Classroom management in a computer lab is a nightmare. Anyone who has ever tried it knows exactly what I mean, kids and computers are a mix that usually drives a teacher crazy.
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Here are my main areas of concern…
Student who spend their entire academic careers trying to play games on the computer when their teacher is not looking. It is their number one and only only goal in the computer lab.
Students with a wide-range of computer abilities, anywhere from students that are hacking the school server to other students who are asking you what a double-click is?
I also do not like how loud my computer lab has gotten, for some unexplainable reason students get in front of a computer and think that they can now talk to their neighbor.
So to combat these concerns, I decided to spend some time this summer looking at different classroom management strategies. Where did I do my looking you ask?
That’s right, I went to YouTube for help with my computer lab classroom management concerns, and what I found was amazing.
I found a group that called themselves “Power Teaching” but now the go by “Whole Brain Teaching.” I saw a technique that matched my teaching style perfectly. After studing everything I could on YouTube, I took in a Whole Brain Teaching web seminar and learned the ins and outs of this classroom management technique.
I am proud to say that I am a new and improved teacher — ready for my students to arrive tomorrow. What out kids, there’s a new sheriff in town!
I’ll keep you posted on how it works.
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Yesterday I went over the initial interview with Atomic Learning to make sure that both of us were on the the same page with regards to technology training, and professional development for my teachers. Today is part two of that setup. I was impressed by how Tom finished part one by saying, “Anything we can do to save you time, that’s what we’re all about.”
Part Two: How To Use the Atomic Learning Account
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Tom explained to me that the best place to start when it comes to explaining what Atomic Learning is all about is just the “Learn More” link on the front page. The video is short and to the point, easily explaining the many facets of the Atomic Learning subscription.
Tom then took my through each section of the website. Most of which I already knew but there were still a few things that I had never seen before.
Once we had finished the initial training it was now time for me to learn how to be an administrator, something I had never done since I was only used to having a personal account. One of the cool features the ability to set up preferred filters so that your teachers only see the applications that are in your building. There is no use showing training for Office 2007 when you only have Office 2003.
I also learned how to search by state standards and by ISTE NETS-S, which is going to be another real time-save.
“The website is made to teach itself.” Tom explained as he showed me that when you click on any of the lirttle question marks that are on the website, a short video will pop up to show to explain what that part of the website does. Cool.
One of the parts that I really like is the ability to make assignments or recommendations for my teachers. I can assign a pre-assessment for 21st Century Skills and then some training so that all my teachers are all on the same page.
The reporting section is top-notch, there is also an entire area devoted to implementing Atomic Learning in your school, complete with posters and ready-made emails. These will be a real time-saver — it looks like Tom is really following through on his promise.
The last section he explained was the ePortfolio, which allows teachers to upload content and then select who they want to share it with. This is going to great for our teachers to upload future lesson plans that are 21st Century Skills ready.
Tom concluded the training by explaining that he will be sending me some follow-up emails that will explain everything we just did in a thorough step-by-step method as well as other helpful informatin (which he did).
I can’t wait to show my teachers next week.
Although I have had a personal account with Atomic Learning for years, this is my first year to have an account for my entire school. So yesterday I did my first online training with Tom Peterson from Atomic Learning to make sure everything would be up and running for when my teachers and students return back to school next week.
Tom explained that today’s online training was going to be broken up into two different sections; an interview to find out how Atomic Learning can best fit the needs of my school and then the actual training on how to use their product. I did roll my eyes a bit when he said that he would “train” me on how to use Atomic Learning. After all, I had been using their product to make me look smarter than I was for years. To my surprise I later found out how much I didn’t know — basically, I had only been using about 50% of my subscription. (Yes, I’m an idiot, I know.)
Part 1: The Interview
On the computer screen in front of me I could see both Tom’s screen and also my own Atomic Learning account. Tom spent about a half-hour asking me questions about the challenges I faced at my school with regards to technology and professional development for my teachers. We then discussed my goals for the upcoming year and how I would be measuring the success of these goals.
It was obvious to me that Tom had a lot of experience working with schools and technology training. He assured me that my challenges were common (Whew! I’m not alone.) and my goals were realistic for this upcoming year.
Tom then covered some of the physical aspects of my school — things like computer platforms, browsers versions, software and hardware, etc. so that he might be able to sniff out an unseen obstacles between my school and his service.
He concluded with Part 1 by making sure that I would have time available to train the teachers on how to use Atomic Learning and how I need to send in the staff list so that they would all have their own accounts set up in a few days.
At the time I didn’t realize just how important this first part was to being able to use all the services available, but as I found out later, Tom referred to my challenges and goals as he trained me on how best to use my account.
Part 2 will be posted tomorrow…
I am sick of people saying that the iPad is for consuming and not creating online digital content. There is no doubt that the iPad is a great device to browse the web, read an eBook and check email (consuming) but it can do so much more than that. You will see from my list below that the iPad is far superior to the laptop in a lot of different areas of digital content creation.
