Lessons Learned from Technology Class

Yesterday I attended part 2 of a workshop on Blended Learning in my district.  Allow me to preface this blog post that I know and appreciate all of the opportunities that teachers have in my district during the summer to grow professionally. Remember I am not really a tech. wizard but a teacher that wants to continue to build her knowledge about digital learning on how to extend my classroom learning to the 21st Century.  

It is important for this blog post that you know that I missed the first session because I was in South Carolina, so I was a little nervous going to session 2.  (Now that I am home I understand how my students feel when they miss a day of school and come back and missed the introductory lesson) There was an overview of session 1, and I listened carefully but I already had questions before my session even started (I wonder how many students have questions when they come back and are afraid to ask? Now I am thinking about how I could spend 5-10 min. in morning catching up those students with a quick overview of the previous day's learning?)  

Session 2 was focused on digital learning object (DLO) and how to deliver a lesson to students through online delivery of content in which students control the time, place, pace and path.  My job was to learn how to create the path.  There are five parts to creating a DLO. 

Part 1:  Create a folder with the text (in PDF form), pictures, video links etc. so I can begin the first path which could be a diagram, picture or text in a different format than I presented in class.  (No problem - check I got it)

Part 2:  Open Preview and learn about 3 tools (color, size, and select) During this time I was taking notes, working on a document practicing and trying to listen. (I am pretty lost at this point and just hoping I am taking good notes. But what about my students who are confused and needed time to practice and are not keeping up with their note taking? Do they need me to stop teaching for 10 minutes?  Do I allow that time in my classroom?)

Part 3:  Open Google docs and locate the presentation tool.  At this point, take the folder information (part 1) and create a review presentation for the students.  (Totally lost at this point, I have not used Google docs and never seen presentation.  What about my students when I am introducing a new focus skill to 5th grade?  What do they do when they are unsure? Do I allow time to ask questions? Do I allow them time to turn and talk to process the new information?) Thanks Mike and Trish for helping me process my questions. I am excited for our next session to learn more.

Part 4 & 5  By this time, I am rapidly taking notes, have given up trying to practice in Google and just trying to focus on the last two parts adding videos.  I did learn about a new website xtranormal.com and the importance of quicktime.  The last step involves creating an online quiz in Google for the students to check their understanding, and I am excited about learning about that aspect, but I will have to review my notes.

This was the quickest 2 hours, and I am so happy that I went to begin my own foundation for blended learning.  But the most important lesson I learned was how it felt being on the other side of the desk---being the student and not the teacher.

 

Looking Back on Digital Reading in our Clsssroom

If you had a hidden camera on our classroom, one of the biggest differences from years past are the wider variety of technology tools my students have been using for their reading. All year there were been four different tools used in my classroom: computers, nooks and or kindles, iPad and iPods. Students have brought in their nooks and kindles more this year, and I have encourage them to do so.

This has been an interesting shift in my classroom as I observed the digital tools. Some students shifted between their choices of technology tools. Our class iPad has been a huge hit however with only one I have used it more for sharing digital stories with the whole class which has been an integral part of our reading community. Many students asked to borrow the iPad afterwards to read or listen to the story again.

In addition, students listened to stories on their iPods. The students created persuasive commercials using Sonic Pic on their iPods.  Through our class web page, I linked the commercials so students can listen to their friend’s story.  In addition, many students read and listened to book trailers which was a been a brand new avenue for me this year.  I also am pleased the students continued to use their iPods for the variety of apps that have been loaded to support the curriculum.

Finally I personally still love the feel of a book as I turn the pages. I want to teach my students to honor books. On twitter I found this quote from Same Sun Here pg. 87 "I like that library books have secret lives. All those hands that held them. All those eyes that have read them."  I love books; I love the smell of them when they are new and love them even more 60 years later when my grandmother gave me her original copy of Poor Mrs. Quack by Thurston W. Burgess.I am not sure if digital books will carry the same meaning in 60 years when they are passed down to their great granddaughters?

Published Authors of Story Kit!

Every trimester we celebrate authors in our class!  It is one of our favorite days in our classroom.  The students work so hard on the writing process and finally they share their stories with their parents along with their friends.  We celebrated last week and once again it was wonderful to see the students excitement and the parents were so impressed with their hard work.  It never fails every year at least one parent says, "Thank you for doing this other wise I might not have seen their finished story."  This year the celebration was really important because the students published only digitally. This year Mr. Mark helped me to link all the stories on our class web page. I did not print their stories because the stories live two places on their iPods and most exciting on our class web page. This is so powerful for so many reasons. First every students can ready every story.  I can use these stories later as mentor text for great leads, dialogue, strong vocabulary etc. Finally next year, I have 24 stories ready to share as student models.  This is so exciting because the students audience increased to the world web-which means anyone including grandparents in Florida, India and Spain can read their grandchild's story.  This is amazing to me and to be honest it is really special because now the students can read their story on the phone as their grandparents look at the story all the way across the world. Digital Literacy is amazing.

