At Grand Haven High School, where I’m
doing my student teaching, each student is equipped with a Dell Chromebook that
they keep for the entire school year. Each
classroom is equipped with a Smart Cart that includes a doc camera/control
panel, a desktop computer, and a DVD/VHS player that are all hooked up to a
projector which displays them on a Promethean Board. Each teacher also has a second desktop
computer for their desk and a Dell Chromebook to take home. It’s kind of crazy how much tech we have at
our fingertips. However, there are some
resources that are collecting dust.
When the Promethean Boards were issued
several years back, they came with Active Inspire software and a set “Activote”
controls for each classroom. These sets
of interactive clickers were rarely used because the games and quizzes took too
long for teachers to create. Now that
students have their own Chromebooks, teachers prefer to use Kahoot! and other
online interactive game resources.
Some teachers rarely or never use their
Promethean Board projectors in their classrooms. One teacher uses paper, whiteboard, class
discussion, and VHS in his classroom. Because
he has been teaching for a while and has collected several transparencies over
the years, he keeps a box of bulbs handy and reverts to his old cart projector. The sad thing is, it is more focused and
easier to read from than the newer energy efficient projectors.
Back when I was in high school, teachers
mostly wrote on the whiteboard. Some
teachers had their own projectors, like I mentioned above, and would display
their transparencies on the whiteboard. I
don’t remember if teachers had computers or not. I remember them doing all of their grading in
gradebooks. We wrote in class; we only
used computers outside of class to type up a paper for English class. I probably did more on computers when I was
in grade school and junior high.
In grade school, our class would go to
the computer lab about 2 or 3 times a week.
We had the old Mac computers with floppy disc programs. We would play games like Oregon Trail or Dino
Tycoon, work in math or science programs, and we would work in typing programs
so that we could learn how to type. I
junior high, we focused more on typing accuracy and speed, and learning how to
fully utilize Microsoft Word.
I think that the technology available to
most students of this generation is incredible.
However, I hope that ALL teachers don’t go ALL tech. I’ve already noticed that the vast majority
of students have horrible handwriting.
And, what if there comes a day that technology does fail us? Technology should aid our instruction, but
not be our instruction. It is important
for today’s students to be well-rounded by becoming proficient learners and communicators
with technology and without.
Oh, now I see what you mean about blog title -- yes, great minds think alike! :)
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like your district has much more technology available to both students and teachers. Is internet access at home an issue for any of your students? I don't think it is for the majority of my students and neither is access to a computer (or a device). Students can get notifications on their phone from Google Classroom (I had one student tell me, "Miss Picklesimer, you've been blowing up Google Classroom ALL day!"), but they don't necessarily do anything about it or use the technology. Do you see that in your situation as well? Since the 1-to-1 program is new at your school this year, does your mentor (or other teachers in the building) have any thoughts about whether it has improved or hindered student learning?
I have the same concern about technology overtaking instruction. So many of my students have handwriting that borders dangerously close to illegible. That is part of the reason why I pushed to move part of their Writer's Notebooks online to a blog. (My mentor resisted a little.) The sad thing is, though, their grammar usage does not really improve online -- and not even complex grammar issues (like dangling modifiers or something) but something as simple as capitalizing the first word of a sentence or the stand-alone I.
Internet access at home has not been an issue for any of my students, personally, and I have not caught wind of it being an issue for anyone else. What I mostly hear from teachers is how much the Chromebooks have to be managed, otherwise they just distract the students from being on task. Many teachers have preferred to use paper in the classroom for that reason, and then utilize Google Classroom mostly for homework or links to an online interactive activity. Even when Classroom is used to remind students of assignments, to post assignments, or to offer a video/activity, it's just like you said. At my placement, students don't really pay attention to the updates unless you constantly remind them in class.
ReplyDeleteAs to whether the 1 to 1 improves or hinders student learning, I believe that depends on how teachers utilize them and manage them. The Chromebooks have great potential to both, so it is up to the teacher to utilize them in a way that will engage the students and keep them on task, rather than just as a paper saver... I think it would help if districts disabled sites like facebook or google chat while on campus. I'm very surprised they haven't figured out how to do that yet.
I've noticed some pretty bad handwriting in my placement as well. So, I wonder if that is due to certain curriculum changes in the first years of elementary...
I did a "write around" activity Monday and specifically asked students to try and write as legibly as possible. The almost spent more time erasing/correcting their writing than writing.
If students knew how to type as fast as they text, it'd be awesome! Do you see the standards for formal writing changing to adapt to technology? Will it be acceptable in the future to write in text format?
ReplyDeleteHere's a link to a Padlet I used today in class. I'm wondering if I should convert to a different format or application?
www.padlet.com/stacey_pyper/chapter5review
I like it to organize for the lesson. I have all the links available, which I open up in other tabs as well for easy access. It's nice for students that are absent as well. I had a student ask me for a link from yesterday, so they could watch a video I used during instruction.
Stacey,
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard of Padlet, but I went to the one you created and it is very cool! It looks like it is very useful for keeping a technology packed lesson organized. As a teacher, all the information, links, documents, or videos you will project are right there on one page for you to use and for the students to see. Very nice! Do you make a new Padlet for each day/lesson?
I like that on Google Classroom, you can keep posting new assignments, links, or docs throughout the year to the same "classroom." Students have to have a code to get into the classroom, but once they are in, they get notified of every update the teacher makes via email. You can also have students submit assignments electronically through Classroom, grade the assignments, and return them as well.
I could see creating a separate Padlet for a tech packed day and posting it to my Google Classroom. I love how you posted the objective and agenda, which I usually just write on the whiteboard.
I think I'll investigate Google Classroom depending where I end up, and what the technology resources are like there. So far, I've been using a Padlet a day. I like it because it's like a journal of lesson plans. I can see what I've covered, and when students are absent, they can look it over.
ReplyDeleteI'm currently teaching one section of Algebra system of equations. I just finished teaching 4 sections of 8th graders the same topic. It's been nice to reflect on how I taught, and what I can change for the advanced students.
Padlet works great for exit slips, or whenever you need to organize people's thoughts. People can post, and you can arrange their posts like Post-It notes. The only downside is the anonymity factor, which can be a pro or a con.
ReplyDeleteI'm not so keen on it after my latest attempt. Unfortunately, if a student starts to miss questions, they opt out. Much like computer games, if you are not performing well, you may want to quit and start over. They don't appreciate the positive aspect of just reviewing information prior to a test.
ReplyDelete