Outside edublog

http://edtechlady.blogspot.com/2011/02/integrating-technology-in-elementary.html

In this blog the 3rd grade teacher has setup learning stations in the classroom while integrating technology. There were four stations and two had technology. One station was using the computers in the room to hand and had a drop box to put assignments in. I think this is very handy because as a teacher you can monitor the work students are completeing during their time on the computer. The other station was enhanced with the use of a SmartBoard. The students were playing Jeopardy with review questions. The student that would finish with the most money would get a reward. I am assuming it was something that was predetermined. My question for Ed Tech Lady would be during the Jeopardy is there somebody there to watch them play fairly, like a TA? Maybe this could be answered/or solved by making sure that the groups are assigned that way you don't get the super quiet child with the child that will take everything over. I think the stations that the teacher put in the classroom are good community builders.

iLife

I hope everybody enjoyed their Valentine’s day. Today I was in training for iLife and how to use it in the classroom. I think this is a great tool and now am totally convinced that my next purchase has to be Mac. I can’t wait to use this in the classroom and teach teachers how creating can be part of summarizing and demonstrating what students have learned in the classroom. There are so many ways that it can be used in the classroom. For example, teachers can use this for a science experiment. During the spring when classes learning about metamorphosis with caterpillars. The students can build their lab report on a podcast. They could use a Flip camera and make a film using iMovie. There are endless possible to give students the opportunity to show what they are capable of. I think what I liked the most is that there will be times when students will be able to do more tricks than we, the teachers, can do. Last week, I was working on creating an iMovie through PhotoBooth with third graders. I was looking under the “Effects” option, but couldn’t figure out how to go back to the ‘Normal’ screen and one of the students that came to me showed me. I was impressed; these kids know and need the opportunity to make that connection between the cool technology device and what they have learned in the classroom. The kids were making films about static electricity and I would ask questions about the project their group made and other groups. Majority of the students could answer me correctly. Even if it wasn’t their project, they knew enough to demonstrate learning.
So ok, there are these cool devices to be used, but the teachers don’t want to use it. The main reasons I get is “Oh, I don’t know how to use that” or “There isn’t time for that.” I guess my greatest challenge now is how can I teach the teachers without being the one that comes into the classroom in order for the technology to be used.

