Such excitement in this Grade 4 class.

Today one reluctant writer asked if he can answer the blog question. This is a great opportunity for conferencing at a level that interests the student. Then my weakest student helped me create a story with sound on PowerPoint. She prepared the reading and then we showed the class. Now everyone is excited about reading aloud. How great is this??

Looking Ahead

I have learned so much from this course that I am integrating into the classroom and the lab. Our network has been upgraded so some of the programs I have used all the time are working again AND we have our rollout in January so there are lots of great things happening.

In my spare time I am trying to go a step beyond my comfort zone. For the course I could have used the SMART software, but instead I learned to use PowerPoint. Today I learned how a SMART presentation can be exported to PowerPoint. This is so very exciting :)

The grade 4s are creating picture books and I see endless ways that they can use technology to enhance the outcome. We are also heading into a research unit about Canada that excites me. I model what the students need to do using the province of Ontario and then they must follow the steps to discover the information about the province they are studying. Eventually we piece it all together and share the information. My goal this year is to have them each create a slide and then we can create a class PowerPoint presentation.

The grade 1 classes will be creating slides in Kid pix about Community helpers and then we can show the slide show and talk about the helpers.

The grade 2 class will use Plumo at the Zoo to show basic patterning: ABABAB, ABCABCABC and then use Kid pix to create and extend patterns.

All in all term 2 proves to be a very exciting term from a technological standpoint.

Final Reflection

As I am doing the final touch ups on my PowerPoint presentation I am looking over all of the new icons on my desk top. My desk top is where I keep everything I am doing at the moment. These icons are a true representation of the learning that has taken place in this course. Without listing them all, I see: Audacity, video clips, web sites ranging from digital cameras to podcasts and blogs, and how to's for powerpoint.

Although I have gone to several inservices and learned about the things such as: PowerPoint or blogging I have not sat down and worked with them extensively enough to be comfortable using them. I already considered my classroom to be fairly high tech, but now it is moving forward in a way that has made learning much more fun for students. It has also been fun for me.

I hope to take Part 2 in January, 2010.

All in all a Great Day!

There are so many great things happening in technology today. Our new lab is finally scheduled to roll out. We had our roll out planning meeting last March, so it is exciting that it is finally happening.

Today was interview day so there was no computer lab time, however I spent a lot of time between interviews putting my power point together. I have sound, visual, motion, and transitions. It is not finished, but it is well on its way and I am feeling much better.

It is so exciting to try new challenges!

Today's blog

Today in the lab all of the computers were working and Kidpix is working again consistently. This means I will be able to do the math patterning activities with the Grade 2s for second term and I will be able to introduce different tools to the Grade 1s.
The Grade 4s will do independent research and then create something to demonstrate what they have learned. Perhaps I will walk them through powerpoint.
My presentation is getting there. It is a challenge, but a very good learning curve. This is a program I have always wanted to sit down and learn and this assignment leaves me no choice. That is a good thing.

Today I also found out our new lab rolls out beginning January 20th. I cannot wait.

SMARTboard and PowerPoint

Today the class was creating the story to go along with pictures on the SMART board. The final task is for the students to create their own picture book and we are using a shared approach to write the story. This could very easily become an audio book. I find I am constantly seeing and elaborating my lessons while using things I have learned from my course.
The grade 4s were researching online today and filling out a sheet and I was thinking about how they would take this to the next level instead of just researching and inputting. Typically I model what needs to be done, then they copy it using a different province or territory and finally something is created using this new found knowledge.
The Grade 2s were using Kid pix and our network has been adjusted so that Kid pix now works again, so we may just get a slide show in before the break.
Meanwhile I am learning lots with PowerPoint. Today I was scanning in pages with success, added some voice, and have lots of the layout done ready to do the transitions. It is all coming together.

...so much to do, so little time!

I was away this weekend and did have my laptop, but no Internet connection. This was a good thing because it forced me to plan and create a storyboard template of what I would like to do for my PowerPoint presentation instead of doing more research. It also gave me a chance to read all of the materials that I had on hand.
Tomorrow I will create a few pages to use as my background templates. I know exactly what I would like to do and the materials are at work. I will then scan those pages and start creating. This has been a real weekend of planning and organizing my ideas. I hope everything comes together the way I am hoping it will, but the one thing we all know about technology is we must always have a back up plan just in case.
When I got back I was reading the forum and thinking about what I would like to do next in the classroom. I am hoping to create a digital story book using PowerPoint this week too. I think that would be great for a read aloud on the SMART board.
As far as PowerPoint goes, I haven't used it very much with my students because I did not use the program too much myself. Instead I have done storyboards using kid pix and then created slide shows with them. Now I see where this would be a great transition to PowerPoint through the year. Also our lab is acting up a lot these days as we wait for our new computers and KID PIX crashes a lot. I am interested to see how PowerPoint works in the lab. Perhaps I will move the Grade 4s on to PowerPoint second term instead of using Kid pix.
This blog has been good for me to record reflections as well as next steps. Even when I am not blogging now I am reflecting and looking ahead and thinking about how I will blog these thoughts. This has been a very good project for me as the reflection helps me think about how to improve and that is ALWAYS a good thing.

