on education by our Majesty, I must say I have no regrets joining the teacher's profession. I want to be the best teacher for my students not their favourite teacher. I want to give my best as an educator and bring a significant changes in the education system with my little contribution of dedication and commitment in teaching. 

THANK YOU