Wednesday, December 10, 2008

How to put diagrams in your entry?

Hi everybody,

I think it is good to share this stuff with all of you - just in case you need to put any diagram(s) in your entry as an illustration to your presentation/discussion.

STEPS:
1. Draw your diagram(s) in PowerPoint file
2. View the slide
3. Printscreen the slide view (find for PrtSc/PrintScreen on one of your keyboard buttons -> Press the button
4. Open Paint program (if you do not know how to open it - click Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Paint
5. Paste the prinstscreen of your slide show in Paint
6. Save it as JPEG (File -> Save As -> name the file (File name) -> Save as type: JPEG -> Save
7. Go to your blog -> New Post (or Edit Post, if you have already posted your entry but you want to add some diagrams -> click Add image icon (third icon from right)
8. A new window (Blogger - Upload image) will appear
9. Click Browse - find the file that you saved from Paint -> click Upload Image
10. Once it's done, the picture will be appeared in your posting box - you can easily drag the picture to the place you want it to be or alternatively you can cut the picture and paste it between paragraphs.
11. If you are satisfied with it, as usual click Publish Post.

Below is the example of a 'diagram' which I created using the steps above:



NB: Apart from using Paint, you can also use another application like Photoshop etc, however I choose to use Paint in this example - considering that some of you might not have Photoshop installed in their PC/notebook.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Evelyn Soon

Task 1

In most text books or reference books, the explanation for radioactive decay is : caused by its unstable nucleus. After the nucleus emits radiation, a stable nucleus is formed. What actually causes a nucleus to be unstable is not explained in these books.

In my lesson, I served the internet to get information about why a nucleus is unstable before it emits radiation. Then, the information is presented using PowerPoint.

It is actually caused by the attractive force and repulsive force acted on the protons and neutrons in a nucleus. These 2 forces reveal a tug-of-war in the nucleus. When the term tug-of-war is used, ‘wows and ohs’ are heard which means the students understood and they found it interesting – something which they can’t get from books.

From this lesson, I realized that teachers can actually prepare something extra than what the students should learn to help them to understand more and sometimes to make the lesson more interesting. Usually teachers do not teach what is not in the syllabus, because they feel is unnecessary and is a waste of time.

To improve this lesson, I can call a few students to act as the protons and neutrons. Besides that, they experience the forces of tug-of-war and the situation will be more alive and hands-on.


Task 2

That was the second year of my teaching life. I was given a Form 4 arts stream class as their science teacher. This girl wasn’t paying attention and didn’t do her homework to pass up. I told her to stand but she refused, after a few times, she stood up with a leg on the floor and the other on her chair and shouted at me because I bother her. Of course, my lesson was not carried out. She was brought to the discipline teacher and also the counseling teacher. At last, her mum was called to the school, she actually came from a broken family. The girl was sitting on a chair and the mum stood behind her when they were talking to the PK HEM (She dared to raise her voice when she talked to her mum and the mum has to do what she says). At last, the girl was expelled from school. From this experience, I feel home education is more important than school education.