Hey all!
I'm excited about our Skype conversation tomorrow; I missed the last one! Tonia, Nicole, and I are going to have a collaborative meeting tomorrow afternoon, so it will be a great time to touch base.
Just got off of my fall break and am getting back into the swing of things. I attended the Star teacher inservice, which was really interesting in regards to uncovering the standards framework and moving toward consistency in district planning. Be sure to check out my Star Teacher Blog when you have a moment.
It would be really cool if we could have students create SmartBoard presentations on specific topics and then share those presentations with classrooms around the district. A "SmartBoard Exchange" program, if you will. Lots of student-to-student opportunity there.
Happy October!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
ZOOM! This Was A Fast Month!
It's hard to believe it's already the end of September. I feel like a I'm in a cave that has been hit by a tornado. Strategic planning and the question of how to move kids pops up constantly in our weekly progress monitoring meetings. The days run into weeks and weeks roll into months. This being my second year, I thought things would be easier. Oh, how wrong I was. Though the struggles are different, it has still been a difficult year. Last year I was concerned about my classroom management and teaching myself to, well, teach. This year, I'm refining my abilities, content, and how I monitor student understanding. I feel I have a better picture of my students' abilities and now the question is, "How do I use the data to help them improve their skills?"
I've used my Smard Board plenty this month but I still need to become more familiar with it's functions other than camera shots and writing on the board. I'm working with other global learners to incorporate virtual communication across the district. I'm more of a wiz with United Streaming and using my laptop and projector as a scaffolding tool. My goal for next month is to prepare my students for blogging.
I've used my Smard Board plenty this month but I still need to become more familiar with it's functions other than camera shots and writing on the board. I'm working with other global learners to incorporate virtual communication across the district. I'm more of a wiz with United Streaming and using my laptop and projector as a scaffolding tool. My goal for next month is to prepare my students for blogging.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Struggles with the SmartBoard
This is a cross post with the high school's math blog.
After taking a math technology course this summer, one of my projects was to prepare a tech lesson extending past our comfort zone. With me, it's the SmartBoard. I planned a lesson around congruency shortcuts of triangles because I thought that the ability to manipulate the tools (ruler and protractors) as well as the triangles themselves would be an appropriate use of the capabilities of the SmartBoard. I felt a had a great lesson, with background-building vocabulary, questions with answers covered with the screen shade, sequential topics to investigate which short-cuts work, and conversation topics for each slide--all prepared on the SmartBoard notebook.
However, as I'm sure we've all experienced, the lessons that seem great in theory flop in the classroom. I struggled very hard to line up my ruler and protractor using my finger, so measuring 3 pieces of two different triangles was long and frustrating. Even sorting objects by dragging them around seemed difficult and tedious. If I got a student brave enough to attack the tools, it still left the rest of the class unengaged and bored quickly. I adapted the rest of the lesson in order to cover the main points. Any writing I did was very hard to read since my orientation was off no matter how many times I tried to readjust (and my SmartBoard was against the wall.)
The main points of the SmartBoard that I would like to exploit are the ability to work out problems and record in real time and/or save and the manipulablity. Without these features, I don't see much difference than projecting on a regular screen. I try to be very cautious about using technology effectively and not just for the sake of using technology. However, I do not feel that the ability to save is great enough to offset the difficulties in writing and reading the work. And the ability to manipulate items can be powerful... for the person doing it, but leaves the rest of the class unengaged. It would be no different than me manipulating something from my laptop or with a wireless mouse for the class to view on a regular screen.
With this, I am looking forward to the Global Leaner chat this week, which happens to be about SmartBoards. I would love feedback on how the SmartBoard is used effectively in your classes, especially with secondary students. How does it keep the whole class engages? How does it benefit students who miss class? How can the benefits over projecting on a screen be maximized? And how can all of this be done on a regular basis?
