I Want to Stay in Kindergarten Forever

2006-11-20T11:12:00.000-08:00

Technology Implementation

I recently taught my lesson for my Teaching with Technology class. I designed the lesson with a partner and had a hard time nailing down what to teach. We had problems coordinating with our cooperating teachers on what to teach. We finally decided on a lesson on characters, setting, and important events in a Thanksgiving book. For the technology aspect, we designed a Kidspriration activity which had the students drag pictures into the appropriate boxes. I was much more relaxed about this lesson than the first lesson that I taught. The experience of one lesson under my belt made it much easier.
The lesson went fairly well. It was a rainy day so the kids had not had recess and I taught the lesson at 3:00, so the kids were pretty antsy. Also, I taught the lesson in the school's computer lab and the students were so excited to be in the lab that I had to fight for control. I finally got it, however, and the lesson went well after that. The students loved the book and seemed to grasp the concepts of setting, characters, and important events. They did the Kidspiration worksheet with no problem and finished much faster than I thought they would. Earlier in the day, the computer teacher at my elementary school had seen the worksheet and suggested that I add a part for the students to do once they finished. I added a box where they could drag in pictures of their favorite foods to eat on Thanksgiving (you would not believe the number of children who wished they ate tacos on Thanksgiving). That was a life-saving suggestion because the students did turn out to be much faster workers than I guessed.
I was surprised at how excited the students were to go to the computer lab. You would have thought I told them we were going to Disney World. They worked very well at the computers and had no problems typing their names or using the mouse for the activity. Just watching them and wondering what technology they will see in their lifetimes was astounding. I know I am only 15 years older than them, but in the technological world, that is a lifetime.
I enjoyed this project and it made me see how easy it is to integrate technology into a lesson, even with first-graders.

2006-11-01T17:32:00.000-08:00

WebQuest is not for Dummies!

I have recently heard how easy WebQuests are to make and how anyone can do it...even a dummy. Let me tell you, that is not true. It is very hard to make a WebQuest. From a technological point of view-piece of cake. I (and my partner for the assignment) have been using QuestGarden and it is so easy to put the WebQuest together. Everything is mapped out for you. All you have to do is follow the directions and you are done. The HARD part is figuring out what to put in the WebQuest.
We are having a terrible time trying to figure out what to say, how to say it, and how to make it fun for the students. We know what the task is going to be and the general skills we want the students to learn and use. It is just hard getting it all down on the keyboard. It is harder than regular lesson planning because the computer lesson should probably take longer and everything you do on the computer seems to take less time than if you were just writing it. That makes it like writing three lesson plans in one. For the time that I am working on this WebQuest I hate the convenience and speed of technology. I know that the finished product will be great and the students will love using it, but it is hard work. Whoever said WebQuests can be accomplished by dummies was just talking about the technology part. They have no idea how hard it is to come up with a GOOD one.

2006-10-22T16:20:00.000-07:00

How to Rule

I taught my first lesson this past week and had so much fun. I was scared to death beforehand, but my teacher gave me two pieces of advice: 6 year-olds will not know when you mess up and you do not need a 6 year-old best friend. The first tip was to calm my nerves about teaching; the second tip was to help with classroom management. I thought both helped. I was sharing these tips with my mother-in-law who used to be a teacher. Her cooperating teacher for her practicums had the best advice I have heard yet. She said that elementary school teachers need to rule with an iron fist....in a velvet glove.
From what I have seen so far, this is very true. You cannot let the students walk all over you and rule the classroom, but at the same time, they look up to you and call you 'mom' on occasion. I have no problem with the velvet glove part, I just need to work on the iron fist part. I need to not look at the students as cute kids, but as the students that I need to teach. The great teachers that I have had the pleasure of observing have found the thin line between two. They have the iron fist with order in the classroom, and they have the velvet glove which will make their students look back on first or second grade and smile. I don't think that balance is taught in any college class; I think this is one thing that we are all going to have to figure out for ourselves.

