This week I have tried to REALLY take a step back and look at my GAME Plan from the beginning. My goal was to work on on Standard 1 and improve my ability to facilitate and inspire student learning and creativy through the use of technology. I feel that I have at least started this process, but again, I have a long way to go. I have tried to implement the use of technology as much as possible in my lessons, but for now I am taking baby steps. As for Standard 4, I feel that I have begun to promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility through my lessons and I feel good about that. I wrote in my first blog that I wanted my students to have computers at their fingertips and adaquate time in which to use them. Well, this hasn't gone so well. Sometimes things are beyond my control and I have to make adjustments and use what I have. By using parent helpers and pairing up my students, I can make the most out of the computer time I have. I have to go back to truly being flexible!
This week for my assignment, I am going to attempt blogging. Even though this may be difficult for some of my first graders, I think if I keep it simple, it will work. For my first lesson, I am having my students look on the internet for the weather in the city in which they live and also in another city somewhere in the world. They will graph these temperatures as they keep track of them. Now, I am going to have them blog about the varying temperatures and tell what kind of clothes they would be wearing if they were in that other location. My students can compare and contrast that to the type of clothes they would wear in their home city. Basically, they are solving the problem, How can I find out what the weather will be today and what type of clothing is appropriate to wear for this type of weather?
All in all, I need to keep in mind that I don't have to "do it all" right away. My goal is to build a solid foundation upon which to expand my students' learning of technology tools. When I look back to where I was just one year ago, I have made HUGE progress! That is something to smile about.
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Amy,
ReplyDeleteIt is great that you realize that flexibility is something that needs to be done. This is something that has taken me a long time to figure out. I know that I need to be flexible when it comes to setting goals because a lot of times, we as teachers want to do more than we can handle. I would love to see how you can use blogging with your first graders! That sounds like it could be very fun! Good luck with everything!
Anna
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ReplyDeleteAmy,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your post and approach to integrating the standards. I'll be you have a blast blogging with your kids. One thing you can do is teach them how to decorate or personalize their blogs by adding widgets. If you search google by asking how to personalize your blog, or add widget to blog, or gadget to blog, you'll find tons of little widgets to place on blogs. You may want to use it as a reward for proper behavior and where you control what they put on their blog. Some are really funny, but others are not appropriate for kids of course, like lots of things on the web. I had a student who put a Koi pond on hers and you can move your mouse to feed the fish and they follow the cursor. Another placed a "feed the frog" one on theirs. I don't mind as long as they are appropriate. Many of the popular games are now available as widgets, such as Mario, or pong, or space invaders etc. Good luck.
Amy,
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of blogging. Virg's idea of adding widgets is great too! Where we'll run into problems might be our district blocker. I'm thinking we should all have a meeting with the tech guy and see if we can convince him to unblock specific blogging sites. Probably won't happen this year...but maybe next year. Your first graders will love blogging and it will be such a perfect introduction to social networking. You're a fantastic teacher!!
Tonya
Amy,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post. It seems your students are going to have a wonderful lesson.
Maria
Hi Amy!
ReplyDeleteI really like reading your blog and think you have so many great ideas! I really commend you for trying out blogging and social networking with your young first graders. Whose knows...you may be quite surprised with the results. Let me know how it goes. I have never even attempted blogging with kindergartners. I wonder if having a family homework assignment where students can blog with the help of their parents would ever work. Maybe worth a try. That way I can expose the students with the help of the parents. I would probably have to make sure I had a tutorial readily available to teach the parents who are not sop tech savvy!
Good job on your GAME Plan!
Jenny