Recent events have prompted me to re-evaluate how this pilot program is working. The question is, "How do we get kids to accept responsibility for the appropriate care & use of technology equipment and software?"
Throughout the year, I have been working hard to individually correct inappropriate behavior, and have regularly asked kids to reflect on technology and its use in class. We have regular class discussions about what is appropriate and not appropriate, and yet, two weeks ago, there was an incident where a student thought it would be funny to rearrange the keys on a laptop computer. That in itself shows me that the individual has a lack of respect for the property, but what really frustrated me was the number of students who stood by and watched & didn't do anything...not even get me... What does that say about the success of my current methods of helping students feel ownership & responsibility for the technology that has become a daily part of their lives?
To me it says that I've been mostly unsuccessful. So, again, I ask what can I do to help them get engaged in the ownership & care of technology? Well, with the help and advice of Dr. Esther Silvers and Kim Boswell, I believe we may have an appropriate hands-on, interactive, engaging activity, the final result of which could provide us with valuable teaching tools. Kim & I are designing a unit where the students are creating short "how-to" i-movies for different aspects of the care & use of technology and software.
We are currently in week 2 of the project, still brainstorming & organizing the group structure, but the students seem to have really taken this task to heart. We first told them that the movies would be used as instructional tools for next year's seventh graders, but after further thought & discussion, Kim & I realized that we could also use these i-movies to show the teachers the appropriate behavior they should expect from their students as they are using technology.
After all, the use of technology is no longer limited to a few classrooms. There are several of us who have been using technology long enough to make the management of the hardware & software standardized across the school. All we need is a creative way to share the standards. This may be it...At least we hope so.
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Teaching Email
Where and when should students receive and learn the etiquette for communication? How should we teach it? I was having a conversation with the Business and Information Technology teacher at the middle school today to get a better idea of what he teaches by grade level, and more importantly, what would he like to teach at each grade level.
Currently the 6th graders are NOT proficient with keyboarding --this we know and are trying to implement a plan to change status quo. Keyboarding should be proficient by 5th grade (or so the National Educational Technology Standards state). To raise the bar in our district, it is my hope and the wish of the our middle school business and information technology (keyboarding currently) teacher to have 6th graders get an introduction hardware and software and an introduction to the basic software. 7th graders would have a more intermediate knowledge set of the those same basic software applications and the 8th would learn the advanced features.
Originally I thought the high school students and the 8th graders should have email and begin working with and practicing email etiquette, but as I reviewed the QCC's for the Business and Information Technology I realized that the exact communication objectives we need to email already exist. As well, the teacher of that class felt he doesn't need to teach memo writing to the extent he did in the past because those days are obsolete--we send memos in an email.
It gets better...that list of objectives for communication is no longer present in the 7th and 8th grade!!! Meaning--we need to teach those communication objectives in 6th and move on (there's other stuff in the curriculum for 7th and 8th).
This would be so ideal for the middle school students to get their email address in the 6th grade as they enter the Bus & Information class. Then they would have it permanently until they withdraw. The registrar could enter it upon enrollment.
Teachers would know that a student has an email account and if they want to use it to communicate with a student, they simply need to provide them with access to their account within class.
From the knowledge that students are learning these technology skill sets in Business and Information Technology class, they could build upon it by assigning work that requires use of these skills.
What may change all of these thoughts (better or worse)is the state standards, which use to be the QCC's. I just went to the Ga DOE web site to pull those up so I had them electronically and noticed they are no longer the QCC's--the standards are in place.
Currently the 6th graders are NOT proficient with keyboarding --this we know and are trying to implement a plan to change status quo. Keyboarding should be proficient by 5th grade (or so the National Educational Technology Standards state). To raise the bar in our district, it is my hope and the wish of the our middle school business and information technology (keyboarding currently) teacher to have 6th graders get an introduction hardware and software and an introduction to the basic software. 7th graders would have a more intermediate knowledge set of the those same basic software applications and the 8th would learn the advanced features.
Originally I thought the high school students and the 8th graders should have email and begin working with and practicing email etiquette, but as I reviewed the QCC's for the Business and Information Technology I realized that the exact communication objectives we need to email already exist. As well, the teacher of that class felt he doesn't need to teach memo writing to the extent he did in the past because those days are obsolete--we send memos in an email.
It gets better...that list of objectives for communication is no longer present in the 7th and 8th grade!!! Meaning--we need to teach those communication objectives in 6th and move on (there's other stuff in the curriculum for 7th and 8th).
This would be so ideal for the middle school students to get their email address in the 6th grade as they enter the Bus & Information class. Then they would have it permanently until they withdraw. The registrar could enter it upon enrollment.
