Sunday, April 29, 2018

EEND 681Z Artifact #2

For my second artifact, I want to highlight the presentation Kristen and I did to help show our first grade teachers how they can use technology (even ChromeBooks!) with their students. Our fear is that many teachers will only use their 1:1 for math games, typing, etc.  Our school has had SAMR Model presentations, but the examples were never for very young students. We wanted to give real life examples of how SAMR could look with first graders, so we tried out a bunch of lessons with our own students and then used those lessons as examples. Of course, no one who uses tech is at the Redefinition stage every day, but the more we can work towards that, the better!

We asked the first grade teachers at both of our schools what their biggest worries were about using 1:1 with their students.















They had many, but these were the big three. Most of their worries fell under the umbrella of one of these three items.















Before this school year, I would have completely agreed with them. After focusing specifically on them since January, though, we've found that first graders can get quite adept at logging in and using apps to help them read. Once students can easily use a QR Code, sending them to any site is simple. The example we gave uses Padlet. If the kids use a QR Code to get to the Padlet, and then bookmark it, you can add any websites you want them to go ON the padlet and the students can get there easily. I've been doing one padlet per topic or unit.















We set some goals for the first graders, and then started tackling their challenges one by one. These are things we were able to get even our Level 1 ELL students to do within about two weeks.












Since we use tech with our students on a daily basis, Kristen and I were able to test out all of our solutions with our students. We didn't want to present anything to the teachers that we couldn't do for our own 1st grade students. All of our students are ELL, too, and lower in literacy than your average first grader. So if our students can do it, any first grader can!















We think this presentation is going to prove very useful to use next year as our buildings move closer to 1:1. The latest Google Apps allow for an amazing amount of creativity, and have accessibility options that are very helpful for our students. We want more teachers to be using them so that all kids can benefit from this kind of interactive, engaged learning through technology.

EEND 681Z Artifact #1

The first artifact I chose is my ideal tech classroom design. I loved thinking about how I would redesign a classroom to be ideal for my students and their learning. It was a completely different way of thinking for me, to be able to design every aspect of a classroom rather than having to work with what I am given. I was most excited about the idea of a digital microscope, because I have my ELL students do a lot of work with describing and comparing. Seeing things up close is engaging enough that my students will be eager to use the digital microscope and discover things about the natural world. I even ordered a digital microscope for my classroom. 















With 1:1 rolling out in my district next year, this classroom design got me thinking about my shifting roles. No longer am I the giver of knowledge. Instead, I'm a facilitator who needs to be down in the trenches supporting my students as they learn. I started to get irritated with my small, crowded classroom this semester. Working on tech projects was difficult because I had to keep moving from my docking station at my desk (facing away from the students) to a kidney table in the middle of the room. There was no room to walk around, and the kids were tripping over one another. (Not particularly safe with ChromeBooks. So two weeks ago I moved all of the furniture around in my classroom and completely ditched my teacher desk. This served two purposes. First, I could move my docking station to the kidney table, allowing me to use the SmartBoard while my students are sitting next to and around me. Next, it cleared a ton of space in the room, allowing for an extra narrow table where two students can sit. Getting the deep teacher's desk out of my room also allowed me to move the big tables to the center of the room, giving me enough space to fully walk around all of the tables and conference with students. There's even room for them to sit in the front to get a good look at my SmartBoard! (Shown below with a leaf in my new digital microscope!)


























I love the idea of flexible seating, and I've always had a few yoga balls in my classroom so that my wiggly students can bounce as they work. After doing this classroom redesign, however, I wanted to go further. Though I can't get the fancy furniture I chose for my "ideal" space, I put my name on a list my principal sent out for those who wanted flexible seating. I guess we got a grant and anyone can get some alternate seating choices. I'm excited to see what our options are!