I really enjoyed putting together the design document. I was excited to create and design something that was outside of our traditional box, and integrating our 21st century skills. But then again it was all exciting and made sense in my head. It was much harder to organize and put all the elements under the right categories when putting it on paper. So I was excited to be able to revise it and come back to share all our wonderful ideas. Hopefully I am a little more on track.
The osmos and bots were a fun brain break we could use to explore with. But sometimes as teachers we over look the new era of using technology in class and sometimes forget to step back and see is this actually useful or is this just a brain break (pacifier some call it). My first grade team last year decided to use our PTA funds to buy one osmo per class and some were brave enough to spend $100 of their own money to have several. When we watched the tutorial online about it, it seemed super cool and the decision was made in 2 minutes. When trying to get 7 ladies to agree on the best option, you kind of pick your battles. Instead of just going with the flow and keeping my thoughts to myself, I ask myself when will I use this in the classroom. Mine is still in the packaging and collecting dust. Most teachers wouldn't even put out the "cool gadget" because they didn't trust their kids to use it properly........WELL WHY BUY THEM?! Anywhooooo.....back to my original point.
I have been contemplating back and fourth with myself about buying iPads for the class. After class I need to step back and really assess the affordances and constraints it contributes for what I intend to use the ipads in my classroom. When deciding new technology, as teachers, we need to ask ourselves does this enhance and provide useful value to instruction or does this replace something I can already do or have with a cooler version? (I do that a lot when looking for cute resources on TPT) I wish my team was with me in class to see how silly it was to buy those things. But I definitely will apply this to my planning and learning to be flexible and think outside the box with resources.
I understand your hesitation to buy iPads for your classroom. We are lucky to have 7 in each classroom. With a max of 6 kids per group it’s nice to have 1 as backup incase one just shuts down or updates itself. It is nice to have students on them to they can have experience with technology while learning. In Reader’s Workshop they are used for the Listen to Reading station and in Math Workshop they are used for Dreambox. There are some days that I would like to have the kids do more hands on things with sight words and letter sound sorts but I don’t like having that much technology in my room not being used so it stays a station. But back to your dilemma. What about getting enough for a small group and sharing them with one or 2 other teachers in your grade level. You could have it for 1-2 days and then the other class could have them for 1-2 days. That way they are not overused but still being used. If that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteI admit I didn’t feel up to the challenge at first to creating/designing our own lessons and I was greatly relieved when we got to edit, revise and tweak our lessons with peer and teacher feedback. I’m looking forward to getting it back with more feedback. I wish we had this kind of time to work on all of our lessons for work.
ReplyDeleteAs for your technology dilemma I’m wondering about B.Y.O.T. - I thought the entire county was Bring Your Own Technology. I’m fortunate to work at a school that piloted the Personalized learning program but that still does not put us at a 1-1. We supplement with students bringing in their own technology and it really enhances what we can do in the classroom. We use our PTA funds to buy programs like IXL in addition to the programs the county provides for personalized learning, however there are a lot of free programs like Khan Academy and Prodigy Math. It really lets us individualize. The students are able to review or accelerate at their own pace and I’m able to pull small groups as needed. Additionally, we are able to create projects that incorporate technology, for example the students are using Google Slides in Google Classroom to create their own study guides for matter. Students often create videos to explain to others what they’ve learned and we upload this to the school YouTube site. Ellen makes a great point of creating a sharing rotation, maybe both grade levels could pool the money to buy even more and then make smaller groups.
The lesson designs were definitely challenging, and I like that they're a work in progress. I will need practice to keep getting better at them (I hope they get easier with practice...) In our school, the iPads and Loudoun Creates devices (non-iPad tablets that no one knows how to use yet - should have done an affordance analysis on those things!!) have been given to 1st and 2nd grade, and 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades each get 2 carts of Dell laptops to share amongst the 7 classes, so we really have access to only the laptops. (However, we are woefully short on headphones, so we're sending out emails to parents asking them to send in personal headphones - we can't do Khan Academy, Raz-Kids, or Dreambox without them.) After seeing how the students can make videos explaining what they learned, that seems like a great use of devices, and perhaps I can try to write a grant to get some for our classroom. I know with BYOT, not all kids will have devices they can bring in, or they may not do what I want them to do. I need to look at the electronics with a different perspective - shift my paradigm - use them in ways I may not necessarily use them in my life, but how my students can create things to show what they know.
ReplyDeleteI work in a Title I school, so BYOT is a foreign idea to me, but thankfully we are 1:1 with Chromebooks. I wonder if the kids having personal experience and being fluent with their devices makes an impact on efficiency of use.
ReplyDeleteSince the money is already spent and you've got an Osmo sitting around, I wonder if you could apply some of those ideas from the Creative Spirit of Design article and find an out-of-the-box use for the Osmo, like somehow using it in a way it's not intended to be used for.