Reflection

My course is coming to an end. As I reflect on the things I have learned, I realize that technology is everywhere and will continue to be throughout my lifetime. I have always thought that I am pretty competent using technologies such as computers and hand held devices. After taking this course, I realize there are so many more things I can utilize with these technologies in my classroom. By using all technology that is available to me in my school, I see more student engagement and excitement for learning. It is so important to keep myself up to date with new technologies. I plan to continue to subscribe to educational and technological blogs as one source of keeping current. I also intend to encourage other colleagues in my school to try new technologies as well.

In the next two years, I would like to transform my classroom learning by leaning more toward a student facilitated learning environment. I do not need to be the sole source of information and learning. I want students to be able to use computers to research and create projects. I know it will be a bit more challenging to increase this in first grade. I know that I will need to provide a lot of modeling and practice together before students are able to create some basic things on their own. It will take time. It will be a learning experience for myself as well. A more focused and outcome based goal I would like to achieve is using podcasts for writing and reading fluency. I want students to create their own writing pieces, edit them, practice reading them, create artwork for them, and then read them in a podcast. Many students love to hear their own voices and they will immediately hear how fluent they have become as the year progresses on. I would love to have students do this several times a year to monitor their own progress in reading fluency. Just as student facilitated learning will take a lot of modeling and practice with me before they are prepared to create on their own. In the end I believe my students will be fully engaged and excited about using technology for learning.

Technology Use Podcast

This week I created a podcast. My district does not allow student interviews without a three week approval process, so I interviewed three students that are not in my first grade class. Here is the site where you can listen to my podcast.

http://podcastmachine.com/podcasts/4452/episodes/20217

So this week I visited the Partnership for 21st Century Skills site for my master's class. I guess my initial reaction was that it seemed a bit overwhelming with an abundance of information. As I navigated my way through the site, I found there truly is a lot of interesting information. The information is very detailed and well organized. The one thing that bothered my is the reference to the three R's but no explanation to what the three R's are. I then proceeded to search for the answer. I found out that the three R's are actually not R's at all, but the core subject areas. That was a bit confusing. The four C's on the other hand were communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. That made sense. I suppose my biggest surprise is that I have never heard of P21. It has been around since 2002 and has many big name company members and the U.S. Department of Education involved with it, but I, as an educator, have never heard of it. Shouldn't educators be more informed that support like this is available. Maybe I am to blame for not researching more? Is there an easier way to keep educators educated themselves? There seemed to be some decent resources available throughout this site for educators. I would like to research them further. I like that many of them were free or of little cost.

Classroom Blog Ideas

I teach first grade. The idea of using a blog in my classroom intrigues me. I think I would start by introducing a class blog to my entire class. Showing them the postings and where to comment. Then I might make blogging an optional homework assignment. It would be optional since some homes do not have computers or internet access. This way parents could help guide their students through the process of commenting. Next, at school, I would share with them how to comment on the class blog. I would keep it simple by asking ,"What did you do over Spring Break?" Next I would take my students to the computer lab. My school has a computer lab that all grade levels share. Due to popularity, my class can only visit the lab once each week. I would allow students time to type a few things in the blog that they did over Spring Break. Knowing that many of my students are very slow at typing, I expect some will only get one sentence. This is still great practice for sentence formation and typing skills. I am a little concerned that this might just turn into pure confusion in the computer lab. Hopefully the few that did it for homework would be able to help others. Like I said, I am brand new to blogs. This might be way too much for six and seven year olds. I am willing to try it. At the very least, I hope to set up a blog to display artwork or writing samples for parents and students to visit from home. I would place the blog site on my weekly newsletter and encourage them to interact. What do the rest of you think? Is first grade too young to expect blog participation?

Here we go!

Welcome to my first blog!

I am a first grade teacher in a chilly town in the interior of Alaska. I have been teaching for six years at the elementary school that I attended. In fact, my principal/boss was my fourth grade teacher. That is what I get for living in a small town. I love that I can go anywhere and see a familiar face.

I am happily married with a two year old chocolate lab. She is definitely in her terrible twos and keeps me running. When I find free time I like to go snow boarding, water skiing, scrap booking, and playing games. I wish I could find more of that free time.

I am starting this blog to connect with classmates. I look forward to diving into the exciting world of blogging.