Letting the Inmates Run the Asylum

How do you make it work with 20 laptops in a classroom of 26? I could have it much worse and only have 1 computer so I'm not complaining! Still, it presents a challenge. To start the year, we were typing up paragraphs written about the regions of California. Naturally, some have finished earlier than others. They have become my experts. I have printing experts, and today I established blogging experts. These experts are the ones who get done early, who don't deserve yet another ditto to color/fill out/turn in/turn on/drop out. So, they worked on the blog while being interrupted many times by yet another student needing help.

What did I, as the teacher, do? I worked my way around the room offering advice and suggestions to the students who needed it. I watched as they fought with Microsoft Word and the lovely green and red "squiggles" (as we call them). I listened as my "helpers" offered their own advice on how to get rid of the squiggles: ("Dude, you have to spell it right!" "You have to capitalize!") ***A side note: Microsoft Word's editing marks do wonders for immediate feedback on writing.*** I didn't help anyone print, and yet at least everyone has 1 printout. I think I probably could have left the room and gone for coffee if it were an option!

In the meantime, I dangled a carrot over the heads of my early finishers. If they could do at least 2 blog comments, one on the current post and one on any of their choice, then they can get their own blog. The caveat was, the posts must be well written, more than 1 sentence, and be edited for punctuation/spelling/capitalization. Lo and behold, even with all the interruptions of students requiring assistance, I got comments!

I'm still fearful of letting go of the old ways. My inner control freak can't stand not being the one to feed them the curriculum. Can they really "discover" it for themselves with decently planned assignments? I can't leave anyone behind! But I have to admit, getting to be the one walking around while the others did the teaching was a nice feeling. If only all days can go like this!

Oh yes, how do I deal with the 20 computers? Well, there is 1 extra, so that one was used, as was 1 in the computer lab. Two were absent, and once all of my "typers" were ready to type, I doubled up the ones who had already completed their blog comments and let them explore http://4kids.com. Apparently that is a fun and educational website...at least according to my "experts."

VoiceThread

I do love VoiceThread. It is one of my favorite things to have come out of last year's workshops. There are so many ways to use a VT, and I'm hoping to collect more ideas as the year goes by.



What is a VoiceThread?



If you don't want to click the link, I'll recap in a nutshell. It is a mixture of images, video, and/or audio submissions. You can comment, using a microphone or your keyboard, on an image or video that is on display.

So why would an elementary teacher want to use it? First, it is incredibly easy. I needed little of my technical knowledge to get a picture and an audio comment on the screen. Next thing I know, I have all 26 of my students with self portraits and self read poems onto a VT. There were a few technical glitches that I worked through due to the number of photos and comments I worked on at one time. The glitches were usually solved by restarting the app. I embedded it into our classroom blog, and now parents can see what their children and friends are working on. One mom told me it brought her to tears. I assume that was in a good way.

Second, it is an easy way to incorporate technology in a one computer classroom. A teacher could post a few pieces of artwork (either culled from the Internet or scanned from an art book), and have students comment on the art. In the beginning, by that one computer, a teacher could have some comment starters to help students know what to say.

Students scrambled to hear what their classmates had to say online, so there's another reason to use it. We want our students to listen to each other, but how often do they zone out in class? Now they are actively listening to their classmates, and can even respond without interruption. Shy students can type their response as they build up the confidence to post orally. Ahh, differentiation.

Differentiation!! Just as in blog comments, this offers an opportunity for success for all students. Some comments are shorter, some are longer, but you can recognize growth throughout the year in everyone. Plus, students will surprise you with their ability to orally analyze something that they may struggle to write about.

So, we will be doing some more VT's this year that I hope to post! Here is my first VT from last school year. Enjoy, and comment if you like!

Writing, Writer's Workshop, and Moving Beyond Test Prep

When the 4th grade writing test was begun, I felt bound and gagged. Everything revolved around narrative, summary, and response to literature. I felt desperate to make sure my students knew what these were, what they looked like, and the process to write one.

In the meantime, all of the good opportunities for writing seemed to fly out the window.

Inspired by our workshops this year, a science grant I took part in (yes, science! writing! it's all connected), and a desperate desire to improve a teaching area I feel weak in, I've been starting to research best practices. Besides all the technology I've mentioned, I'm also looking at the low tech, old school methods of teaching writing.

National Writing Project - 30 Ideas for Teaching Writing
http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/922#Nineteen
Love this! Great ideas and suggestions. Next year I'm bringing more of their lives into the classroom, and less of what they are "supposed" to know.

Teaching That Makes Sense
http://www.ttms.org/
I'm curious about this. It was recommended on the ProTeacher boards. Anyone heard of it?

