K-8 Computer Lab Teachers

Hello. I am not sure if there is a discussion out there for computer lab teachers yet. If not, I would like to start one so we can bounce ideas and resources off each other. I spent my first year teaching as a computer lab teacher. At first I was hesitant because I thought I would be a classroom teacher. Now, I love it and feel I am in the right place at the right time.

This September I start my second year only this time i am at a Chicago Public School with 600+ students. I have a lot of work to do to prepare and would love to talk with anyone about tips, tricks, what to avoid, etc.

Thanks,
Jeremiah Olson

Tags: computer, lab, labs

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Permalink Reply by Gerald Logan on September 27, 2007 at 9:28pm

I have been teaching in a computer lab for several years. I just moved to a k-6 (200 students) school from a k-9 (600 student) school. I am trapped in a school system with a IT department that believe we are a multinational bank and have to have enterprize level security to keep grade 1 studetns from hacking the Pentagon. As a result just getting the little guys logen in has been the lesson plan for the first month of school.

We have very little software that actually works. The down side of it all we changed from a very well functioning Mac system that was getting a little old to a new Windows system. The down side is there was little money left over to buy software with. Most of what was bought the IT guys can't get to work.

With all that said I would love to talk and compare programs.

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Permalink Reply by Kate Pomroy on March 12, 2008 at 8:41am

There is a typing tutorial online that works very well and is relatively inexpensive. There is also a new keybord that matches the online tutorial. You can try it for free at www.customtyping.com

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Permalink Reply by zoe0115 on September 28, 2007 at 12:59am

I am a teacher for distance learning. But there are still same skills the same as those in the classroom. My students are from many places and have a large range of age. I always visit some sites, such as agematch, facebook, to talk to people in different place at different age. I think this will help me a lot...

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Permalink Reply by Alice Mercer on September 30, 2007 at 9:38am

I'm having an idea here. I do a weekly reflection post on my blog about how the week went in my class: http://mizmercer.edublogs.org/category/weekinlab/. I'm wondering if that is something we might want to do here to get feedback from each other? I've gotten a lot of good feedback from others about doing this on my blog, and I find it helpful to both write out what happened, and get feedback from others. The discipline of doing it weekly helps to ensure that I am reflecting on my teaching, and that I don't just write when things are going great, or going badly.

Are you interested? Would the "blog" part of this be a better place?

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Permalink Reply by Erin McGuyer on October 26, 2007 at 11:14am

I am technology teacher to 6th and 7th graders. I meet with 6 classes during the day. I am wanting to create a wiki centered around how technology has changed over the years. I need some help narrowing this topic down. I was maybe thinking about an iluustrated timeline of sorts. I am going to use Voice Thread as well. Please respond with any advice or pointers!
Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Alice Mercer on October 26, 2007 at 8:43pm

There are some timeline programs out there already. Larry Ferlazzo has some on his blog/website, so you might want to consider that. His blog is at http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org. Just search for timeline.

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Permalink Reply by Erin McGuyer on October 29, 2007 at 7:29am

Thanks so much for the info!

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Permalink Reply by Edwin Wargo on October 27, 2007 at 12:46am

Hi Erin,

Matt Croslin lists his site/blog EduGeekJournal on the introduction page. A blog entry by Katrina Adams (towards the bottom) includes two comprehensive presentations on the history of the social web - it's really quite thorough. Hope it helps you.

Edwin

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Permalink Reply by Erin McGuyer on October 30, 2007 at 10:20am

Thanks, I will defintely check it out!

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Permalink Reply by Kelley Irish on October 29, 2007 at 6:02pm

I also teach in a k-8 lab. This is my 10th year. I have a wiki where I keep class projects, and links. If you are interested let me know and I will post the link

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Permalink Reply by Erin McGuyer on October 30, 2007 at 10:20am

Thanks so much. My school uses MS Sharepoint so that is what I use for classroom management purposes but I would love to see what kinds of projects you assign students.

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Permalink Reply by Candy Duff on July 31, 2010 at 9:43am

Hi Kelley,
I know your post is nearly 4 years old, but I wondered if you could still send me the link to our class projects and links. I'm a teacher who will be setting up a lab this year and would love to know what others are doing. canduff@comcast.net