Exploring Tools

This week gave me another opportunity to explore some of the many tools that are available out on the web.  These tools are all great options for bringing in creative choices and alternative options for assessments and project based learning.  Many of the sites provided can be used with a variety of age levels.  There are a few that seem to be more appropriate for students who have had more computer experience or to be used in very small groups so that students don't get frustrated when needing help.  I am already planning on using Comic Life in my classroom for a variety of activities this year and am excited to see how the student react and feel about using programs like those we have looked at to show what they know.

I am also continuing to explore using the forms applications to create tests.  I have thrown the idea out to a teammate and will be putting together a few sample tests this week to share with my team.

Another thing to try

This week, the thing that I found myself most interested in happened more by chance than anything else.  As I was looking at a few of the already submitted website evaluations, I noticed that most of the other evaluations had been created with Google Forms (initiated by Zac).  I have to admit that at first I was a little hesitant to even look into doing it that way since we hadn't gone through any instruction on it, but it was super easy and user-friendly!  I instantly thought of how great this could be for saving paper at school and having students complete tests using Google Forms.  All the answers would end up on one spreadsheet, making scoring much quicker which would allow the teacher to spend more time on things that will benefit students.  Seeing scores that way will also allow the teacher to quickly see how students did on particular problems and if there is a need for reteaching or further instruction.

A New Beginning

With each new class that starts, I continue to feel a little more comfort and confidence with understanding and handling the work.  Now that we are into the 4th course of the program, it is becoming more and more obvious on how they build on each other.  Seeing the connections and having more background knowledge with concepts than I had with some of the other courses or topics makes it easier and easier to start applying the ideas to my own classroom and life.  Some of the topics that we will be covering this course will be really helpful with my younger age students.

During CEDO 515 I have enjoyed learning more about services that I can start to share with my students.  There are a lot of programs that can be implemented in a variety of ways and that are very appropriate for my third grade students to be exposed to.  Since starting this masters program I have been interested in getting our school more involved with the services provided by Google but this class has pushed that interest even further.  

I also enjoyed having the opportunity to become more familiar with spreadsheet software.  I am still not sure that this is something that my students need to be using, but feel much more educated on being able to support that opinion for future discussions.  

The software evaluation exercise was a good experience and helps me understand how to make more meaningful choices of future software that I chose to use.  I would also like to create an evaluation for students to supply feedback after using programs.

Integrating Technology

When it comes to integrating technology into a lesson, whether old or new, it definitely brings some new energy and excitement for teaching it.  The same can be said whenever an exciting new idea jumps into a teacher's head on how to teach a concept to his or her students.  For me, I feel that there is most-definitely a reason to keep a tight grasp on my level of excitement.  Control...plain and simple, control.  Call it paranoia, call it negativity, call it realistic, call whatever you want, but when you are up in front of 24 students and things aren't working, you will understand where I may be coming from. 

The first main area where control becomes a concern is with the reliability of our technology.  Planning a whole lesson, activity, or project around technology could be risky.  Internet connections, log-in issues, and software updates always seem to pop up around us and take time to fix (sometimes too long).  So the question when planning is, "How much "back-up" planning do I need to do if something doesn't work?"  By no means do I want to double-plan a lesson "just-in-case" something doesn't work, however, there have been more than enough times when things aren't working correctly and I felt as though I was standing there with a big spotlight shining on me while my brain quickly decided how we were going to switch gears.  It isn't that this is always a big deal, we are teachers, and this is what we do.  However, looking ahead at my class for next year, and knowing that I have several students who have needs that require a good deal of modification and who also don't always do well with sudden changes, it makes me a bit more cautious...or maybe nervous.

Being able to control things/fix things when issues come into play is the second area where control comes into play.  I completely understand that I am not the only teacher in my district, and while I may think that the issues that I may be currently experiencing are the MOST important and should be taken to the top of the to-do list, in the big picture, may not be.  But to a teacher who has spent time planning and organizing, prepping and building up his/her own excitement for the lesson, an unexpected technical issue can be a HUGE deal.  One of the current frustrations at our school is that the issues that seem to impact students the most, are put on the back burner, while the problems that, while very important, don't impact them as much, get taken care of with more immediate attention.  This is not to sound like a whiny teacher, but rather, one that would like a little information on why some of the problems that seem simple to solve, seem to take forever to actually get solved. 

I may have digressed a bit from the original question, and aside from the impression that the tone of this post may have given off, I really enjoy using and having my students use technology whenever possible and find it to supply great benefit to student learning.

InTime Lesson

The InTime Lesson that I looked at fits right in with a third grade science unit on relationships of living things.  It involves using KidPix Delux (or any other kid-friendly presentation software) with student groups who are each given a specific habitat and requiring them to do research, apply creative thinking to design a presentation, show their knowledge of a computer program (after being taught and given an opportunity to practice), and to apply the concepts that were previously taught to them during the whole class lessons.  I always feel as though I have to start from scratch and completely create a project in order to include technology in my lessons.  This site was a breath of fresh air because I was able to access well-written and thoroughly detailed plans that needed little or no adjustment to fit immediately into my current curriculum and plans.  I found this to be a very straight-forward, simplistic way to get help from other educators without having to sort through poorly written and confusing plans or plans that require many edits due to differences in curriculum and/or a lack of similar resources. 

Spreadsheets in the Classroom

It is a bit ironic that this is a topic of our class right now because over the last year or so, requiring the use of spreadsheets in the classroom (particularly third grade) has been an ongoing area of disagreement.  Our district has been looking at the technology standards and what activities are currently being done within our curriculum.  We are then going to look at the gaps and fill them in with activities that integrate technology into the curriculum.  Expecting third grade students to master the skill of using a spreadsheet is one that I don't necessarily agree with.  I know that more often than not, when students need to make and use a graph or set of data, it will be with computer software, however, I still think that there is a need for them to master using paper/pencil graphs and charts first.  Having to take the extra steps to organize, plan, and construct helps them understand the concept and process more than often comes with using software programs to do so.  This includes spreadsheets.  I can see how I could use a spreadsheet to have students look at going shopping on a budget.  But I would want them to be responsible for computing the math themselves, not just using the tools from the program.  I have also thought about having the students use a spreadsheet to fill in their reading calendars and even to set one up for the summer months.  As an adult myself, I don't finding myself using spreadsheets all that often, which is probably one of the driving factors to why I don't see it as one of the more necessary skills for my students to posses at this time in their lives.  With the amount of time that I am able to get into our school labs, working on spreadsheets falls far down the list.