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.

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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

Reflection of Final Project

It's my intention that this final project be useful to our 5th grade team. Therefore I decided to design a field trip preparation video and a work packet for an upcoming field trip to a mangrove in Bang Phu, Thailand. It is my hope that the preview and work packet will help better prepare the teachers and students for a day of learning away from campus. The field trip will take place in January and compliments our FOSS science unit pertaining to Environments. We will be starting this unit in early November, and since our grade level only piloted part of this unit last year, there are many new things that we will learn and emphasize this year. Thus this final project is still in its early stages and will develop as we teach the unit. An outline of this project (including the essential questions and enduring understandings) can be found in UBD format on the project page for Course #3. So far preparation for this project has included: going to the actual site with another Grade 5 teacher, meeting with the guides that will help facilitate the activities, discussing our Environments unit and which activities will compliment the students learning, deciding on which hands-on activities such as a ph water quality test, soil sifting, and wildlife observations. Unfortunately the location of the mangrove is over an hour away and thus we will not have enough time to participate in actual tree planting. The video will be updated with samples of students' work and reflections from their science investigations. By including student work samples in the video, all of the students will feel a deeper personal connection and see the real life applications of the science concepts being taught throughout the unit. In this project I have thus far incorporated I-movie, screen capture, and google maps and images.

Screencasts

The two screencast applications that I have used are Jing and Smarttools. I find both of them relatively easy to use. However, I would like the Smarttools program better if recorded the mouse position when it records so that others can see it during playback. I can see how using these screencast applications can really be beneficial to a MS or HS teacher that teaches the same class/level more than once. These programs would allow him/her to record their first delivery of instruction and then simply play it back for the next class(es) or for students that were absent and need the instruction. Screencasts can also be used as computer tutorials to help explain how to use program features and/or answer questions that you anticipate will come up frequently. With the onset of the H1N1 virus it is possible that some schools may need to close down for a few days. Teachers could communicate with their students via the internet and embed screen casts of their instruction. Thus it can be used for distance learning. Play the YouTube video to learn more about how Jing and how its features may help you.

Web Based Video

The explosion of web based video can be viewed as a blessing or a curse. For me it depends on two things: download speed, and quality of the content. I have been cursed with slow download speeds and/or unreliable server connections. On many occasions after waiting for what seems like eternity, I finally get to view a video that is basically worthless or does not compliment the content/concepts that are being taught in class. It is at these moments that I find Web based video a time drain rather than a resource. Of course their are many gems out there if you seek hard enough. Google has quite a few good videos that download very quickly. YouTube allows anyone to make comments about the videos. Unfortunately these comments often contain inappropriate language. Therefore it is not a good location for young students to search for videos or for a teacher to use it as a resource off the cuff. Of course it is possible to use YouTube videos but it will require previewing and converting/saving it which can also be time consuming. I have already seen the bank of educational videos increase over the past two years and I know that the bank of videos will increasingly be easier to search and download. Of course it will always remain important for the teacher to preview all videos and make sure that it truly is rel event to course work.