After taking a math technology course this summer, one of my projects was to prepare a tech lesson extending past our comfort zone. With me, it's the SmartBoard. I planned a lesson around congruency shortcuts of triangles because I thought that the ability to manipulate the tools (ruler and protractors) as well as the triangles themselves would be an appropriate use of the capabilities of the SmartBoard. I felt a had a great lesson, with background-building vocabulary, questions with answers covered with the screen shade, sequential topics to investigate which short-cuts work, and conversation topics for each slide--all prepared on the SmartBoard notebook.
However, as I'm sure we've all experienced, the lessons that seem great in theory flop in the classroom. I struggled very hard to line up my ruler and protractor using my finger, so measuring 3 pieces of two different triangles was long and frustrating. Even sorting objects by dragging them around seemed difficult and tedious. If I got a student brave enough to attack the tools, it still left the rest of the class unengaged and bored quickly. I adapted the rest of the lesson in order to cover the main points. Any writing I did was very hard to read since my orientation was off no matter how many times I tried to readjust (and my SmartBoard was against the wall.)
The main points of the SmartBoard that I would like to exploit are the ability to work out problems and record in real time and/or save and the manipulablity. Without these features, I don't see much difference than projecting on a regular screen. I try to be very cautious about using technology effectively and not just for the sake of using technology. However, I do not feel that the ability to save is great enough to offset the difficulties in writing and reading the work. And the ability to manipulate items can be powerful... for the person doing it, but leaves the rest of the class unengaged. It would be no different than me manipulating something from my laptop or with a wireless mouse for the class to view on a regular screen.
With this, I am looking forward to the Global Leaner chat this week, which happens to be about SmartBoards. I would love feedback on how the SmartBoard is used effectively in your classes, especially with secondary students. How does it keep the whole class engages? How does it benefit students who miss class? How can the benefits over projecting on a screen be maximized? And how can all of this be done on a regular basis?
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Are we using the Smartboard today?
My students ask me this everyday. They absolutely love it. I have mainly been using if for language and math. I found some great lessons in language on complete sentences and nouns and verbs. I have found that my students really understand the concept and their writing has improved.
I try to find a lesson everyday that goes along with what I am teaching in math. There are great lessons on estimation, rounding, greater than/less than, odd and even, fact families and more. All of these are in our GLETS and the kids have so much fun. They are all participating and paying attention when we use the Smartboard!
I try to find a lesson everyday that goes along with what I am teaching in math. There are great lessons on estimation, rounding, greater than/less than, odd and even, fact families and more. All of these are in our GLETS and the kids have so much fun. They are all participating and paying attention when we use the Smartboard!
Friday, September 26, 2008
New favorite question
My new favorite question that I get asked on a regular basis: "Mr., can I blog today?" I hear it much more frequently than might be expected, and the students who ask are actually blogging, rather than surfing or trying to get on MySpace, etc. This is definitely something I wish I had started a while back. I'm absolutely thrilled that my students want to write on such a regular basis!
For now, the blogs have been pretty basic and have been limited to simply answering a question of the week. As the year progresses, I will be adding expectations to the blogs and get closer to the ideas presented in the Richardson book. We're off to a great start, though!
For now, the blogs have been pretty basic and have been limited to simply answering a question of the week. As the year progresses, I will be adding expectations to the blogs and get closer to the ideas presented in the Richardson book. We're off to a great start, though!
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Podcast Uploading
Just wanted to share an easy and fast way to upload ipod recordings to your blog. All you need to do is download the recordings into itunes. Convert the recordings to an MP3 recording (you can do this with itunes or open and save as using audacity). Once you have the MP3 you are set to use www.booMP3.com. It's a quick user set-up and once you figure it out it takes about 1-2 minutes per student. You can check our responsibility recordings through our blog! You may click on almost any child's name to hear their responsibilities at home, school, neighborhood and the playground.
Enjoy and feel free to ask questions!
Enjoy and feel free to ask questions!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Education in the 21st century, part 2
Just wanted to let people know that I've just posted part two of my series on education in the 21st century to the Elephant Journal website. In case you missed it, part one is here. Elephant Journal isn't blocked any more, so feel free to share the articles (and comment, of course!) and pass the links along! :-)
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