Anne,
I work with both students and teachers. I collaborate with teachers and we set up "an appointment" for me to work with their students. This can take many forms. Sometimes I take the lead, other times it is true team teaching (my favorite), and some times I am there to assist. I work with students K-5. I also find that much of my job includes professional development. I have grown to love training teachers. They are a hard group to teach, but when you get them excited about a new technology and the wheels start turning.... It becomes a very rewarding and exciting learning opportunity for all stakeholders.
I did a lot of teacher training, mostly workshop stuff, but once for 3 years, was the computer teacher in a primary K-2 school, and I loved it!
I did a lot of pioneering work when I was at Southside, including starting the web site that gives me purpose in getting up some days. First Graders entered data in spreadsheets and, in so doing expose them to a bar and a circle greaph that is built in for them. Second graders did email with English Students in Israel. Kindergarteners made a pizza with paint, given a plain cicle that I put up for them, and they colred the circle red, added yellow cheese and brown pepperonis. All kids used the keyboard, if nothing else, to "sign into" the lab by typing, first their first initial, then two initials, then first name, finally full name. All children who came to the lab, including the mildly and severely handicapped. I did a project with a special ed class (EMR and physical handicaps, in which they looked at the pictures of 9/11 (it was that year, it had just happed. Then, we looked at some pictures on the UN site that children around the world have made to illustrate or celebrate Peace. Then the kids went back to their classroom where they each drew a Peace picture or something about 9/11. One boy with a crippling speech problem, drew a picture of a Haz-Mat truck that his father had driven up to NYC and took out some loads of trash. The child had gone along, and by spending time with him, he dictated a very meaningful description of his picture. All of the children saw their pictures on the screen (one was frightened to see his drawing on the screen, and they dictated desciption that I typed onto the page with the picture. I had permission from their parents to share the pictures for 3 months, and they had to come down. There is so much you can do with the kids. And, anything that a first or second graders does the baby steps on, the 4-5th grade kids should be able to do individually and independently.
Anne-
I love your site! My students have used your Famous Americans link especially the famous Virginians link. It is a great site because of the simplistic text. I am so excited to talk to the woman behind the website. So do you mind if I add you as a friend?
Hi! My name is Charles Paul Bazin Webster. I am a primary French Immersion educator in Saskatchewan. I work with the executive of my local teacher association. I am also a councilor for the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation. I am an amateur musician and artist. My favorite instruments to play are drums, guitar and bass guitar. When creating original art, my favorite mediums to use are acrylic paints and watercolors.
Don't you just love this edu network? A few minutes ago I added you as my twitter friend, and then noticed your introduction here on Classroom 2.0.
As one of the hosts of Classroom 2.0, I'd like to officially welcome you to this community. I'm sure that you'll find many opportunities to contribute your expertise and that you will benefit from many discussions happening here.
Hi .. I'm a relative novice at teaching and a definite amateur in the IT world. I have come from a business background (the wonderful world of hotels and resorts) so I can definitely see the need for our students to be more IT attuned if they are to succeed once they leave our schools. Which explains why I'm here ... I'm trying to learn how I can make my lessons more useful...
Stick around and you'll learn a lot. My advice when integrating technology---start small. Don't think you have to do everything with everybody, choose 4-5 kids to pilot an idea. Let me know if you want to see some projects we've done. I'll send you to our sites.
This is a great place to develop of network of colleagues who are also starting out or are more experienced and can offer guidance and support. I'm sure that you will find groups or discussion forums that will help you figure out how to best integrate technology. However, you should also reflect on what it is that you want to accomplish - just because some educators are using podcasts, doesn't mean that you should too. Observe and listen to your own practice.
I hope that Classroom 2.0 will be helpful to you in your endeavours. Let me know if there is anything that I can assist you with.
Thanks Nancy & Konrad ... your quick greets have me liking the place already. I've tried a few things already at school like students videoing and a blog to keep students informed. Now I've dipped my toes in the water I guess I can think about taking a bit of a swim.
Glad to know you have already been using the site. You must be in Virginia, if youo are using the Famous Virginians. And, you probably found this site through the newsletter on VSTE. Howdy, neighbor!
The Famous Americans site was started when I was at Southside teaching computers to K-2, and the SOLs were new. I noticed the teachers were trying to teach the Famous Americans without anything to go by and absolutely no pictures. Later. booklets came out, but the pictures were only black/white drawings, whereas I could easily find portraits of most of the people. Famous Americans met a real need, and the stats on the pages tell me that they are well used.
If you send me an email (my address is on most of the pages on the site), I will add you to the newsletter mailing. Around the first of the month, I send out a newsletter listing all the new content I have created the previous month. You can also see the newsletter by clicking on the "Newsletter" link on http://www.educationalsynthesis.org
This month, I have been adding to the science content under Mrs. P's Links http://www.educationalsynthesis.org/mrsp ... I've added a collection of printable Animal Tiles, simple pictures of animals that can be printed and used in sorts of various kinds. I have a Plant and Animal sort activity on the page, or you can make up your own sort activities to use the 200x200 pixel tiles (about 2.5 inches square). I am in the process of creating a learning page of hominids in science that will link to "PreHistory" in social studies as well as science.
I am curious if the information gathered online is consistent with scientific understandings on your side of The Big Puddle (my favorite name for the Atlantic Ocean).
My son said that I have all the equipment I need to do it, and that it's easy to get into. I guess you know where is a site that I will link to to reach you. John warns that since I live well out from any city or town, and am only on dial-up, it may be difficult to get into a good conversation, but a nice way to make introductions. John suggests we exchange anticipated quetions and topics prior to lnk-up, so that it will be easier to understand one another (I have a noticeable "southern" accent since I live in Virginia).
After the holiday week, I will find some time to hook it all up and see what I can figure out. I can test it out with a friend before we link up across the water.