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iPad Creation:
Email: We’ll start simple, the iPad is great for composing email messages, grant it, you wouldn’t want to write a novella, but short, quick and simple emails work great. By the way, that is 100% of the emails that I write.
Draw and Paint: My students love to draw and paint on the iPad. They mix colors, change brushes, etc. It is so much easier to draw and paint on an iPad with your finger than to do it on a computer with a mouse. In fact if you don’t believe me, try to draw a big circle with a mouse and then draw one with your finger, you’ll see what I mean.
Photo Editing: There are literally hundreds of incredible photo editing apps for the iPad. I sync my photos to my iPad so that I can edit them in one of the four great apps that I have. I would much rather edit them on my iPad than my MacBook. No only are the photo editing apps easy to use, but they are cheap. Compare $1.99 for an app to $80 for a photo editing program for my laptop.
Documents and Presentations: With Apple adding Keynote and Pages to the list of great apps, you can now create beautiful documents and presentations on your iPad. For longer documents I would certainly use a Bluetooth keyboard, but for everything else the on screen keyboard works great.
Music: On the iPad you can play great music and create great music — on nearly any instrument you could think of. I have students playing piano, guitar and even the drums. And don’t get me started on the DJ-type software that is available — so many things that are impossible to do on a laptop. Really, can you play a guitar on a laptop?
Listen, this list could go on and on, the reality is that I now look at my laptop and see all the limitations it has for creating content compared to the amazing and easy things that my iPad can do. So get over it world! The iPad is a digital content creator!
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Last week when our family was returning back from the annual pilgrimage to Walmart for back to school supplies I over heard my two teenage children talking in the back seat of the car. At first they were discussing all the new binders and pens they had just got but then my daughter said a really interesting thing.
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“I hope I get a great teacher this year,” she said.
“Yeah, me too,” my son replied.
As a teacher, that hit me hard. Are my two children the only ones who think this way? Or are children all over our country hoping for the same thing? Do our students really start off each school year hoping to get a great teacher?
And now for even tougher questions…
Am I going to be a great teacher this year?
How to I become a great teacher?
Can I be a great teacher for all students?
I hope you noticed that my children didn’t hope for the fun teacher or a goofy teacher or a let-you-get-away-with-anything teacher — instead, they want a great teacher. You see, both my children were in the same math class last year, and they experienced what it is like to truly have a great teacher. This math teacher is so passionate about her subject that it become infectious to her students, both of my children love math now because of a great teacher. And now they want more.
As an elementary tech teacher, I want to be that great teacher. I want my students to be excited about school technology as I am, I want them to develop life-long 21st Century Skills that will help them in a future that I cannot even pretend to understand.
Let’s do it! Let’s all be great teachers!
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When it comes to teachers and integrating technology, it is all about what you have — not what you don’t have. But some teachers get hung up on the later. “But I don’t have any Flip video cameras at my school, so my students can’t make movies.”
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Teachers need to do a tech inventory to see what is available for them when they go to integrate technology into their lessons and projects.
There are three specific areas that teachers must do a technology inventory…
- The Classroom: Write down every piece of technology you have in your classroom. ie: teacher’s computer, one student computer, tv, etc.
- The School: Now go and find all the technology in your school. ie: 1 laptop cart with 28 laptops, 5 digital cameras, computer lab with 32 computers, student response system (clickers), etc.
- The District: Some districts have technology just lying around for teachers to check-out. ie: video cameras, USB microscopes, etc.
Now that is a list you can work with! Now you can begin to integrate technology into your lessons and projects.
And for the teacher that said she doesn’t have any Flip video cameras, it turned out that she could just use the 5 digital cameras in her school in “movie mode” to record video or check-out a video camera from the district. And she thought her students couldn’t make movies.
Let’s not fall into the trap of thinking; “I would teach my students 21st Century Skills and technology, but I just don’t have the equipment.” Look around you, you might be surprised at how much technology is in your classroom, school, and district.
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Every August I order a bunch of new books to help me in the classroom and this year was no exception. The first book I want to review is The Director in the Classroom by Nikos Theodosakis, it is the second edition of this book or as it says on the cover: “Version 2.0″
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I have a very well-used copy of his first edition and have used it for years when working with my students on making movies. I mostly use the forms that come with the book, there are over 20 of them, everything from checklists to rubrics. Nikos has done all the hard work, now all I need to do is use these forms in the classroom.
What I really love about this book is how complete it is — it is missing nothing as far as I am concerned. Nikos covers everything about student filmmaking.
Here is an outline of his book:
Part 1: Why Filmmaking Belongs in the Classroom He covers topics like higher order thinking skills and personal and social skills like creativity, confidence, and self-esteem. These are all ideas that I have personally seen when I make movies with my students. So as I read his book I find myself nodding my head in agreement as I highlight another sentence or paragraph.
