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 Cathy Webb on June 27, 2009 at 1:30am

What a fantastic project! THANKS1

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Permalink Reply by Julie Baird on June 27, 2009 at 6:37am

Steve, this is a fabulous project. Do you mind if I share it with our computer apps teacher? He's not part of this group.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Grigalunas on June 29, 2009 at 6:34am

Please do

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Permalink Reply by Julie Baird on June 30, 2009 at 5:56am

Thanks a bunch. I hope he uses it. I think it's a great project.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Henry on September 3, 2009 at 11:13am

I really like this project and I'm excited to try it out with my 9th grade introductory Computer Literacy class. How much excel instruction do you do before doing the project? Is it a "teach yourself" kind of thing, or do you spend a week going over excel and various functions?

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Permalink Reply by Chrissy on September 3, 2009 at 11:39am

I love your idea. I love teaching excel and this idea will really capture their attention and give each student an idea of cost of living. Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Cummins on August 28, 2009 at 3:24pm

If you are looking for some great resources tools and e-learning apps that will make your professional life a great deal easier check out my blog at www.edgalaxy.com with regular updates and lesson plans.

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Permalink Reply by Dale Ehrhart on August 28, 2009 at 8:20pm

I spent last year (my first year) as a K-6 lab teacher in a district just outside of Fint, MI, and I loved it. Unfortunately, my district had to close a school and eliminate a bunch of positions including mine.

I would avoid GoogleEarth with a class that has been stuggling with their sub all day-I learned that the hard way :-) .

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Permalink Reply by Cheska Robinson on September 22, 2009 at 12:57pm

Hello!

This is great-- I'm glad to find a large group of educators involved with computers and technology in the classroom. I'm currently taking a grad course on lab methods in educational technology, and I'm interested in finding out more about the different roles of a classroom teacher vs lab coordinators in a computer lab setting. Would you mind sharing some of your thoughts and experiences in response to the following questions?

What do you perceive as obstacles in planning and using the computer lab in collaboration with teachers and other staff?
What do you recommend as other ways of collaboration in the computer lab?
In terms of instruction, what do you think are the roles and responsibilities should both parties--teachers and tech specialists--assume?

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Carter on September 22, 2009 at 1:40pm

Formerly, I taught in a middle school computer lab. I found that there were so many free sites that could be used with students. At first we tried to purchase software, but that was an economic disaster. I tried to vary the sites that the kids saw each session by finding something on English, math, science, social studies etc. The kids could then visit the sites at home to show parents and/or continue the experience. The issue with each site was to provide some assessment tool/opportunity to make the kids feel they had to accomplish something to move on to the next activity or to "free time." There are several online quiz makers that allow you to easily create an assessment. So times I would make them solve a certain number of problems or answer certain questions before moving on.
One example:http://www.mrmyers.org/Math_Mania/ttmult.html
http://www.prongo.com/unitedstates/index.html

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Permalink Reply by Denise Duffy on December 15, 2009 at 11:46am

Hi, I am a Teacher Assistant in our computer labs and do instruct our 1000 elementary students. Classes come once a week and are accompanied by their teacher. We have a set of lessons in word, power point, excel just to get the students started. I have helped their teachers come up with projects using a number of different apps including voicethread, podcasts, movie maker, i movie. I also have a wiki that I put some of their student work on www.villagewiki.pbworks.com. We use Google Earth, Pixie (alternative to KidPix), and I just started trying to introduce to both students and their teachers Wordle. For the older students I have tried introducing Scratch (a programming language developed my MIT that makes it easy to create interactive stores, games and animations). But it is hard to actually get one of our teachers to commit to doing project, with so much on their plates already. I try to show them a little and hope they get hooked!

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Permalink Reply by Jody Maxey on July 9, 2010 at 1:17pm

I am not a computer lab teacher, but I might as well be as much time as me and my science students use our mobile computer lab. My advice probably goes for any subject, keep it interesting and meaningful to them. Have you heard of
edu.glogster.com? Awesome, check it out. or
http://museumbox.e2bn.org/? Pretty cool, also. I have used the glogs and we love it. Going to try the museum box this year.