New classroom, but still no smart board....

Just switched classroom assignments. Am now teaching grade 2. It's a good switch, not only for more working time, but this class is also easier. I think mainly it's because the previous teacher, who has now retired, knows how to do classroom management. Like seriously, these kids will read quietly for over 20 minutes and more than one of them would do longer if I let them.

So, one thing the last teacher did not do, was technology. So the kids are lapping up using the mobile computer lab. They loved the math exercises I had them do through IXL.com. What a great website! You can link it directly to the PLO's for your province. It's great! And then I let them play for awhile on kid pix. What fun! I am already thinking about how to integrate that program in some parts of the curriculum.

I also used the document camera for a math lesson. That worked great! They all had the manipulatives on their desks, but I modelled the lesson under the camera, so they could all easily see if what they had was what I wanted. What a great invention. The alternative would have been to try to do it on the board...but I don't have magnetic manipulatives to use, so stuff would have been falling, or to have then crowd around me. But with it all projected up into everyone's line of vision, it went so well. Definitely something I will do again and again.

Still waiting to have a smartboard in my class,though.....

Smart Boards and the Classroom---wish I had one!

I went to a smart board training session today and now have my level one certification. The possibilities for using the Smart technology are endless. It was interesting, though, that at one point, the instructor made sure to tell us that this does NOT replace "real" manipulatives. Nothing can replace having, holding and turning the real thing in your hand.

I wish I had access to a smart board this year, but I don't. I signed up for this conference while still at my old school, where I was starting to lead a primary technology team, but my job changed over the summer and I'm at a new school. The new school will be fine, I'm sure, but I won't be using my smart board know-how.

I used the smart board quite often last year with trying to schedule it weekly. I used it for a fun attendance game (I made it according to the theme we were working on), and then used it for inter-active science and math activities. After doing some of that, I would usually have the children go on to their own individual notebook computers where I had them work on individual programs in math and reading. After an hour or so, most students were done with screen time. They wanted real manipulatives to do and feel.

What have you done with smart boards in your class? Have you ever had to "go back" in time and do without some technology you liked using?

time to start again

It's been a long time since I've written. I needed to take a break from everything related to my course...well, that's not true...I continued teaching and using technology, but analyzing it all and being deliberate about using it specifically to record my adventures with it for all of you to read...I didn't want to do that for awhile.

but now it's August and school is right around the corner. In fact, I am going to a two day seminar this week about teaching Kindergarten. I have my grade one class back, but because of the over-enrollment of the K's, the school admin is putting a few of those in my class. I don't know how to teach Kindergarten. I know BC has changed the K curriculum and it is now "play-based", but how will I do that with the grade 1's? Guess I'll find out.

So this year I'll be concentrating on figuring out how to do a K/1 split. I know already that the 1's I have in my class are not as academically bright as last year's, but I also know, with great thanksgiving, that they are not as behaviourally challenging either! Whew! I have a few ESL students in my class this year and so will be looking at learning how to incorporate learning for them.

So I do want to continue learning, reading, and reflecting. Feel free to come along for the ride.

Almost done...but not really

So tonight I had my second to last class. It was online and required us sharing out what we had done with our field studies this past semester. It felt awkward to be talking to a computer and then listening to replies that were typed back. I still like the face to face thing better. But it was good, and this way I could still answer the phone without feeling rude, still have a facebook chat with my son....guess it's the new way of multi-tasking. But...I enjoyed hearing what my classmates have done. I've got some ideas that I'd like to try in my class over the next few months. Who knew of a good way to incorporate math into the morning calendar time? My classmate, that's who. And so I hope to continue with learning and growing, even if my official time of being a graduate student winds down. I listened to a classmate as she talked about the difficulty of getting through to parents with her blog, and yet how it was a successful way to communicate with parents she had never met yet. Fellow teachers are such a wealth of ideas and information, and being a part of this global community is something that I don't want to give up. It's been good to be forced to be a part of it. I will continue.

Reflections

I have spent the majority of my time over the week of my spring break thinking through my learning that I have done since joining the Learning and Teaching with Technology master's diploma course. It's been good to give it such a concentrated effort, not only to leave my April a little freer for birthday parties and things such as full-time teaching, but to take serious time to reflect. I have learned a lot, but as the saying goes "The more I learn, the more I know I have to learn." The more I learn, the more I realize how stupid I really am!

I think I have made huge progress in each of the 5 capacities of the program. The learning curve has been steep and many times I have not wanted to travel this road as it has been hard work. I thought I was joining the "T-Lite" program, a precursor to this course which by reputation was much lighter in the workload than we have encountered. Oftentimes, I would think I was much too old for this. I have had to learn a whole new language and way of doing things.

I have changed as a teacher, as an educator. I used to hold myself as the "keeper of the knowledge" that students needed to learn, but I am learning to see myself rather as a facilitator to the children doing their own exploration of learning. I'm still figuring out how to do this effectively, but rather than deciding how to do it on my own, I am trying to let the children be learners with me on this journey.

The technology, which I thought would be foremost in this program, has been a interesting, and sometimes overwhelming, side dish. I have enjoyed dabbling in twitter, diigo, online PLN's, etc., but the main change has been inside me and my pedagogy. I did not expect this. I had thought I would learn lots of technology (read computer) things to do with my class to enhance the lessons I would plan. Instead, I have been forced to examine what I teach and why I teach it. What would be the best way to engage the learners? What research verification do I have to support it?