2006-10-15T15:00:00.000-07:00

Even Great Teachers Get Blocked

I was reading Will Richardson's blog and came across an excerpt he had taken from another blog or email from Andy Losik. It was about how Andy was teaching in his technology class when he was shocked to learn that all of his blogs and similar programs that he teaches the students from had been blocked by the school district. The school had added "Weblogs and Personal webpages" to the blocked list, so none of his materials for the lesson could be accessed by the student's computers. He got the problem fixed after a few hours, but in the meantime he was stranded.
I thought this was a great story to read because it shows just how much we can rely on technology in our classrooms. This can be a great thing, because there are so many ways that technology can enhance the classroom and the learning that happens there. It also shows how different a classroom that uses technology is from a classroom that doesn't. In a technology-limited classroom, there is no need to back up the textbooks or have an alternate plan in case the books just are working or the network is down. You know that the books will be there and the kids will be able to use them. The same guarantees are not always present in a technology-enhanced classroom. The network could be down, your blog could be blocked, the power could go out, etc. This means that not only does this teacher have to go the extra mile to plan a lesson with technology, they also have to have a back-up plan in place, just in case. That makes me appreciate them all the more.

2006-10-10T13:02:00.000-07:00

Lesson Planning

For our technology class, we have to do a technology implementation project, which basically means that we have to teach a lesson enhanced with technology. Before we started planning, our idea was to use a WebQuest. We have learned so much about them and we have to create one for the class anyway, so why not? That plan changed, however, after talking to the computer teacher at our elementary school. He showed us what technological level our first-graders are on, and it was not at a level where a WebQuest would be very instructional. They could do it if we guided them through every step and showed them what to click, but that wasn't the type of lesson we were envisioning.
We have decided to hold off on using the WebQuest we will create until the spring. My partner and I's social studies unit is the same, so we will use technology in a lesson or two in the spring, even when we won't be graded on it. Instead, we will be using Kidspiration to teach and assess some map skills this fall.
I chose to blog about this because I was amazed when the teacher showed us what work they can do and the baffled look on his face when we told him we wanted to use a WebQuest. I would have thought that first-graders would have no problem with a WebQuest, if it relied heavily on pictures and was easily navigable. I think that still might even be true, but plain pictures aren't very instructional. We will hold off until the spring....maybe they will be ready by then.

2006-10-04T10:21:00.000-07:00

A question of value....

We recently had to complete two different assignments for the Education School which were totally unrelated, but the results were shocking when put together. The first was a technology inventory of my elementary school. I found out that my school has an amazing amount of technological resources for the students. There are countless NEW computers for the students to use, there are whiteboards, projection screens in the classrooms, wireless laptops, and the list goes on. There is a large variety of software programs for the students and teachers to use. In short, my elementary school is very well-connected. The second assignment was to interview a Social Studies lead teacher in my school. Through this interview I discovered that there is a disturbing lack of tangible resources in my school. Not having enough maps or globes doesn't seem too bad, but there are not enough TEXTBOOKS for all the students!! I was completely shocked at this. How does a school that obviously has enough money, funding, grants, whatever for all the technology not have enough money for textbooks?

I starting reflecting on the situation and decided that maybe the teachers could use the abundance of technology to make up for the lack of other resources (as I do understand that technology is a valuable resource). I do not see this occurring, however. I see the high-tech projection screen in my classroom just sitting there, not being used at all. I have heard some stories about teachers using technology, but those stories are few and far between.

My point is that if you aren't going to spend money on the low-tech resources (textbooks), then you really need to use the high-tech resources to their full potential. I am afraid that the students are suffering because of budget cuts and their teachers lack of technological knowledge.

2006-09-24T07:54:00.000-07:00

Class Blogging

For my Teaching with Technology class, we recently had to read an article by a second grade teacher named Miguel. The article was a blog entry he made that described a new lesson plan his class was using. The basic premise of the assignment is for the class to write a poem as a model, then each student writes his or her own poem. All the poems are then posted on a blog that only their partner class can see. Limitless assignments follow: voting on each others poems, ranking them, etc. Before commenting on the technology aspect of the lesson, I would like to say that I really enjoyed the webbing method and pictures Miguel used to get the students started on their poems. I thought the instructional method was wonderful.
As far as technology goes, I think the lesson was a good start. It would be fun for the students to feel the ownership that goes with publishing on a blog. I would also be a good composition and editing exercise for the students to read, rank, and vote on others' poems. I like that the students get to read others' work the moment it is finished and to be able to comment on that work just as quickly. This activity could be done through letters as well, but the immediacy of the blog makes the assignment more interactive. It would also be a good typing lesson for the students to enter their own poems.
I do wish that the poems could be seen by more people so that the students could feel that 'limitless' feeling that goes with the whole internet. I also think that the students should be able to reach more classrooms and children than just one other. I wish classes could read a variety of classrooms' blogs from a variety of places. I think that would make the assignment much more fun.