This week...

... has been a thinking and preparation week. I keep thinking of ways power point can be used in the classroom and then I brainstorm ideas that can be used. Now it is time to pull it all together. I am away from the Internet for the weekend, but will have my laptop with me and be putting all of the ideas and files I have together. I have a storyboard of sorts set up with sites and sound and visuals, so it should come together easily.

I am excited to see how this will work in my classroom as prior to this year I have limited time for preplanning things like power point lessons.

Let's hope for a GREAT weekend for everyone:)

..another fork in the road

Okay, tonight I have spent a lot of time researching ideas and sites for a presentation about nouns. Then I reread some of the PPP pdf files and realized that the idea had come to me from them. OH MY! So now I am looking at another direction.

I really am wanting something that will work with this grade 4 class. They are a true test as to whether it works or not. After brainstorming with a nursing friend on msn I came up with a few other ideas: she suggested adding and I switched that one to division and then I also keep coming back to the Social Studies Canada Unit. There is lots that can be done there. The only problem is there are already a lot of Canada ppps out there.

So, what I have decided is that I will perhaps try a Canada one for fun and play around with it, and then create a division one. If the Canada one is going well I may stick with it. If I do both then that works well for the Grade 4s, so it is a win win:)

I am excited about the division because I can take digital photos of classroom items and then use the SMART board software to divide the items into groupings. This actually fits in well with the division with remainder unit we do second term.

Since my friend and I brainstormed I have bookmarked some other sites and am ready to go with the other ideas.

..heading in a new direction!

Wow, I must say I really am getting a lot from the forum and others input. Someone the other day said to make sure that when creating our first PowerPoint presentations that we choose a topic that we are already confident with. This was a GREAT learning for me. I know I should have realized this, but I was off and running with several ideas that would be whole new units. Really this is not a good idea. So with this advice I changed the direction that I was heading in and feel so much better.

Then I read about someone who is trying out in class presentations. Another very thoughtful idea, especially for someone who has not used PowerPoint very much.

A special thanks to those who put their thoughts into words in the forum or on their blogs. You have been VERY helpful!

I was not near a computer much to write on my blog over the weekend but I did a lot of thinking yesterday about simplifying my plan. I think I will take a topic as simple as "nouns" and create a PowerPoint presentation about it. Since thinking along these lines I have found several sites that would support this. I could include a podcast and a podcast game: which one of these is not a noun? I could also include a video from learn360 and some digital photos. This brings in the learning we have done throughout this course and would help students learn what nouns are using different modalities.

Now that I have a topic and am ready to add things I will "play" with PowerPoint for the rest of the week and see what I can achieve.

Thinking ahead about topics

I know I must play around with some PowerPoint ideas and templates but my problem is where to begin. I have a few ideas that I am playing around with, some I have researched a bit about, some I will look into.
Here they are:
- a webquest: the quest would be from the Social Studies curriculum: Canada
- how to create a jeopardy game on the SMART board: content would be curriculum based and show staff how simple it is to change the game to suit the student's needs
- something literacy based from the inservice I am going to on Tuesday
- staff development: a current hot topic: aka HWDSB proposal to change the "rules"; how to use FIRST class, particularly how to find specific subject material in a conference

Lack of ideas is not my problem as you can see. I must narrow my ideas down and then stick with ONE of them.
I also must play around with PowerPoint and test some of the do's and don't's.

PowerPoint Presentations ..templates??

I like the points you are making about the templates. I was thinking along the same lines. Some templates are very helpful but many are dull and boring, so I guess the big question is how do you take a template and individualize it?

I agree with you about errors on the presentations. A few of the sites that I have been to talk about rehearsing or at least having someone edit your slides to make sure there are no errors. Of course every once in a while there is one that escapes the eye, BUT if that does happen then it should be fixed as soon as it is caught.

I think I need to just play with some Power Point templates and see what happens.