Sharing their story with both digital tools!

Class Meetings & iPod Guidelines

You know when you are thinking about how to manage your time in classroom better?  You know when you are thinking how to create more time for instruction in your class?  You know when you think I could get rid of this and put in that?  Well I am so thankful that I did not give up class meetings.  It was on the chopping list at the beginning of the school year, but I believed it was too important for building of community.

Ever Monday, we start our week with a class meeting called "Weekend Share" every student gets to share their #1 favorite event of the weekend.  In fifth grade, that is not always easy to choose 1 event but it is another part of the communication indicators-choosing important information.  The students share about their families, sports, boy scout camp outs, visiting relatives and some even travel on the weekend.  I listen with open ears because I learn so much about them and more importantly I learn about their lives outside of school.  I can follow up later if someone shares they were at the hospital visiting their sick grandma or their dad did not get to come home from India.  Those are the connections that I believe are important and I want to build throughout the school year.

Every Friday, we end our week with our class meeting.  I have written about it before because this is where we choose our top ten events of the week.  But prior to this, we always have the QUESTIONS, COMPLIMENTS and CONCERNS.  This is a chance for the students to voice their thoughts in this area as well as for me to bring up concerns which brings me to last Friday's class meeting.  This year's group have been not focused during study hall, so we developed a T chart on the dry erase board.  On the left hand side, What should study hall look like and sound like? I wrote ideas down as they told me their list included:  finishing HW, getting extra help if needed, studying for tests, and if time play on the iPod.  "Playing on the iPod" was the interesting part of the conversation as you can see from the chart below. This list started in green with what does study hall look like now...it is....

We set new guidelines for the  iPods this year.  I told them the "play" is all connected with their learning as well as the opportunity to review skills.  Look at the very bottom of the chart-people might take advantage.  That was great conversation about how they needed to make the correct choices for them and not always follow their friends-a life lesson from our class meeting.

3 Addends Equal Success

I found this picture on a blog and I LOVED it.  I LOVE words and I LOVE scrabble and I LOVE the thinking of this scrabble board.  Error + Motive + Strive = Success.   If you break these three words apart and think about technology it is an excellent problem to try and solve.  Errors are going to happen and some of my best learning came this year from errors that I made.  Not all errors were my fault but every one tested my patience and made me or Mr. Mark stop and problem solve.  Motive is so important.  As I spoke in NYC, I discussed the importance of motivation to want to learn, to search for new learning and reflect on the instruction.  All three areas are crucial in education.  Strive I always remember my dad telling me to strive for success. Every project and app that I introduced this year my goal was to have the students be Successful.  Of course not everything was successful however that was a chance to learn more and problem solve.  When you are thinking about technology or incorporating  21 Century Skills into your classroom remember this math problem no matter how you add all three parts together I think you will be excited about the outcome.

Learning Curves are Huge

As Bill at Literate Lives wrote in his post, I was definitely not into technology but through student observations, conversations with colleagues and continued reading of professional books/blogs I now believe strongly that technology has to be a part of every classroom. That foundation tossed me into a huge learning curve similar to those on a roller coaster. Before I tell you about my learning curve, I want you to know that I started with very limited knowledge of iPods so I plan on writing about every step-even the small ones.

My learning curve started this summer as I begin to explore my new iPod and honestly getting it out of the plastic box was a challenge. I began to explore the apps that came loaded on an iPod, and I automatically started searching for new apps. I had been creating a list of apps that I thought I might like since I got my grant last spring. I will blog later about my favorite apps that I am starting the year with. I had no idea how to purchase apps so I really had to start with the basics.

1. Open your iTunes and set up a new account (I set up a separate account from my personal one)

2. Locate the App Store tab and start with looking at free apps-doesn’t hurt to try them ☺

3. Before you purchase an app consider the following; looking at the preview slides of the app, consider the customer ratings, and reading the reviews

4. Look at the final section found at the bottom called Customers Also Bought

It takes some time researching and considering how to use the app in the classroom setting, but I have found that extended time is well worth it. One great thing about getting free apps is if they don't meet your needs you can just delete them from your iTunes account.  Work in Progress: Favorite iPod apps to start the year with in 5th grade.