Part 2: The Filmmaking Process in the Classroom This part covers all the nuts and bolts of filmmaking with students. He breaks each of the phases (development, pre-production, production, post-production and distribution) into easy to manage step-by-step instructions (with forms and checklists).
Part 3: Obstacles and Opportunities Nikos takes on the issues like assessment and copyright and how filmmaking meets SCANS goals.
Part 4: Some More Thoughts This part is where Nikos has added the most in this edition of his book. He makes connections to the new Web 2.0 opportunities for filmmakers as well as connections to 21st Century Skills. He concludes with ideas on how to get your student-made films in to film festivals.
Part 5: Teachers as Directors His ideas to help the process move along.
Part 6: Teacher Resources This wraps up the book with a glossary and copies of all of his forms and checklists.
So if you are like me and you enjoy filmmaking with students, this is a definite must have book.
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Yesterday I had an online meeting with the people at Atomic Learning to discuss some new ideas for blended learning. In the meeting were different educators from all over the world, we went back and forth about all the things we liked and disliked about online and offline learning, Atomic Learning was adamant about wanting the best possible learning experience for educators.
I have been chewing on these ideas all day, so here is my list:
What I hate about online learning (e-learning):
- Fluff and Filler: I remember an online class I took a few years ago that was painful to get through. It was filled with so much fluff and filler it was hard to get to the meat of the course. I had to read and participate in all sorts of weird off-topic subjects that I swear the instructor was on drugs, there was no connection between the different pieces.
- Unclear Instructions: Hey, I am a pretty tech-savey sort of guy, but I swear there are some courses that are so vague about the sequence of things that they should come with a number to the recommended 1-800 psychic hotline just so you can figure out what to do next. Once I thought I was cruising through an online lesson, or at least I thought I was, but then I noticed that none of my work was being graded. After I hunted down my instructor, it was finally explained to me that I had missed a step and that I would have to go back and complete it before I could be allowed to move on. I checked all the materials I had been given and there was never a mention of the step. Holy crud! A little quality-control would be nice.
- Boring or Sucky Lessons: With most people having a fast connection to the Internet, why do some online lesson providers still do dial-up type lessons? Come on! Let’s see some videos, animations, simulations, live video chats, etc. Bandwidth is cheap — use it.
What I love about online learning (e-learning):
- Blended Learning: Nobody likes to do everything online (except maybe 15 year-olds), so I love it when lessons included some offline work. Things like; reading a book, video taping a concept, interviewing a mentor, etc.
- Lesson Guides and Checklists: I love simple, easy to follow lesson guides that have a checklist. Most online learners have a full-time job, so we need make it easy for them to know where they are and where they need to go. I really love it when these checklists have how much time it might take to complete the task so learners can plan accordingly. For example: Task 14: Complete your rough draft of Twitter in Education paper (estimated time to complete: 1 hour).
- Fresh Content: I understand that textbooks are out of date by the time they get to students but online learning can be as fresh as the apple sitting on my desk. Online instructors should review their content on a frequent basis to make sure that their students are getting the most up-to-date ideas and concepts. It takes nothing to add and subtract a couple of links from an online lesson.
I’ll keep you posted on the online learning projects that I am working on, I promise to follow my own love/hate relationship advise.
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I strongly believe in the FIRST LEGO League (FLL), which is why I was excited when I was asked to be in charge of FLL for my school. Last year we had three teams from our school compete and this year we could have even more.
FLL is based on the following core values…
- We are a team.
- We do the work to find solutions with guidance from our coaches and mentors.
- We honor the spirit of friendly competition.
- What we discover is more important that what we win.
- We share our experiences with others.
- We display gracious professionalism in everything we do.
- We have fun.
You can see from the above list why I so firmly support the students in my school participating and enjoying the FLL. It is now up to me as the FLL coordinator for my school to register the teams, order the field kits, find some coaches and organize the students into teams of about 6 or 7 students (grades 4 and 5).
It should be another exciting year.
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Last year was a huge trial-run for the students at my school.
We wanted to see if it was really possible for elementary students to podcast a daily school news show — which they did. So now that my students have proven to be great podcasters, it is time to change some things in the studio.
Change #1: Change from a laptop to a desktop computer. The laptop kept getting “borrowed” for other school projects, so it is time to have a dedicated podcasting computer.
Change #2: New soundboard software. We decided to go with the Sitter Downers Soundboard, which is freeware and really easy to work. The students love to add sound effects and music to their live podcasts.
Change #3: Record directly to Audacity. Last year we recorded to a digital voice recorder, then took it into iTunes to convert the file to MP3 and then into Audacity for editing. Now we have streamlined the process.
Change #4: Two hosts are better than one. This year I want to use two hosts, we were already set up with the mics and mixer, so this is a natural progression that should make for a better show.
Stay tuned, we start our new podcasting season in a few weeks.
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