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 Ahmed Khalil on March 14, 2008 at 7:05am

Hi
I work as computer department supervisor in a private school in Egypt, there are about 1000 students in the school in different departments baby class, KG, K12 (egyptian curriculum, Canadian Nova Scotia curriculum). I created a social network on ning for my students and they love it so far. but teachers r still not contributing to the level that i expected due to their lack of computer usage/training (some of them started to participate in the social network and others are resisting the change).

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Permalink Reply by Carl on March 14, 2008 at 9:02am

What you describe is true most every where I think -- at least its true here for my staff. Part of its training, (with relevance to your curriculum), part of it is resistance to change, and part of it is lack of time, (aren't all teachers "Prisoners of Time")? I have my LCMS, (ATutor), set up for the whole school, but I am the only one using it. My student teacher loves it, students enjoy being able to work on class assignments at home or in library.

This may not change for 10-15 years.

Carl

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Permalink Reply by Gerald Logan on March 27, 2008 at 9:33am

My school district made this same change two years ago. I hate to say this but if your next two years are anything like my last two I feel sorry for you. With the change we lost all of the programs that we had bought and used over the years. We ended up with Office, GIMP, All The Right Type, Kid Pix, Hyperstudio and anything else that was a free load with Windows. IT could not get Kid Pix and Hyperstudio to work together so we didn't have that until last month. The program they use to install programs remotely doesn't seem to like these two porgrams so it created some sort of conflict. They had to be hand installed. The program to replace Apple Remote Desktop has never worked and keeps killing the network. Every time I plug in a different camera I need them to set up the drivers. The driving force behind this move was to reduce the cost of support but it in fact has increased. So please factor that into your budget as well as the cost of all the software your school or district has bought. The people making these decsions never have a full list of these applications, or the budget gets reduced and the only thing that can be cut is application software. From the teachers point of view the only thing that matters is applications.

It is only now, 3 months short of two years after the start of the conversion, that IT will consider adding programs to the computers. I have asked for all the Open Source applications like Childs Play, Inkscape, Stellarium, Celsetria, Tux (everything) and anything else that is free to be added.

All I can say is thank goodness web 2.0 arrived so there are at least great things for kids to do on line. Here in Alberta Canada we have two great resources for educational activities www.learnalberta.ca which needs a password for a lot of resources and www.2learn.ca which is open.

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Permalink Reply by Mary Jo Schreiber on March 27, 2008 at 6:53pm

Hi, everyone. I teach grades K-8 at a Catholic school in Pasadena, MD (about 600 students). I see them for about 40-50 minutes once a week and have been doing this for 3 years. We have 30 student computers plus I have 8 IBM ThinkPad wireless laptops and 3 wireless desktop computers for the times when I have more than 30 students in the lab (grades 6 and 7). I have worked out a curriculum based on the standards for the Archdiocese of Baltimore. We are currently doing curriculum mapping, so once I get that worked out, I can share lessons.

Our tech coordinator and I are planning on installing VNC software over the summer so I can see what is going on from my computer. It is free! In the meantime, I have Cybersitter installed on the computers so that I don't have to worry about what is going on with the student computers, especially junior high. (Our blocking software on the network is not always reliable.)

Looking forward to reading all of the discussions when I get a chance.

Mary Jo Schreiber

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Permalink Reply by Candice Johanson on August 14, 2013 at 7:07pm

I am a new K5 technology teacher. The previous person didn't leave any lessons behind for the first weeks of school. Can you let me know where some good starting places are for getting them started for the first couple months..

Thanks,

Candice

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Permalink Reply by Ann on August 15, 2013 at 5:15am

Hi Candice. You can take a look at my wiki. I keep lessons for K-8 there. You might also want to look at theElementary Tech Teachers ning. There is an amazing group of tech teachers. It is a really robust group. Finally, tied into that group is awiki with ideas. Best wishes as you get started. Ann

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Permalink Reply by Candice Johanson on August 15, 2013 at 6:15am

Thank you, thank you. I feel much more comfortable after finding this group. I had interviewed for a different position that I didn't get. They liked me and wanted me on the team. I just finished Grad school and thought this would be a good foot in the door in a great school. All of this information is going to make such a difference for me.

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Permalink Reply by Ann on August 15, 2013 at 6:44am

You are most welcome! I remember how overwhelming it is to just start out. The teachers at the Elementary Tech Teachers ning are a really great and responsive group.

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Permalink Reply by Candice Johanson on August 16, 2013 at 4:00pm

Yes, overwhelming. I have found the Elementary Tech Teacher forum too. It has been helpful. Very grateful to have discovered sites like these.

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Permalink Reply by Ruth Glenboski on March 30, 2008 at 10:45am

Wow! What an awesome group to find. You all have made my day. I am currently a 2nd grade teacher in a Catholic School. I've taught 2nd grade for nine years now and I've just accepted the Computer Teacher position for next year. I use technology in my classroom all the time and have experience with Kidpix and Kidspiration. We had a full-time Computer Teacher for years, but when she moved away, the position was not filled again. We as teachers handled it the first year and this current year we have one teacher traveling between our elementary, middle and high school campuses. They have been using the K to the 8th program. Our parents and students have not been impressed. We are now back to a full-time Computer Teacher at the elementary school and that's me. I feel like we have a lot of ground to make up and I am both very excited and nervous about this new adventure. I was reading through the posts and I'm very excited about some of the things I've read. Thank you all for this wonderful group.

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Permalink Reply by Ruth Glenboski on March 30, 2008 at 10:47am

I have so much to learn. Does anyone have a good Keyboarding Program that you use? I'll be teaching grades K-6.

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Permalink Reply by Amber Coggin on March 30, 2008 at 11:52am

Hi, glad you found this group! Can't wait to share resources with you. This is my first year teaching computers to grades K-5.

The keyboarding program we use is Learning.com. It is subscription based (our district provides it). There are also free ones such as Dance Mat Typing.

Please join the computer lab teachers group here.