2006-09-20T10:43:00.000-07:00

Do Students Mind the Gap?

Summer is over and I am back in my first grade classroom for my practicum. This semester in the Education School is much more involved than the last so I have been getting right down to business with my cooperating teacher. I was talking to her about a technology project that I have to do in the classroom and mentioned using a WebQuest. I asked her if she ever used them and she replied that she had no idea what one was. I gladly took a few moments to explain the concept and show her a few. She loved them and could not stop saying how much the students would love them as well! I was very excited at the idea of using a WebQuest with my class since I would be introducing the whole idea to them.
This whole exchange with my cooperating teacher led me to a startling revelation. She uses NO technology in the classroom. I am not sure if this is because she has no knowledge of technology or because she cannot find the time or way to fit it into the day. I then started thinking about teachers who do use technology constructively in their classrooms to help children learn. We have learned in our classes how assistive technology and things as simple as WebQuests can help children learn in much deeper ways than a unidirectional book can. Classrooms that use technology can possibly awaken learning in a child that a classroom without technology can't.
But what happens when a student has a teacher who actively uses technology one year and a teacher with no technology in the classroom the next? Does the student have a difficult time adjusting back and forth? Do they find class boring and not engaging? Or do they even notice? Is it fair to give a child technology one year and then remove it the next?
I'm not sure what I think the answer is, but I hope to figure it out.

2006-04-17T11:17:00.000-07:00

Testing Problems

At my practicum last week I sat in on a teacher's lunch. That is the place to go if you want to really learn about the life of a school. Today's topic: testing in kindergarten. The kindergarteners were being tested that day with a puzzle test. Since I was talking to first-grade teachers, they knew all about the puzzle test. They are given the puzzle test results along with their new class roster and told to use them as a guide for assigning reading groups. Sounds great in theory, but the seasoned teachers had a huge problem with this. Why? Because they claim the test is a terrible test and predicts nothing. The children in special education for not being able to read scored highest on a test that tests reading, overall intelligence, and readiness for school. The highest achievers in every subject scored at the bottom of the heap. These teachers tried to use the results the first year and ended up with reading groups that made no sense. That was okay; it was a mistake and a bad test. It wasn't okay when they administered the test the following year. How can teachers be expected to get anything done when what they are given is false? Why are tests being given when they do not see to relate to their findings at all?

2006-03-30T05:15:00.000-08:00

We have Success!
I went to my practicum at an elementary school in VA yesterday and was completely blown away. One of our assignments is to help the school's computer teacher teach a lesson. I helped with a fifth grade class and was shocked. Those kids were amazingly gifted with technology! They were working on making Power Point presentations, and these presentations looked like they belonged in some executive board room somewhere. On top of how good they looked, the kids were so relaxed and comfortable with using the program. They had muiltiple screens going at one time (Power Point, the internet for searching for facts to put in the Power Point, Microsoft Office to search for ClipArt, etc.) and were clicking away like they did it every day. I was walking around the room to help those that needed it. Some of the questions I could answer, but sometimes they would ask me a question and I would say to myself, "You can do that?"! The best part wasn't how good the kids were with the technology or how comfortable, but how excited they were about it. They were doing a project on states, which they probably would have complained about doing with paper and pencil, but in the computer lab they were chatting away excitedly and showing off their presentations to their friends. As a future teacher, it was a beautiful sight. Another great thing was to see how many computers the lab had (there were more computers than kids) and how nice those computers were (they were nicer than the computers in our college computer lab). It was a great day in the world of education.

gerbera daisies

2006-03-20T07:22:00.000-08:00

gerbera daisies
Originally uploaded by Art Hill.

We are learning how to use Flickr. Here is a pretty picture we found and used to practice posting them to blogs.

