Teach Middle East Magazine June 2014 Issue 2 Vol. 1 | Page 26

Featured Teacher (L-R) Mohammed Mehraj and Rajind Karunaratne, Year 13 students involved in special ICT projects at The Cambridge High School. coding and interlinks that they did, took a while but the overall result was good. What really stood out for me was their creativity. In that same class, there was another boy called Mihai Leolea who created a game called Eat The Smiles. The software that he used was Scratch Game Maker. The game is designed with three progressive levels of play; easy, medium and complex. He configured it so that as the player advances to the next level it becomes more challenging and the scores change. Another student, Mohammed Mehraj created a website for our Model United Nations. He did it in Adobe Dream Weaver. There is Rajind Karunaratne who did all our video editing in FCP (Final Cut Pro for Mac Systems) and links. He also does Graphic Design work for our school magazine. Our Grade 5 students have also created PowerPoint online quizzes with sound and videos. They did this under the guidance of Miss Frincy Francis, the Head of our ICT department. We mainly offered guidance in the initial stages and during the project so they stayed on track but they did the work themselves. What were some of the surprises that the project revealed? All of these students surpassed my expectations. They were very creative and committed to the work. 24 June 2014 Class Time How can other teachers implement such a project? An important point is that each teacher should be able to use IT devices successfully in their lessons across the subject areas. Once they are familiar with the programmes and software available to them, they can then find creative ways to employ the use of videos, photography and text in various projects. At Cambridge High, we give all our teachers training as soon as they come to us. Share with us three tips or strategies for helping teachers to integrate ICT in their daily lessons. Training is paramount. The first thing is to get initial training to familiarise themselves with the techn ology and its proper use. After this, workshops are required to ensure that they are using the devices properly and effectively. The main thing is to initiate them in using the technology for videoconferences so that they can interact with teachers in other schools. Once new technology is available, teachers should be trained on how to use it. What is the best advice that you have received? The best advice I got is from my dad. “Don’t expect the reward; be a hard worker.” He always inspires me. Do you have any new projects? Yes. Our Principal, Mr Peter Lugg will be leaving us at the end of this school year. I am working on a short documentary of his time here over the years as a memento for him using FCP. After a short, but insightful interview with Dr Herbert, there is much anticipation that her next project in the school will be another successful project for The Cambridge High School.