Power Point Presentations

Right now my mind is whirling with all of the possibilities for the last presentation as well as all of the presentations I have seen with and without technology and what makes them GOOD, what makes them bad.
I have recorded a few of my thoughts here:
Good ones grab me. They have at least one thing that I see or hear that leaves me thinking. The sound, pictures, and movement all work together and flow. If there is a speaker they are clear and concise with passion in their voices. The transitions gently carry your eye from one slide to the next instead of leaving you on the verge of a migraine. The font is large enough to read and legible without moving too quickly so I don't get a chance to read what is written.
Bad ones leave me yawning, the backgrounds are repetitive and monotonous or too busy, and overall it lacks a flow. Sometimes the slide transitions are choppy, sometimes the colours clash, and sometimes the sound does not match the overall theme.

Then I went online and found a few sights that support my own thoughts but also give me more to think about. I checked out: Gleez! How to make a GREAT PowerPoint presentation, Death by PowerPoint, and The Seven Deadly Sins of Powerpoint Presentations.

Death by PowerPoint is very clear and concise. It tends to deal more with business presentations but really does give clear information. I particularly thought Slide 47 was a great one after our last assignment. It says, "Less text, more imagery, wild imagery." The Gleez site is well laid out and has great ideas and the Seven Deadly Sins site has good ideas but is very boring to look at and read.

This research and what has already been on the forum gives me a starting point as to what to do and not to do when creating a PowerPoint presentation.

My learning style

Well I am learning a lot about myself throughout this course. The blog has certainly taught me that I think a lot and my ideas float around in my head with no real organization at first and then I sift through them and finally I write them. For essay writing or report writing this has always worked for me. I research or mark and grade, then I think and ponder and look over things but I do not write until almost the deadline.
This does not mean I have left things until the last minute or that I am not doing any research or thinking, only that I am not one to record things. This is not a good strategy for a Blog because then there is this feeling of having to catch up.
What I learn is that different people learn different ways and writing journals or blogging are not my strengths. As I tell my students, this does not mean I give up on blogging, this means I have to put more effort into writing blogs.

This weekend is a very busy one as I finalize my essay and get my reports underway.

Graphers

Graphers is a great program for data management and probability. I begin by guiding the students through a sample lesson. Then the students must create 2 graphs successfully using data from premade cards. In the notebook section the students must analyze the data on their graphs using math vocabulary like: more than / less than, etc. Once students do this they get to move up to the next level. They are motivated to analyze the data correctly in order to move up. They then use the themes from Graphers to create a graph independently. This means they create their own question and tally chart, collect the data, create the graph and then analyze the data.

This has been a very successful unit because I conference with the students after they analyze the first graph, then they know exactly what they are missing and must do better on the second one in order to move to the challenge. It is also an excellent unit for students who have difficulty with fine motor skills because all of the graphs look perfect!

Digital Cameras in the Primary Classroom

Today I thought about having students be investigative recorders and go on a scavenger hunt to find a variety of "things" in the classroom. Things like: number patterns, geometric patterns, 2 D shapes, 3 D shapes, etc
I had been online and found another site with great ideas: Using the Digital Classroom in the Primary Classroom and this site helped me start to make an extensive list. Now I cannot wait to take my camera in to try this out.

..a very visual day with the SMARTboard

I think sometimes we add a lot more visuals in a day to enhance learning than we realize. Today I was thinking about that throughout my lessons. First we did our daily math practice question and took it up on the SMARTboard. This is awesome because the question gets scanned in from the text and so the teacher can model the key things to highlight in the question and the students can watch.
Later, during a math lesson I used a template that I have with base ten blocks and the infinite cloner. This helps students see exactly how you trade a 100 flat into 10 rods. The lesson included a chart which again was scanned in and modeled right in front of all students. Students also come up to the board to record their answers and they LOVE writing on the SMARTboard. It is so motivational. (Errors can be swiped off and corrected so easily.)
Lastly, I used the SMARTboard with both grade 1 classes to show them how to write lists. We created a list of classroom rules together. The grade 1 students call it the MAGIC board. Again, the lesson can be demonstrated in front of the students very specifically so they understand what the expectations are.
All in all a very good visual day. Unfortunately the lessons are at school. I will add a couple of samples in my next blog.

Looking Ahead, Visually...

I looked at a number of websites today and saved them so that I can check them out and see it any of them are useful for the next assignment. It is "Technology and the Visual Learner". This is what I have so far:

http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=6753
http://www.hardin.k12.ky.us/res_techn/tec/digitalcamera/primary.htm
http://www.wacom-asia.com/casestudy/case/hong-kong-cannosa-primary-schools-digital-art-studio
http://www.wacona.com/digicam/digicam.html
http://www.adobe.com/education/instruction/adsc/
http://themes.pppst.com/digitalcameras.html
http://www.rockdale.k12.ga.us/personal/mholbrook/dig_photos/default.aspx
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/digital-camera.htm

Now I need to go through and weed them out to see if there is any useful material there. At a quick glance there was.

