The most appropriate applications used to support my Teaching.

During my short time as a trainee teacher I have used a number of applications to support my planning, delivering and evaluation of lessons.

The first application that I believe every teacher will use in some capacity is Microsoft Office. Microsoft Office can help the teacher in their day to day work (Cunningham et al., 2004). I will use a number of Microsoft applications to aid my development as a teacher every day.

Microsoft Word is essential for me as a teacher, I use Microsoft Word to create lessons plans on a daily basis, to create scheme of works and to write my teaching reflections. I also use Microsoft Word to create handouts for students and assignment briefs. Microsoft PowerPoint is also essential in my teaching practice. I find it the easiest and most beneficial way to present and deliver a lesson to the class.

Moving away from Microsoft Office, I use an application called Gambreaker on the apple macs during lessons. The Gamebreaker application is used during the Analysis of Sport Performance module I teach. This software is used to analyse live or recorded individual or team performances to identify strengths and weaknesses of an individual or team. Over the years more and more sport clubs are using the Gambreaaker performance analysis system to analyse performance of athletes both in team and individuals sporting contests (Bishop 2008).

Also during the practical lessons and assessments I will use a number of strength and conditioning applications on the iPad to analyse their technique when completing weight training sessions. This will show an in-depth analysis of the student’s technique so they can recognise and evaluate what they are doing correctly and what needs adjusting.

Reference List

Bishop, D. 2008. Sports Performance Analysis: Coaching and Training, Peak Performance Journal of Sports Sciences 4, 49-59.

M. Cunningham, K. Kerr, R. McEune, P. Smith, and S. Harri (2004), Laptops for Teachers: an Evaluation of the First Year of the Initiative, ICT in Schools Research and Evaluation Series No. 19.