Final Project

I am looking forward to working with my students and colleagues on the Sustainability Project. This project will help student realize that change can start with one person, one family, one grade, and one school. Hopefully this message and new habits will continue to spread to one, community, one country, and one world. I know that some of the students are already interested in using their technology skills to communicate their learning via a Public Service Announcement. This authentic and engaging project will enable the Grade 5 students the opportunity to not only showcase their technology skills and their learnings. It has the potential to also reach larger and more authentic audience that will hopefully recognize the importance of their cause and join it. This Sustainability Link directs you to a page with more detailed information about the project.

photo credit: http://www.buffalo.edu/greener_ub/images/env_student.jpg

Peripherals

Image Attribution: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mastermaq/2555680503/

We are so fortunate to work at a school that truly embraces technology. We have access to some great tools. Here is a short list of some of the Peripherals that I use on a regular basis:

1 Document Camera-I use the document camera on a daily basis in conjunction with the projector to display a wide range of things from plants to coins. It is a great tool to use to display student work for everyone to see. With the new Math Program it allows students to share their various problem solving strategies.

2 Digital Camera-I use this for a variety of reasons including documenting the school year. I always put together an end of the year slideshow which the students and parents enjoy and have access to on either their flash drive or a CD. It is also great to use on field trips and to take photos for digital story telling.

3 Flash Drive-Each student in my class has their own flash drive which they use to transport mainly word documents to and fro school and home. This allows them to complete assignments outside of the classroom.

4 Microphone-The students will use microphones when they want to record quality sound for projects such as Podcasts.

5 Flip HD Recorder-The new flip cameras are great since they are light, compact and record high quality video on flash memory. They are simple to use and I have used them to record my students presenting science projects. I then downloaded to video and the students watched themselves and self-accessed their presentation skills. i think this was an enlightening experience.

Laptop management

I feel very fortunate that my students have access to 12 computers almost all the time. Each grade 5 classroom has been provided with one cart of 12 computers. We also arrange with our colleagues times in which we will loan our carts out to other Grade 5 Classes. This allows us to have many opportunities to have a 1 on 1 computer/student ratio. Some of the things that I do in my classroom to help manage these laptops are:

1-Ensure that all students are aware that using the computers is a privilege and not a right. They can loose this privilege by not following expectations such as caring for the computers and/or using them in an inappropriate manner

2-All students are expected to wash their hands before use

3-I have two computer cart helps that assist with transporting the carts, distributing the computers and ensuring that they are returned and plugged in for charging in the correct space

4-I have designated students that a "tech experts" that are available to assist their peers with various applications

5-I use the "Fist" method to have the students partially close their computers when directions and redirection are given to ensure that they are focused.

Probably most importantly I am open to suggestions on any systems or strategies that may work even better in the class room.

Is NETS relevant to being a "Good Teacher"?

How relevant are the NETS for Teachers and Administrators to being a "Good Educator"? The standards in the NETS are very important to being a good teacher regardless of the technology aspect and integration. If you take out the technology jargon, the 5 general themes highlighted in the NETS includes:

1-Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity

2-Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments

3-Model Digital-Age Work and Learning

4-Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility

5-Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership

You can see that if you take out the digital references, these are the things "Good Teachers" were doing long before computers became part of the classroom landscape. So I don't think that it is necessary for "Good Teacher" to feel obligated to use technology tools in the classroom, but "Good Teachers" will always seek out the best tools that are available to help enhance the learning of their students-whether that be a piece of chalk or a digital flip camera.

Image Attribution: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia8KRzGPxFDmhZhR2HYh5UQZEK0n9nzBbVOwi1J73lCBXZokEbJa-HyZ14rO8RKbavDR8x5Y1SBSpqicm7cGnL9pJgHocrrolVbRlDaK4SWhGaN5AzOVinE9cw9NAcdIIOcwYFLYLFKSs/s400/one-room-school.jpg

Can schools ensure that students are learning technology and information literacy?

I guess a bigger question is "Can schools ensure that students are learning any curriculum?" The best way to ensure that a certain curriculum is being taught to to make it part of the schools curricula with a clear scope and sequence. It would also be important to have some hard data to determine if the students are learning the curriculum and to what extent. As you can see this is leading to a sticky mess when you try to put sequence technology skills in an ever changing technology landscape. For instance, I never had to learn how to use MS DOS, but I feel pretty comfortable using many different word processing programs that are available today. It is not unusual for a citizen living in a developing country to have a cell phone, but to have never used a land line phone. Is it necessary to teach and or learn technology tools in certain hierarchy? Absolutely not. Once again it takes many players to ensure that students are learning adequate and appropriate skills. First there needs to be an infrastructure in place where the tools are available. Then the teachers need to have the necessary skills themselves in order to assist their students. This may require additional support from technology teachers if they are available. Tools will constantly change and develop, so it is important that teachers remain dedicated to keeping up with the times help students develop their skills throughout their educational journey.

Image Attribution: http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/15/106415-004-1B158AEA.jpg

1- Whose job is it to teach the NETs and AASL standards to students?

So whose job is it to teach the NETs and AASL Standards? We must first become more familiar with each of these 21st Century Standards. Upon examining both it is easy to see that NETS has a slant towards including technology skills while the AASL is based more on general and traditional learning skills such as Blooms Taxonomy. Many of these skills in both documents will be are hit upon throughout a child's educational journey from K-12 and beyond. So the simple answer to the question is that it is the job for everyone to teach these standards to students. If we concentrate on the technology aspect, we must remember that education starts at home. Parents must inform their children about the importance of safety when online and using other technology tools such as cell phones. It is also every educator's job (including teacher, librarians, administrators and counselors) to teach the NETS standards since students will use various technology applications and require "just in time" instruction. A key player also includes the technology instructors whose job it is to assist both teachers and students to find the right tool (application) for the job.

Image attributions: http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForStudents/2007Standards/NETS_for_Students_2007.htm

http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/learningstandards/AASL_LearningStandards.pdf