Data Management and the Grade 4s

I had Grade 4s in the lab today and was all ready to model the Graphers program. This unit works well because first I model the program, then the students try it out. After that they have to complete step by step cards to finish a graph. Once they have met with success they are challenged to create their own graph beginning with their own question, then gather data, and then creating the graph on Graphers by applying the knowledge they have from the original cards.

It is a very differentiated unit and works well. Students learn to help each other during the "Try It" stage and I am available for extra teaching as well. In the meantime, those who understand can move ahead.

However, today I stuck with review of the Canada material. With the outbreak we only had 10 students in each class. Flexibility is the key in any subject, any grade!

Reflection

After rereading all of the forum notes last night I became aware of the fact I have not blogged all of the research and thoughts I have had during the audio forum. I bookmarked site after site and kept many jot notes in a word doc, but I did not record them in my blog.

I reflected on how the use of audio could enhance all subject areas at all grade levels. I searched under subjects such as: science, math, phys. ed. I searched under podcasts and audio, and I searched for material for children.

While searching I also read through the Ontario curriculum documents to make sure that my ideas aligned with the curriculum in some way. At this time I realized how much some ideas integrated different subjects.

In the end, I decided that I would like to make podcasting a part of my program. I have begun podcasts that I prepared and the students loved them. I promised them that they will be creating their own podcasts soon. This really excited them.

On Friday I used audacity and realized how simple it is to use, so I do believe this is an attainable goal. A goal that I am very excited about.

Audacity

For the past week I have tried to download audacity and have not had very much success. Yesterday I found some information on one of our HWDSB conferences and it was a big help. Although it did not help with the download itself, it and encouragement from others on the forum helped me move forward instead of quitting.
I went back to the download site and the same error came up. Then I contacted our IT and she sent me a link that got me directly to the download. This worked.
Once I had audacity downloaded I followed the instructions step by step with success. I played around with the program, recording and erasing, and time flew by. Now I see the advantages to this sort of program. It is quick and easy, teacher and student friendly, and can be saved or erased depending on the outcome.
Then the saved works can be save to a usb or on a website which makes it available to a lot more people than a cassette or CD does.

Keeping up...

I am really enjoying this course. I must admit that at times I am intimidated by the knowledge of others, but at the same time I realize we each have a different area of expertise and bring different focuses to the Forum.
The challenges I have are: our school equipment is older and simple programs like Kidpix and not working. They freeze as soon as they are loaded; we are an elementary school so we do not have the more intricate programs in use that a middle school or high school have; and I want to try and do it all successful and there are just way too many good ideas.
In the meantime, I focus on what needs to be done to meet the needs of the classes that I teach with the equipment that I have. I am more fortunate than many as I rallied for a SMARTboard and we now have 3 in our school. The students love the SMARTboard and it is so interactive that it motivates the students to learn.
In the lab, the Grade 4s have been doing a lower level Blooms activity. They have been locating provinces and territories. It always amazes me how quickly the IEP students and other struggling students learn these when all they have to do is point and click. This unit expands in second term and the students go on a webquest. So as you can see, we start out with the thinking and knowledge component first term and at this time a lot of guiding and modeling occurs. Then second term, the students start applying the knowledge to complete a webquest and third term is more open ended and students are expected to research and use their knowledge to be creative.
We have finished our Social Studies in the lab for this term and now move on to Data Management.

Blogs

The classroom blog has really created an interest in writing. Not only has this interest been created, but students are finally seeing the importance of editing. 8 students have written a response, conferenced and added their input on the blog.
Unfortunately I have discovered over the last few days that the blog I am using has a limited number of lines for responses and this has been frustrating, but it is a learning experience for my class and myself, so that is a good thing from a bad thing.
In the meantime, I am creating some higher level blog questions that require short answers.

Taking Vocabulary Podcasts to another level

The vocabulary podcasts are proving to be successful motivators in my Grade 4 class so I was thinking about how this type of thing could be extended into different grades and subjects. There are several ways that I could think of that short podcasts could be incorporated.