I have learned to look at myself as a teacher-inquirer. I reflect, reflect and reflect on those reflections! (inside joke) During a classtime, I think nothing of grabbing my camera to record something that is happening. Later I will remember what it is that I thought was noteworthy and think about it. Let me rephrase that...I will REFLECT on it. I have learned how to ask good questions and then follow a plan to discover the answers.

I am not quite so hesitant to put myself and my ideas out there in the global community. People who post on the world wide web aren't some super brains, (well, some of them probably are, but I'm not referring to them!), but just ordinary folk like me who are trying their best to make education a good thing for the children in their care, JUST LIKE ME! So I will continue to offer my ideas, continue to ramble on about my reading groups, my discipline issues, etc., because somewhere out there, someone else is probably going through the same thing, or has gone through it and now has some good ideas for me.

And now...I am taking a break. See you after the weekend!

Tweets about blogs...

So...as I continue to work on my final portfolio, I explored more blogs, tweets, etc. to see what other people are saying about things I'm learning. I came across a tweet from Tom Whitby where he refers people to his blog post "To blog or not to blog". I enjoyed the entry, but more so the comments after. In particular, I resonated with one response from a teacher who is starting to blog reluctantly. What got me was Tom's response to this teacher, which stated in my edited format.... "Never hesitate to offer your professional opinion. You are working day to day with children. You have been educated as to methods and Pedagogy. You are an expert in education with experience. Never doubt your expertise. ... Blog with confidence, but be reflective and flexible. That is what being an educator is about, Relevance...."

So here I am...blogging about my work as a teacher. Blogging to engage in this cycle of reflection and action. I don't think I have too many followers, and that's okay. If someone does stumble upon my blog, they can rest assured that I am just another educator trying to do my best in my situation with my students. And if by chance a parent stumbles on my blog, hopefully they will appreciate my attempts to articulate what I am trying to do in the classroom with his/her child. In fact, I would love to have parents interact with me on this level, as well as the daily, "How was ...insert child's name...'s day?"

And another tweet pointed me to another blog by Maurice Elias (via Edutopia) entitled "What's the Secret to Effective Classroom Management? According to her research (David Brookes in "The Social Animal"), a classroom that is productive, engaging and well-managed is a class where children have a strong positive relationship with their teacher, and vice-versa. When a classroom is based on trust, students are able to pursue goals of higher learning, not just getting the right answer. "Learning is work of the head and work of the heart."

Hmm, that makes me pause. With the classroom management issues I've been having in my room this year, I often find it easiest to slip into my authoritarian mode and make the kids want to obey me because they're too frightened to find out what would happen if they didn't. And yet, that doesn't bring out the best in the students or in myself, even though it feels better for a little while. How can I make sure that the students are doing their best? How can I encourage this trust factor? Is my struggle with reading groups developing this trust? The last few times of doing it, I am starting to feel that way. They are learning to work independently and productively for an extended period of time. Hopefully that's because they are working to please not only me, but also themselves. They are trusting. Another quote I find very relevant for my class .. "Those concerned about classroom management must simultaneously be concerned about student learning. Both thrive only when there are trusting, respectful, caring relationships between students and teachers. When the latter are in place, rules will be effective and the majority of students will be engaged learners."

I love this whole new world that twitter, blogs, PLN's, etc has opened up for me. And what I'm also enjoying is taking these discussions and putting them out there where other people than educator's are, ie facebook. (See previous blog)

till next time.

Today's Reading Group Experience-- POSITIVE!

Two major things made reading groups today an even better experience. One, I'm sad to say, was the absence of 5 students, 4 of which are some of my more active and off-task students, AND...I had help today. An EA was able to be in my group all day because her student wasn't there today. So today's experience was REALLY good. Whew. That's the first time I've felt like that. I was able to work with my small groups, some of which were significantly smaller because of the absentees.

Once again, I was very clear with each student about what they were to do during the independent study time. Maybe this is just getting easier because they are starting to get used to it. I certainly hope so.

My advanced group went with the EA. I gave her the book they were studying, which is a high interest non-fiction text about space stations. They read the book, discussed and filled in a chart related to the space stations described.

My group 2 had finished a KWL chart last week when I let them look at a book about Rivers. Today, we discussed the table of contents and learned that we can look at the chapter titles and read only what we wanted to. So, we read those chapters that related to the questions we were wondering about.

Group 3 kids today were much calmer, due to the absense of 2 students who are so very boistrous. They were so confident in their reading and sight word drill. It was fun to be with them today.

Group 4 kids were only half there. They are the lowest group and I was so happy to be able to spend it with just the two that were there. I was able to listen to each one read, do a further lesson on the sight words and introduce two more: yes and no. They quite enjoyed it and are getting so very confident in their reading.

I even had time to take some pictures of the students as they worked without my direct supervision on paired hangman games using the word wall words, reading independently and doing a phonics worksheet about long vowel sounds.

Now my question is, how can I repeat that, even with all the students there? How can I continue to foster this environment of independence, quieter work and focus?