Teachers would know that a student has an email account and if they want to use it to communicate with a student, they simply need to provide them with access to their account within class.
From the knowledge that students are learning these technology skill sets in Business and Information Technology class, they could build upon it by assigning work that requires use of these skills.
What may change all of these thoughts (better or worse)is the state standards, which use to be the QCC's. I just went to the Ga DOE web site to pull those up so I had them electronically and noticed they are no longer the QCC's--the standards are in place.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Going well...
The only problem Ms. Cantergiani is running into is students are not finishing during class and so the students are coming in afterschool--which is actually working out well, but the students need to make sure they catch up.
If it were regular work they may not be so encouraged to come in afterschool to complete the assignment.
If it were regular work they may not be so encouraged to come in afterschool to complete the assignment.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Blogging today 11/29/05
Every one is working hard today on their blog, doing a great job!!! Keep it up.
Almost December
Goode's students are presenting their research projects starting Monday. I'm really looking forward to seeing them. I sense pride and confidence in the students so I can't wait.
Cantergiani is living her fourth "Technology Day" today. She loves the one on one she is able to achieve from the email, which is mainly being used by the students to turn in their reading letters. It is a lot of reading and writing to respond to the letters, but how else would students gets this kind of timely response from a LA teacher!!!
Cantergiani is living her fourth "Technology Day" today. She loves the one on one she is able to achieve from the email, which is mainly being used by the students to turn in their reading letters. It is a lot of reading and writing to respond to the letters, but how else would students gets this kind of timely response from a LA teacher!!!
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Technology Helps Behavior
After a full week of illness and professional development, here we are. The 7th graders are excited today because Kiernan reminded them that it is "technology day". When I expressed that we really want to make the technology a seamless function of the classroom, she directly responded that it makes a BIG difference in their behavior. They are good because Kiernan has explained the behavior guidelines for using the technology, and she said, "they are just flat out excited [about using the technology]."
Sunday, November 06, 2005
week 3
I became very ill last week after Tuesday, but was able to sit in on Goode's 3rd period, our DHS pilot class. They were so quiet and busy at work. I believe some were working on their citations for the research project that Ms. Goode is supervising through their blogging (another very effective way to integrate technology).
We have some students at the high school thinking that the gaggle email is an email account they can use to enter a dating service site???!!! Hello! Besides, you are in high school-- surrounded by coeds, why do you need a dating service?
Anyhoo, we restricted the culprit to emailing administrator only or should it be taken away completely? Will that be like taking away the student's pencil? They are using the blog to comment on each other's work, but the email is use to confer or offer suggestions to students that are not posted to their blog.
I think we agree that at least one month restriction. Although the opportunity at the high school is more frequent because the lab is more available. Maybe we should try to step up the number of visits at the middle school? What do ya think?
To me, the entire incident above is just another excellent point for the record that students do need email at school so we can show them exactly how to utilize a "work" email. He would've gotten fired! Am I right?
We have some students at the high school thinking that the gaggle email is an email account they can use to enter a dating service site???!!! Hello! Besides, you are in high school-- surrounded by coeds, why do you need a dating service?
Anyhoo, we restricted the culprit to emailing administrator only or should it be taken away completely? Will that be like taking away the student's pencil? They are using the blog to comment on each other's work, but the email is use to confer or offer suggestions to students that are not posted to their blog.
I think we agree that at least one month restriction. Although the opportunity at the high school is more frequent because the lab is more available. Maybe we should try to step up the number of visits at the middle school? What do ya think?
To me, the entire incident above is just another excellent point for the record that students do need email at school so we can show them exactly how to utilize a "work" email. He would've gotten fired! Am I right?
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
email pilot week 2
Well, we got a late start the beginning of the 2nd quarter for RMS and directly after mid-term for DHS, but better late than never. Entering the kids names into gaggle.net was not the difficult task. The gaggle people are wonderful and very responsive. The middle school kids have difficulty remembering passwords. It's just not part of their nature yet AND each step must be explained to them one by one.
Right away we had kids using the email for personal reason, so I'm trying to drive home the point that this is a "work" email and should not have any "personal" conversations--yet. That is not to say that in the end, once these kids become somewhat proficient with emailing that I wouldn't mind it. We had middle schoolers logging in over the weekend. Using gaggle made it easy to see what they wrote as the delete folder does not delete until after 30 days or the admin does it.
Right away we had kids using the email for personal reason, so I'm trying to drive home the point that this is a "work" email and should not have any "personal" conversations--yet. That is not to say that in the end, once these kids become somewhat proficient with emailing that I wouldn't mind it. We had middle schoolers logging in over the weekend. Using gaggle made it easy to see what they wrote as the delete folder does not delete until after 30 days or the admin does it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)