• science or math formula could be produced for daily short podcasts and then put online for study purposes
• french (and other languages) verb conjugation lists (especially irregular verbs) could be done on podcasts subject specific vocabulary podcasts
• literacy: a higher level question could be on a podcast prior to a read aloud or prior to a unit of study
• health: a healthy eating tip of the day could be announced
• music: name that tune, composer, instrument..
• visual arts: a podcast critiquing a specific piece of art or with a question specific to a piece of art

These ideas could become further challenges by having the students create the podcasts. These could be open ended for the higher level thinkers and students who need help could get specific, step by step instructions or peer help. This would encourage students to plan, create, and produce a podcast. I am planning to have the Grade 4s do this with the "Word of the Week".

Classroom Website

Today was a very exciting day in our class. We finally got our classroom website up and running. There is a blog question on the site. Students must respond in writing to the question and then we conference together to get a "finished and fabulous" copy that is good enough to type onto the blog. 4 students managed to complete the answer and type it onto the blog. They were so motivated and very excited. One of the 4 was an IEP student, in grade 4 working at a Grade 1 Reading/Writing level. That was awesome.

Also on the site is the "Word of the Week" podcast. The students loved it and are motivated to learn new words and want to have a turn to be the "Word of the Week" announcer. This course has been very motivational to me and this made learning much more fun for the students in my class.

"Word of the Week" Podcasts

I discovered a couple of great sites with vocabulary podcasts on them and from there I have developed a section on our classroom website with a "Word of the Week". This week the word prefix was introduced along with the prefix un-, so I created a podcast with the definition of prefix and then a sample to go with it.
What a great way to motivate students to learn spelling rules. Once they realize how the "Word of the Week" works then I will train a student or two to record it. Then those students can train other students. This can easily become a center in my guided reading program.

In the meantime, in the lab I had some great success with a website that tests student's knowledge of where the provinces and territories are. I have them do the quiz first and record their marks then I challenge them to beat their score within two weeks. Then we go off on other sites to learn the province's/territories' names. The students get so excited using the computers vs how bored they are when I do it with the texts. When it does come time to label and colour the maps the students are confident and do a great job overall.

There are lots of positive things happening with computers and grade 4s this year.

My Exposure to Podcasts

On first reading "Podcasts" in the Assignments section I thought about what exposure I have to them so far. Really I didn't think that I had any. Then I got thinking a little more and realized that a year ago when I began walking someone recommended a podcast to walk/run to. It was a couch to 5km in 9 week program: Podcasts for Running. These podcasts are awesome for auditory learners like myself. I realize now that I have always had a problem with my breathing when walking or running. The podcasts helped because with them my body fell into a natural rhythm. So before reading any research whatsoever I can see specific benefits to using podcasts, particularly with auditory learners.

It seems to me I also used a podcast once to double check how to cook a turkey. Then two weeks ago when I was at an inservice about First Class, podcasts were part of the agenda. This really helped me to fully understand what podcasts are all about.

While in the lab with the grade 4s today we were using an interactive website to test whether students can locate provinces and territories. As we were doing this I thought that it would be really helpful if there was sound with the program. This would have really helped the ESL learners and the IEP students who are unable to read the print.

Now I have cruised the web a little bit and realize that there are endless things that can be done and are being done with podcasts everywhere, including in the classroom. Now I want to see how I can implement podcasts into my class.

Back Up Plans

Well I must say I am very frustrated in the lab this year, but I have done this enough times to know that just before a roll out of new machines everything starts to freeze up and break down.
Yesterday I modeled how to create a tally chart using Kidpix, for the Grade 2 class. They excitedly logged on and got started, one by one EVERY machine in the lab froze, before Kidpix was even fully functional. This is so disappointing for the students. The message for us all is to have a non computer back up plan just in case.

You never know when the Board IT guy is going to come along to reimage machines, the machines are going to freeze or the network itself is going to go down, therefore as in anything that involves power, make sure you have a back up plan.

With the grade 2s, although they were disappointed, they created hand drawn tally charts and collected their data. This is a good lesson for them too.

Word Processors

Student Writing Center is a great word/processing program that works to transition students from Kidpix to Microsoft Office. The menu items are easily viewed and accessible for changing font, inserting pictures or changing alignment.

We don't tend to think of Word Processors when thinking in terms of Bloom's Taxonomy, however many elements are addressed. When using a word processor of any kind students may be planning, designing, creating,producing, organising, listing, etc. Often the "everyday" programs are overlooked because we take them for granted.

It is such fun to watch the development from students in Grade 1 seeing letters appear for the first time when typing on Kidpix, to creating a sign or poster, or writing a report in Student Writing Center, and then planning, designing, and creating a pamphlet or newsletter on Microsoft Publisher.