2006-03-18T14:07:00.000-08:00

Who gets the nice computer?
I am currently in my first grade classroom for my practicum and am loving it. I have not seen any technology used to this point, but I do not think that my cooperating teacher really uses it. I asked her if she used the computer for talking with other teachers about school and she seemed to be quite intimidated by the concept. I have noticed something in my classroom that is disturbing to me. The students share three computers when they have computer center time. These computers are incredibly old and out-dated, however. I imagine that some of the kids have computers at home that are so far beyond the technology of the ones in the classroom that they might not even enjoy the computer time. The problem is that the teacher's computer is brand new and updated often. She only uses it for keeping her gradebook and typing her lesson plans. I understand that the teachers will probably always get the better computer and that's fine, but I do not think that there should be such a difference in technology in the classroom. I really do not think this is even fair to the students. How can we improve this situation?

2006-02-27T08:34:00.000-08:00

Stop Talking Amongst Yourselves!

Is the instruction led by you in your classroom the only one of value? Some people seem to think so, but I have to disagree. I understand that I am only a preservice teacher, but maybe that makes me more qualified in this discussion because I am closer to the education process due to the fact that I am still in it. I remember teachers from my past that did not want to hear anything in the classroom unless it was their voice or a student answering a question. The attitude of students in these classes is counterproductive to learning. Why would you want to work for a teacher that only wants a specific thing from you and nothing else? No one, no matter how old, would want to work in a situation like that. I was reading Bud's blog (http://budtheteacher.typepad.com/bud_the_teacher/2006/02/the_universe_at.html) and found it interesting that he pointed out that a day in which students were talking with each other about their lives and interests was a day "where conversation was good and important and had nothing to do with the content of my course. It was wonderful. I hope every teacher has had a day or two like today." I read that and stopped; here is a teacher that gets it. Students need to interact with each and learn from each other. It is not enough for them to work on a map project of Africa; they need to be able to interact and share stories about wanting to go there or even having been there. I understand that work and learning needs to happen in the classroom, but it does not have to have the strict format of student-receiver and regurgitator of information and teacher-provider of information. In my education classes at college, we talk a lot about procedures and theories, but we do not discuss finding a balance between book work and social interaction. Is this because each teacher is supposed to find their own balance? The problem there is that some teachers find no balance at all. Teachers: let your students be people and if possible, let them shape the classroom and make it their own.

2006-02-11T16:06:00.000-08:00

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G
I just wanted to post and talk about how much I have learned so far in my technology class. The main thing that I have learned so far is that I was so in the dark about the way that classrooms use technology it amazes me. I thought that teachers occasionally showed a video or let the kids play a computer game to reinforce a skill, and that was the extent of technology in the classroom. I cannot believe how wrong I was. The fact that some schools use blogs to teach and share with others is so cool to me. It makes me wish that I was still in elementary school so I could do some of that stuff. I guess I will do the next best thing and do these things in my classroom. The extensive use of technology is so cool to me, I cannot imagine how cool and engaging it is to the children that actually get to use it. I really hope that I am able to apply some of these ideas in my own class and get the students as excited about school as this technology class has made me excited to teach using it.

2006-02-03T15:32:00.000-08:00

Tech Autobiography

Hi guys! I am excited to do my first official blog post so let's get to it. I can't remember exactly when my family got our first computer. I think it was at some point in my late elementary/early middle school years. My only real memories of playing with a computer not hooked up to the Internet were those computer games you got to play in elementary school- the reading and math games. I liked them, but not any more than anything else we did in class. I am a big geek, what can I say? I also remember getting a new computer and going through this orientation program with my mom. It was things like learning how to double-click, single-click, move the cursor over the page, turn the computer on and off, and other incredibly simple things. I knew how to do it all from the computers at school, but my mom didn't. I pretended that I didn't know how either to make her feel better. We got our first computer with internet access for Christmas of 1999- I remember because of the whole millenium thing. I lived on AIM for a couple of days straight. I am pretty relucant with computers because I don't really know how they work, but I am utterly amazed at how easily they link people all over the world. I mainly just use the computer for email, AIM, facebook, and other social functions. I do enjoy doing my research on the computer just because of how easy it is. After the games in elementary school, I never really used computers in school anymore until I took a computer class in high school. None of my teachers used technology other than the overhead and an occasional movie on the VCR. I really enjoy my college classes that use multimedia in the classroom. It makes class much more interesting. It also shows that the professor takes time that they don't neccessarily have to in order to make classtime more bearable. As technologically ignorant as I may be- I can still see the AMAZING impact that it has on the world and day-to-day functioning.

I hope that wasn't too bad for a first-timer!!