Step Up to Writing
The publisher site is here. Our school just purchased it. Overwhelming (I use that word a lot, don't I?). How does it contrast with authentic writing? I like its strategies: graphic organizers, prompting, visual cues. Good for low students and ELL's.

Six Traits
If there were a Six Traits weeklong workshop nearby, I would be there in a heartbeat. I wish I had had some kind of training in this framework. I see bits and pieces of it, but want to incorporate it more.

The main trend I'm noticing is that writer's workshop should be approximately 60 minutes per day, with 10 -15 minute mini-lesson, 2-3 minute state of the class, 20-40 minutes of writing/conferencing/publishing time, and 10-20 minutes of sharing. With a class set of laptops, and all the writing tips and tricks that I'm seeking, I think this will be my goal for next year. Any thoughts or suggestions (not that I've actively publicized this blog, but if you're still reading, please let me know!)

A Month of Technology

Some thoughts after putting the laptops we received into use (otherwise known as "notes to self"):

In2Books
This is time consuming! I know this is partially due to the learning curve. However, trying to keep track of 26 students is difficult, and trying to keep track of 26 pen pals doesn't make it easier. I am finding that I have to keep a paper checklist of who has completed letters and who has not. If I am to keep In2Books going, then I need more workshop time in my classroom. It is time to let go of some direct instruction and start working in small groups more often. I'm keeping In2Books next year, and hoping the learning curve is behind me. I'm also considering ePals, so it is not conditional on the students receiving and reading books.

Blogging
I'm on the lookout for good classroom uses of blogs. I have used the blog for a few different things, but I'm falling short of true collaborative writing. Still wrapping my head around it.

Twitter
I'm on Twitter! Other than occasionally wondering what celebrities are on Twitter (if Oprah can do it, I can do it), I haven't spent too much time finding its usefulness. Tweet me so I can figure it out.

Voicethread
I've fallen for voicethread, after seeing how excited my students were to use the microphone and hear themselves. But, working out the kinks (why is it cutting off what they say before they are done?) is frustrating. Thank goodness I have the extra time this and next week to deal with the issues as they arise.

Wiki
Or as my colleague calls them, "Wiki wiki wiki" (mime scratching records here). I have taken all of my items off of TeacherWeb (which I pay $35 a year for) and put them on the free Wikispaces. I like free, and I love the customization factor. It's not as pretty, but I'm working on it. Next year I want to put pages for the kids to upload to, so I'm searching out good classroom wikis too.

I'm going to be honest here, I have lots of ideas, but planning all of this collaboration is time consuming...and time is not something I have a whole lot of (with the exception of this week and next week as my student teacher has taken over for that time). My class this year has become my guinea pigs, so next year's class will be the true test of whether these ideas pan out.

Exercising the Mind

An opinion in response to the ongoing debate over the usefulness of AR...

I hate exercising. I will go to lengths to avoid it. I will write a blog post instead of hopping on the elliptical (right now, for instance, I should be at the gym). We all have things that we dislike doing.

Any doctor will tell you to exercise 30 minutes a day. As adults, they cannot force us to do this, but instead tell us that it is for our own good. But do we exercise? Some do, some don't.

I think of my aversion to exercise when I see kids with an aversion to reading. They don't want to open that book any more than I want to go on the treadmill. I look to my own experience to figure out how to motivate them. One of the best ways to get me moving is to take out Dance Dance Revolution. I won't go on the treadmill, but offer me a chance to best my high score on DDR, and I'll be sweating away to the techno beat! I avoid the stairmaster like the plague, but put on Wii Fit and my Mii is high-stepping down the street.

What does this have to do with kids and technology? I think that some kids need a reason to read besides the fact that it is just fun. Some people *gasp* think the treadmill is fun, but it certainly doesn't help me get on board! So how do we encourage these reluctant readers? I think one of the ways is through Accelerated Reader. Students read a book and take a quiz. The more quizzes they take, the more points they get. The better they do on the quiz, the more points they get. Just like the arcade that posts the high scores, our students get their scores posted on the wall. You can only go up! The more competitive students want to beat each other. The less competitive students just want to see their own score rise. We set goals together, then work on achieving them.

Some of these students are going to read whether or not they get points for it. But some students need a purpose beyond the promise of "fun." They've already figured out that reading is not their idea of "fun."

A teacher long ago told me that we don't like to do things we are not good at. This is my problem with sports. I'm simply not good at them. That, in turn, is incredibly embarrassing, and as a result, I avoid them even more. But a sport like DDR, or Wii Fit, doesn't pit me against the world - it is me against me. And it turns out that I actually do enjoy exercise, as long as it is disguised as fun. So if AR disguises reading as "fun" for other kids, and in the process they discover they actually DO like reading, then isn't it a worthwhile activity?