Grade 4 software reflection: Cross Country Canada

With the Grade 4s I do a lot of Social Studies based lessons. Typically I begin the year by teaching the game Cross Country Canada. Pardon me, early in my career I was told I cannot use the word game because that would suggest there is no learning involved. (wink, wink) However anyone who knows the "program" Cross Country Canada would know that it touches on the following Grade 4 expectations:
- describe a variety of exchanges that occur among the communities and regions of Ontario
- identify Canada's provinces and territories
-identify the natural resources necessary to create Canadian products, and the provinces and territories from which they originate
-use cardinal and intermediate directions

While this game seems very straight forward there is logic involved in determining which city a commodity should be picked up in and planning out a route. The program also shows the climate in the various regions, e.g. it always snows when you go to Thomson, Manitoba. Students who need a challenge can gather more commodities or read details about the city or province they are entering. This could be used for note taking as well.

This program has always been a favourite, but as in all learning it works best if the teacher models then guides the students through the lesson first. I do this using LanSchool in the lab or with a pre lesson in the classroom on the SMARTboard.

By the time the students have caught on to this program the board has sent out the IDs for the students and the research component of the unit begins. Cross Country Canada is then used as a reward for finishers or as a back up when our machines crash trying to get on the Internet to do our research lessons.

Reflecting on Software

Well I have not updated my blog lately as we had a family wedding Saturday and I did not get near my computer all weekend, but while keeping busy I was reflecting on the various software programs I have used over the years and where computers fit into the curriculum.

We have a wide range of programs in our lab but the program I use most with the primary students is Kidpix. This is a program that very easily leads primary students through beginning word processing as well as painting. The subject areas I use this most with are Mathematics and Social Studies as these are the subjects I am teaching in the lab.

In Math, Kidpix is an awesome program for developing patterns. Students create their own complete patterns, then the complete partial patterns and trade with a buddy to complete each others. We often do this after using Plumo at the Zoo. The "peacock" is a patterning activity that progresses at the child's pace. Students who have difficulty with a basic a b a b pattern stay with that until they are proficients. If the student gets the pattern then he/she progresses.

In Data Management, students create tally charts, print them off, collect data in the lab and then create pictographs using Kidpix.

The lab provides an opportunity for students with varying learning styles to demonstrate their understanding differently and with success.

Reflections on the Lab

Everything in the lab is settling down. There are only two machines that are still done and the IT emailed yesterday that he has the server for one and will check the other when he is in. The wiring IT was in earlier this week to check the wiring for the new roll out and all is looking ready, but we are not on the roll out list yet and the newest list goes to December 2009.
The good news is we will be ready when the time does come.

The Grade 1 classes now know the computer lab routine and are ready to learn the programs. I find that many know how to open games and click, but very few really know how to play the games. This is the same for all of the grades I teach, so I model the game first using either the SMARTboard or LanSchool or both.

I modelled: "How to evaluate a website?" this week with the Grade 4s. We were looking for sites that would be appropriate for grade 1 and what makes the site appropriate or inappropriate. I find it works well doing this with the grade 4s for grade 1 because some of the students read a lower reading level and this allows them all to be at the same place.

The grade 2s will be starting Data Management and graphing using the computers next week.

Also, all of the student IDs are in now so I will pass them out to the other staff so the students can save their work.

All in all a very good week in the lab.

Today was a great day all round from a computer perspective.

First the lab computers were working well, slow, but well.

Second, I went to a computer inservice on creating a web page, blogging, and podcasting in First Class. It was great because I had the interest and background knowledge I needed from the Computer Part 1 course and this inservice showed me a simple way to begin blogs in my classroom.

Our IT who does the First Class trainings is very humble and runs a great inservice. Now I am ready to blog with the grade 4s.

Computer Lab Reflection

I have had a frustrating start in the lab this year. First the wiring issue, then the cluster IT came in and helped me get the machines up and running, but the Internet and Kidpix grind the machines to a halt.

It is so unfair for the kids. Sometimes it takes the whole period just to log a machine on. I am trying to get the staff to leave the open id on permenantly since we do not have our individual student IDs yet, but some still insist the machines get shut down at the end of their visit.
Needless to say I am revamping my program because September/October I usually have the Grade 1s and 2s doing an assignment in Kidpix and the Grade 4s do research using the Interent.

I looked through the Internet permission forms today and all are in except my two non English speaking students. We are waiting a meeting with an interpreter in order for them to get all of their forms in, but I can easily find reading activities to help them for now.

This just means I need to pull some other activities out and try them out.