ED tech and ESL

Last week was an emotional roller coaster to say the least. In my student teaching placement, the district happens to have a good amount of ELL students, predominantly from Ecuador. So one of my goals for this semester was to reach out to the ESL classes and integrate technology, the best I could. I was able to touch base with a middle school ESL teacher whose students were doing a biography on a musician and she wanted to use technology. What an awesome coincidence (the ride starts off)! On my first day with the students I told them we were going to be learning about Glogster. Nervous of course because they are new to me and I am new to them (little bit of butterflies like you’d get on a ride when you know the adrenaline is going to start rushing).Once the students knew that Ms. Zhinin knew and spoke Spanish, it went from 'Who's this lady?' to 'O ok, it's Ms. Z' and they were even more comfortable when I said my family is from Ecuador, even better.(The ride is fun again) When I was teaching, the teacher answered a call and told a student that he was wanted somewhere. When he came back he came with another student, a boy. The room got quiet; I mean you could hear a cricket quiet. Turns out the boy is a new student (I could tell by the scared look on his face) and everybody started smiling and small side comments. The teacher says who the new student is and wanted everybody to introduce themselves, first in Spanish then in English. As the students introduced themselves, I observed the new boy and slowly my heart started to break (the ride is officially not fun anymore), his stare seemed so distant, so scared, so...lonely. He would look at the other students and nod in acknowledgement, but you could see his expression, it still leaves me speechless, he was scared, he was new. When the students asked him to introduce himself all he could say was his first name and his age in Spanish, but you could tell that it was because he was shy, that something was not comfortable in him at least not yet. Later on in the day I told the teacher how I felt so bad for him being new and seeming so scared in the new school (trying to control this ugly gut feeling I had at this point). Then she told me that when the student was coming to this country he was caught at the border at was detained in Arizona for 4 months. 4 months, my jaw dropped (the roller coaster was in its part) and I was flushed with pain of sadness and anger at the same time. Sadness because I felt 'Of course this kid is scared he already knows what jail is like, what traveling illegally is like'. He has experienced things that the rest of our students who are born here will never have to experience and will perhaps never appreciate how lucky they are being born in this country and having the 'American dream' in their hands without as much sacrifice as this kid has. Sadness because of the pain his parents must have suffered knowing that their son was detained for 4 months, that perhaps they couldn't pay bail because of the economic situation now. Anger because of our government system. If immigration knows that this child is illegal, why not just send him back to his country instead of keeping him detained for 4 months, avoid traumatizing him, giving him this blank stare that I saw. Anger because this child is not at fault that his parents are bringing him to this country, why wouldn't our government pass the Dream act, perhaps this child will one day have the potential to have the American dream, to be a great inventor, to discover the cure for the deadliest diseases, but will he ever have the chance to do so?, because if he does not have a social security number, he will not get into a higher education or apply for financial aid to go to school.
An update: On Monday when I went to the same class to continue working on Glogster and the project. I was able to stay a bit more to catch up with the teacher as far a planning, since there was a quiz. The new student was exempt because he did not know the material, so the TA in the room said, “Oh, can he go on Rosetta Stone?” What a great idea, I thought. Ends up he couldn’t because it takes the district at least a week or two to set up a new child in the system. I mean c’mon really, 2 weeks! It’s February we need this kid to hit the road running, but how can we if we can even get him on a program to start learning the language.
I guess what I want to get out of this is: what do you guys feel/think? What have your experiences been like when a new child comes into your classroom? Because I don't know about you, but this was heartbreaking for me, how do you move on? how do you help? where do you start? it's February! how do start this new student on track? How can you even think of introducing him to technology when he doesn’t even know the language? Here I am introducing him to Glogster, trying my best to use Spanish without passing my boundaries because I am the student teacher in the room. How, how can I help this student when my forte is ed tech, not ESL at least not on paper?! I know this question may not have a simple solution, but I feel technology is great, but perhaps school systems need to be better at integrating in classrooms that are not general education, like an ESL class.

Why could blogging change, or not change, the traditional classroom?

I thinking that blogging is definitely changing the traditional classroom. (and not for nothing, it’s about time there was change in that place) As one blog said, we have always seen that quiet student in class and that really loud kid that won’t stop talking in the class. The class discussions were run by the students that said the most or who could raise their hand the fastest. Blogging does allow for the freedom of expression. However, as mentioned in the ‘Educational Blogging’, it needs to be done in the correct way. Because blogging could lead to other problems like the incident at Harvard were the student and the institution were almost sued for comments posted on a blog. The school where I am doing my student teaching I was part of a meeting of media specialists regarding internet safety, wikis, blogs, etc. and it’s effect on the different grade levels. One third grade teacher, had a good option for blogging, I think she said the website is kidzblog.com, where there was a discussion open for her students, but the teacher had to ‘Approve’ the post before it could be posted on the website. I was first impressed that third graders were blogging, but in a way down because that meant more work for the teacher.
As far as changing the way assessments are done, I think they should be as rushed as the school year 2014-2015, as mentioned in the ‘Are we ready for testing under common core standards?’. I say this because in my student teaching placement I am called to help teachers in technology quite a few times a week. Technology like using an Elmo, smartboard, senteo tools, and various web 2.0 tools is what teachers want help with. These are the kind of tools that students should be exposed to the majority of the time, but they’re not. As the reading said, if we teacher our students one way, assess them another, how can we expect them to succeed. If teachers are not supported in learning these devices then how can they work with these tools with their students. There has been research stating that if teachers have professional development and support afterwards, then teachers are more likely to integrate technology in the classrooms. The article is:
Does Research-Based Professional Development Make a Difference? A Longitudinal Investigation of Teacher Learning in Technology Integration By: Chrystalla Mouza (2209)
If school districts show support and offer training in technology then teachers would interate it in the classroom and our students would be prepared for assessments as mentioned in the article, ‘Are we ready for testing under common core standards.’