Jasmine's Fifth Grade

Final Blog

2008-04-29T19:46:00.000-07:00

My lesson was designed to promote community and friendship in my classroom. I applied my lesson to the communication arts grade level expectation:
2. Develop and apply effective skills and strategies to analyze and evaluate oral and visual
media
A. Media Messages
5th grade: Analyze messages conveyed in various media (e.g., videos, pictures, web-
sites, artwork, plays and/or news programs)

The main aspect of the lesson was to read a book about friendship and talk about the various aspects of friendship. Then the students brainstormed examples and talked about examples from the book. We also watched “hipposodes” on the Owen and Mzee website which were student created paper character cartoons. These cartoons showed several acts of friendship between Owen and Mzee and were great brainstorming times for the students to come up with their own scenarios.
After reading the book and watching the student created cartoons, the students were excited to talk about ways they could apply friendship in the classroom. To extend the lesson further, in the following weeks, we kept updated on Owen and Mzee’s progress through the Park’s blog. The blog allowed the students to stay connected and added in another piece of technology. Although this lesson did not allow the students to use the technology when it was convenient for them and to enhance their own personal learning, it was still beneficial. Due to the constraints of technology in my classroom, achieving the transforming uses portion of Grappling’s technology Spectrum was not possible. However, the students were still able to learn and complete an activity that could only be accomplished through technology, but was not for the sake of technology.

blogging once again...

2008-04-13T12:08:00.000-07:00

I am very unlucky when it comes to posting on my blog! That pretty much sums up my technology savvy. I was locked out again and it claimed it did not recognize my email address. I was finally able to log in again, thank goodness! While on my job hunt, I am realizing I have been extremely lucky with having a smart board and interwrite and two student computers in my room. I am constantly amazed by how many schools do not have these items in the classrooms. Since I am not in an economically wealthy school district, I wondered why they have these items and other more prominent districts did not. After more thorough questioning in my building, I realized there were a couple of specific teachers that brought this technology to my school in order to create more teaching and learning opportunities for everyone.
I realized as I was reviewing with my students for MAP testing that I have become rather dependent on teaching using my smart board. For example, I was reviewing math using a jeopardy game in powerpoint on my smart board with my class. They absolutely loved it. I started thinking about how much work I would have to do to reproduce this game by hand using paper and a large wall without my projector and smart board. I just wouldn't do it because it would be so time consuming. I just hope I have the same advantages in whatever school I end up in.

viewing videos

2008-03-03T19:46:00.000-08:00

My projector and smartboard have made showing videos and clips so much better than pulling in the old TV on a rolling cart! I can't even imagine going back to doing that after having a projector and using my computer. I have searched for pertinent video clips using united streaming and it is amazing the amount of information at my disposal. I figured out how to search by GLEs and narrow it to specific topics within a GLE. It simplified the search process and helped narrow the search results. Then showing the clip using a projector allows all the students to easily see the video without having to move their chairs. It is very convenient.

2008-02-14T21:32:00.000-08:00

I have found an issue with my interwrite. This issue is remembering to plug it in at night to allow it to charge and be ready to go during the day. Three times I have forgotten to do this and it isn't usable when I go to use it. Remembering to keep it charged is a problem I need to work on! Our school has said they will offer training courses in using the interwrite to allow teachers to become more proficient. However, it's been over three months and I still haven't heard anything.
There is a teacher in the district who is apparently very well-versed in using an interwrite and she had multiple teachers in her room observing her use of the interwrite as a learning tool. Observing another teacher using it in action in the classroom is a good way to see how it can actually be utiluzed in the classroom. There is a big difference between using a learning tool in a presentation with all adults compared to using it in a classroom of 10 year olds. I look forward to learning more about using this tool in my classroom to engage my students. I think it will be beneficial to their learning.

Finally!!!

2008-01-30T20:24:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to log into my blog all month and I finally was able to email the site and get it fixed today! I am still utilizing the interwrite most days. The students love being able to use it and I have them show their work, particularly in math, using it during lessons.

I was able to transfer several activities my students were going to have to do into my smart notebook program and model exactly what I wanted the students to do as they were doing it in class. This has really helped with student understanding and made my explanations more easily understood.

It is nice being able to prepare lessons in advance using the smart board and not having to draw them out on the chalk board or on chart paper. It helps our days to go more smoothly.

Interwrite All Day

2007-12-16T15:06:00.000-08:00

I used my Interwrite all day on Thursday!!! I charged it overnight and just jumped right in using it. I need to look at those online tutorials in order to figure out more than just the basics. However, the students really enjoyed the sight I made walking around the classroom using it. It kept them more engaged than me just writing on the smartboard. I was able to use it as a bargaining tool in order to get them to pay attention. During our morning work the students' attention was focused on the board and I was able to call on individual students to use the Interwrite to share their thinking. This allowed the students to still be learning from each other and paying attention to their classmates' thinking.
I am looking forward to becoming more adept at using it and showing the students how to use it.