Reflecting on the Internet from the Past to Now

The next topic for the online course is Internet safety. This topic is one I have found interesting to follow over the past several years.

First, I have a daughter (now 20) who in Grade 7 was caught up in a bit of a mess because of the Internet. She and her friends were at that naive stage where they all exchanged msn names and passwords. Sadly one of the friends was not such a good friend and would sign on as one of the others and say nasty things about the other friends. This went on for awhile and eventually death threats were made and when the school was notified the police were called in. The girls learned some very valuable lessons through this, but they did learn the hard way.

Next, I remember first using the Internet with classes prior to any board having any real stand about safety. Not only did we not have rules, cyber tips, or safety programs, we did not have any sort of blocks for sites. No one really knew at that time what we were up against. There was a search engine specifically for kids and if an "s" was added or forgotten at the end the kids reached a porn site of sorts. Thankfully there are much better filters now.

Then there was the day that two boys tested out www.fart.com. (NOT meant to be a link) Yes, those were interesting times. Since then our board has had many inservices for ITs and staff, and an internet form is now distributed that all students and parents must sign in order for the Internet to be used by a student.

We now use "Student Link" as our home page. It is very user friendly and keeps students from 'straying' on their own. To see a sample of this go to: www.studentlink.ca

HWDSB also has programs for the middle school students and our community officer makes cyber bullying part of her bullying presentation each year. (The OPP safety tips are sent home after the presentation.)

Certainly what I have learned is that everyone needs to be educated when it comes to Internet safety: educators, parents and students.

Internet Safety

Internet safety is something that baffles me. I know that our board has a pilot program and a program about it. I am the IT and they are always offering the pilot programs to the Grade 7 and 8s. There is nothing specific for the grade 4s, but I try to make sure the students know that they should not be putting their names, addresses and phone numbers on anything without parental consent. We also have the community police officer come in and do a presentation on bullying and part of that presentation is about cyberbullying. It is very well done.

Our board believes, "We need to educate parents, children and the community about safety online." This is stated specifically in the following newspaper article and the article ends with a very important message reminding us that children must be taught about the dangers of the Internet: http://www.hwdsb.on.ca/media/news/details.aspx?id=242&Page=0&year=2006&profiling=2

What truly baffles me is the lack of parental involvement with respect to what the children are doing on the Internet. Parents are so protective and worried about the dangers of strangers outside that they are allowing their children to stay inside on the Internet and feel this is a safe place for them to be. Educating the parents about Internet safety and having them be accountable for their children, especially when they are very young, is our biggest challenge.

Reflection

Today I am looking at how things are lining up in the computer lab. This was a difficult start because we got all new flooring in the lab, so all of the computers had to be rewired. We are also awaiting our new lab roll out which means our machines are getting a little old and tired. Needless to say today was the first day that I really felt things there were up and rolling.
Our board techie has been very helpful in getting some of the machines reimaged and he has replaced some boards and fixed some power switches. That is the type of stuff that is beyond what I can do.
All of the classes I teach have now been in the lab and had a chance to use the computers. The grade 1s will learn how to login, once we have the IDs from the board ITs, the grade 2s will be working on a math strand that will also help them develop specific computer skills. The grade 4s have already had "Cross Country Canada" modeled for them and a few students have completed trips. This is the "game" they are allowed to go to when they complete part of their Social Studies assignment. It is a great motivator.
Typically it takes two weeks to get all of the kinks out of the lab and get the students into the lab routine. We are off to a great start.

As I continue to plan how to use a blog within my grade 4 classroom to promote literacy, I also reflect on the article by David Huffaker. I know that there are many ways that literacy can be promoted without technology, but I am of the mindset that the more ways we can reach children and motivate them to read and write, the better.

I believe that using a blog in a Grade 4 classroom can be a good format for teaching children to respect the internet, learn ‘netiquette’, and become aware of the long term ramifications if they are not careful about what they put on a blog or website.

Blogging Articles

Throughout the summer I have come in contact with several people who have blogs and have either shown me their blogs or sent me their links. I also keep hearing on the radio that if I would like more information on a certain topic I should check out the radio hosts blog. As a result I have been “lurking” blogs to see what they are all about. However, in all the reading that I did I never commented on any of the blogs. I am not sure why. Perhaps it is because I am reluctant to have my name out in the world, perhaps it is because I never felt my addition would “make a difference”, or perhaps it is because blogging is new to me and writing was a risk.