But what if AR isn't "fun" for the reluctant readers? As a last resort, it is a chance to experience success. Each student chooses a goal he/she can reasonably expect to accomplish. On the elliptical for me, it was a certain number of minutes. And I did it. And it wasn't so bad. Some students have the same experience with AR. So they push themselves a bit further, as I did on the elliptical. And because our minds/bodies are more in shape, we reach that goal too. As it turns out, the elliptical is becoming my friend. I've seen that happen for reluctant readers and books too, through the feedback and appropriate leveling in AR.

I also don't think it discourages the avid readers. To test out my theory on a true reader, I let myself take some AR quizzes. I did pretty well on my favorite books. It was fun to relive the books, and see if I had missed anything in my reading. Personally, I'd much rather take the quiz than have to do a diorama (have I mentioned my aversion to art?)

As I learn about the technology available for students, I think that students have many tools available to them. Just as in the classroom, no tool is a comprehensive solution, but each tool has its potential benefits. As teachers, our craft is to figure out how to exercise each mind so that every "muscle" is developed and maintained as its peak performance level.

In the meantime, I will continue to push my best on the elliptical, beat my high DDR score, and maybe even tackle the weight equipment that looms in front of me every time I visit the gym.

On Self Editing

I mentioned in my previous post my frustration with grammar and spelling mistakes. We had been posting comments to our class blog, and they were filled with errors. Our In2Books pen pal letters had some problems too. I spent quite a while guiding students to edit their own work. This is a painful activity for me, one of my least favorite as a teacher.With 27 comments waiting for me to help with editing, I wasn't looking forward to today. I often wonder if it is worth it.

IT IS! Today I assigned the students another commenting activity, and sure enough, the comments were far better. I was able to approve many without editing. Some have even written back to their In2Books pen pals, and I already see more attention to detail (the shift key is for more than just filling out a rectangular keyboard!).

Sometimes it is frustrating to teach and teach, wondering if it is really making a difference. Today was a pleasant reminder that the hard (and sometimes painful) work pays off.

As a side note, I'm also able to bring the students to the lab, where they log on, follow a link to my blog, and follow the directions on my blog. The only verbal direction I give is, "Log on and go to our blog." This frees up so much time for things like editing and specialized instruction. If only my students had laptops in their desks at all times...

Overwhelming!

I love to try new things in the classroom, and my year plan is never the same twice. This year is full of change, and I am determined to infuse technology into the curriculum. Though this is exciting, it is incredibly challenging too.

Blogging With Students

• They like going online and seeing what is new on the blog. They don't like having to watch their grammar when they comment. I get frustrated when I see blatant spelling and grammar errors! I'm working on ideas for managing the comments and helping them grow as writers through the blog.
• Many students are excited about starting their own blogs. However, with one computer in the classroom, and one day a week in the lab (if I'm proactive and find out which teachers aren't using their slot that week!), it doesn't leave much time to teach blogging. I need to get a couple of students on board and have them train the others.

In2Books

• I must shout out In2Books right now. If you are reading this, I hope you'll sign up to be a Pen Pal! My kids were so happy to read their introductory letters and to choose the book they will read with their pen pal. They proudly told me who their pal was and what their pal does for a living. I am curious to see how these relationships evolve over the last 3 months of the school year. Plus, FREE books for us! We love that!

Digital Storytelling

• Student engagement meet video camera! All I have to do to create salivating students (a la Pavlov's dog) is pull out the black camera bag with the two video cameras inside. I have one reluctant learner who will ask me hourly when he can use the camera (or blog). His excitement level is high. I have three girls who have been praised for their professional use of camera angle terms.

This is great stuff! It comes with a price tag. First, managing all of these technologies is overwhelming and time consuming. I worry about fairness to all (how do I tell reluctant learner that he will not get to edit because the three girls get to go first?) I worry about getting pen pal letters from everyone, even though not everyone can type quickly, or even write well? Not to mention, to type in the letters we need to have computers - and did I mention the lack of computers? Soon, that problem will be solved by the classroom set of laptops that I believe will eventually come to our school.

Then there are the inevitable technology issues. The editing program didn't work on my laptop, so it needed to be sent back for repair. I had to teach myself how to download video onto the laptops. I am fairly tech savvy, and was able to do this easily, but what about the other teachers who do not enjoy their tech as much as I do?

All of this technology use also comes with a steep learning curve. I am pushing forward, hoping that the learning curve will lead to a deeper exploration of writing and our curriculum. However, I do worry that it is time wasted - and that I could have spent that extra half hour focused on the all important state standards. This year I will learn if the end justifies the means.

The one thing I am certain of - the technology does create engagement. And engagement, to me, is one of the most important things I can foster in my students. Now I just need to figure out how to channel that engagement into truly productive and useful learning.