December

2007-12-02T18:35:00.000-08:00

December came a lot faster than I anticipated! Common assessments are finally finished and graded. My projector bulb was out for four weeks! That made me really aware of the technology department in a not so good way. However, now the bulb is replaced and my projector is back up and running. I didn't feel like I used utilized it all that much until I didn't have it to use anymore. I had short video clips about atoms I wanted the students to watch and then I realized I couldn't do all sorts of things I had already planned. Now I can get back on track. I still haven't tried out my interwrite yet either. I couldn't with my projector not working. Now I have to figure out how to use the interwrite before they take my smart board away! I have heard that interwrites are easier for students to use and I am looking forward to being able to involve the students. My fellows partner has used her interwrite all year and I will be asking her for some pointers.

Staying on top of things

2007-11-16T06:16:00.000-08:00

I am having a hard time staying on top of my things to do recently. I have been incredibly forgetful. My projector broke 3 weeks ago. The bulb burnt out and a new one has been ordered but is not here yet. Because I had finally gotten into a routine of using it each day, I have been completely thrown off balance. I am having to using chart paper and a whiteboard easel at the front of my classroom now instead of the pre-planned SMART board options.

I have also finally received my interwrite, which will eventually replace my smart board after Christmas. Unfortunately, because my projector is broken, I have not had the opportunity to try it out. I hope it is user-friendly and I will be able to adapt quickly.

The End of October Already

2007-10-28T17:04:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it is the end of October already! In science we are going to be working on weather and studying various forms of weather, including hurricanes, tornadoes, and thunderstorms. I think the students will really enjoy this unit. I am planning on using short clips form United Streaming to enhance the lessons and engage the students in learning. I have greatly appreciated having my projector. I don't think a TV works quite as well as the large projections for engaging the entire class since there are so many students. It also makes a difference for my visually impaired student. She has no vision in her right eye and can sometimes see slight images with her left. The large projection makes it possible for her to make out some portion of what the class is watching, whether it is a lesson on the smart board or a video we are watching.

the end of september...

2007-09-30T15:24:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe it is already the end of September. Unfortunately I have been sick three time already. Most recently Wednesday night, Thursday, and Friday with the stomach flu. This really alters what happens in the classroom because the substitute cannot use the smartboard. The smartboard and projector are used quite a bit in my room for most lessons because I don't even have a whiteboard at the front of the room. However, a substitute can't log into my computer to be able to use the smartboard, so they have ot use it as a white board, which does not work very well and I don't like doing. So I am sure their learning for the past two days is a little different than how it is in our normal classroom environment.
I have also realized that it is easier to prepare ahead of time a morning message and any small acitivity presentations ahead of time. During science we had a large project for the students to do involving making a body systems book. I was able to pull up the book I made in microsoft word on the smart board and point to the exact sections I was talking about. It made my explanation easier than if I were just using a student size copy to demonstrate from.

The fourth week of school

2007-09-15T17:29:00.000-07:00

It is the end of the fourth week of school. I use the SMART board in my daily lessons. I don't have a white board at the front of the classroom, so it serves many purposes. I have found that I can make teaching charts in advance and use them as learning tools for the students. We can make charts together and then I can pull it up the next day and refer back to it. This has been an indispensable tool. Also, during science we are studying living organisms and the differences between vertebrates and invertebrates. I used the Internet to find pictures of many different kinds of living organisms and had the students figure out what category they fell into. It is something they enjoy using, along with it being easy to use.

After the first week...

2007-08-28T20:32:00.001-07:00

So it is the beginning of the second week of school. I am finally adapting to using the SMART board more often. Although everytime my screen saver comes up I have to resign into my computer, which I find frustrating. My computer won't let me extend the wait time for the screen saver. I found out that although the district has already bought our interwrites, they will probably not get installed until sometime around Christmas. An interwrite is a wireless tablet you carry with you and use like a SMART board in your hands. I have heard they are more difficult to use because you can't see what you are writing on your tablet, it only projects onto the screen as you write it. So you are looking at a blank tablet and trying to figure out where to write so it goes in the correct spot on the board. However, I believe it would be more kid-friendly and less disruptive to classtime if I could simply hand the student the interwrite at their seat or on the carpet and create a more interactive learning environment. Right now the students aren't thinking of the SMART board as a learning tool, it's more of a fun toy they want to play with.
As for computer time, our library time is called library/ media. There is a computer lab in the library and the librarian does media lessons along with library lessons.

Setting Up My Classroom

2007-08-12T11:45:00.000-07:00

I have spent the last two weeks constantly working in my classroom and attending trainings for the school district. In my classroom I will have my own computer to use, which is connected to a SMART board. The SMART board may soon be replaced with an interwrite, but I do not know when that will happen. I have one student computer in my room that everyone in the classroom can use. I also have another student computer that will be used by my visually impaired student when she needs to use it for her braille programs, but when she doesn't need to use it, the other students will have access to it. The library/ media center has a computer lab I will be able to reserve to use with my class throughout the year. I also believe one of the specials classes is computers, but I am not positive yet.

My First Blog

2007-07-31T20:23:00.000-07:00

Well, it seems I have just created my first blog. A more in-depth post will soon follow this pertaining to our assignment. =)