I think my last statement was a key! I felt that blogging was new and writing was a risk. I am of a different generation than this new generation of risk takers as Stephen Downes discusses in his blog, “An Operating System for the Mind”. I know my math facts and I was a good speller in school, but I am reluctant to write on a blog because it I feel threatened. What I really hope for my grade 4 students is that they will learn to love to write and not feel that it is a risk. I hope they have the confidence that I lack when it comes to writing in a forum where others are watching.

Reading the articles: “Educational Blogging” by Stephen Downes and “The Educated Blogger: Using Weblogs to Promote Literacy in the Classroom” by David Huffaker made me envious of the students today who are not afraid of putting their thoughts into words. David Huffaker explains that the highest percentage of bloggers is in the 13 to 20 age bracket and this is reflected in information that I got while talking to a scout leader about blogging. He said that they are looking for a way to get information out to the scouts in a different format than a newsletter because they did not feel the newsletters were being read. For this reason the scouter set up the newsletters in a blog format. From the beginning of September to September 18 the blog had 191 hits! This is great news. Although I realize that does not mean the blog has been read, I do know there is a possibility. It is exciting to think that kids are reading because they want to.

When I first read that beginning a blog was part of this course I was extremely intimidated. Then I tried to create one and I lost what I created. This did not help my nervousness, but I kept at it. I had a friend chatting online and she helped and then I went to the forum and saw what others had done and went back and tried again.

After creating the blog site I went and checked out a few other sites created for the course and I realized that I wrote a reflection about blogging instead of an introduction. I was embarrassed, but the damage was done and I had taken the risk, so I decided I would just continue on the path. Stephen Downes article made me feel better because he discussed how blogging might be used with a set format or people could choose different formats. His article made me feel that blogging was very individual, so I stopped comparing my blog to other people’s blogs and instead decided to watch my blog develop and in the end I hope to see some sort of development.

Both articles helped peak my interest and I am looking to investigate use of blogs in elementary grades. As Huffaker says, “Weblogs are an excellent way to fuse educational technology and storytelling inside the classroom and beyond school walls.” I would love to implement a blog into my classroom program so my students build the confidence to be good writers.

Thoughts on Backup_Education

I found this article very interesting as it is a topic that arises often in our staff room. We have some retired staff members who had a very different viewpoint on technology in education. Some actually felt that computers should not be a part of the elementary school system for reasons that were sited in this article. They felt children were not learning the basic skills such as math facts and cursive writing.

It really is interesting to listen to different opinions on this topic and the opinions can be very heated. I cannot imagine a world without books and I feel there is a need for children to learn to read, to spell and to learn basic math facts in order for them to have a foundation to help build their learning with or without technology. However, having said that, I also realize that some students will never learn their facts and for them a calculator is a very valuable tool, as is spell check for children who struggle with spelling, etc.

It is hard to tell if the future will have a need for pencils and pens, but then at one time a future without horses and buggies was hard to conceive.

My Introduction

It seems that I misunderstood and introduced the blogging instead of myself. So here goes...
I am really enjoying this course and am learning so much already. I currently teach Grade 4 and also teach Grades 1, 2 and 4 in the lab in a mini rotary setting which I absolutely love. I have been teaching for over 25 years, but love to try my best to keep up with new innovative ideas.

In my classroom, I am fortunate enough to have a SMART board and a printer/scanner. From the sounds of it I use my scanner in a way that a Document Camera is used, but I think the Document Camera would be much more efficient.

This is my first online course, so if you notice me fumbling, please guide me.
I look forward to learning and sharing ideas.
Marj

SMART board fun

Today I had the grade 1s for computer and our lab is a little dysfunctional right now. A new floor was put in and the machines were all unplugged and they are not all up and running, so I took the grade 1 classes to my classroom to experience the SMART board.
After some great discussion about what it was and clues about what it did each student got to print their own name. They loved it and each got to "try" out the magic board. (This is what they called it :)

Introduction to Blogging

Blogging is something that I have been interested in lately and I have asked a few friends and colleagues about. I have also checked a few different blogs out, but nothing consistently.

Blogging interests me because I can see how through blogging you can encourage others to try things and also give and get new ideas. However, I am nervous about blogging because I have never been good at writing regular journals and I am always afraid that what I am writing is not of importance to anyone.

I see, though, that blogging could be a useful tool to reflect on lessons: the kid’s reactions, the relevance to curriculum and how the lessons work into the school / board / ministry focus.

This year our school focus is on writing, so beginning a blog could be very valuable to me in many ways.

I really hope this attempt at blogging works for me tonight because I have set up 2 or 3 accounts now and somehow keep losing them. I have done some investigating and chatted with a friend on msn and she sent me a youtube video that helped me out a lot!

Here's hoping this blog is the beginning of many :)