Resources: I will need to make some phone calls to ask volunteers to come to my classroom to talk to students about careers that involve technology. I also need to contact someone from the police department to talk to the class on internet safety. I have seen them speak before and they do an excellent job. I will also be inviting district technology support staff into my classroom when we near the end of our novel unit to talk about the updates in iMovie and iPhoto. This will help them when they begin their technology project at the end of the novel.
Additional Information Needed: I do not know how to go about getting a team of students trained to do the troubleshooting. It sounds like a wonderful idea, but I’m not even sure that my principal or district administrators would go for this. This would mean they would be touching another student’s computer, which is currently against the technology rules for our building / district.
Steps taken so far: One of my goals is Students will exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity. We have already begun to work on this goal. Students are currently reading a novel called “Beyond the Western Sea” to support our immigration unit. All of the activities that go with the novel will be completed on their laptop. So far students have made predictions about the book and held a discussion over chapters 1-10 on their laptops. We are using a site that has been approved by our district called Gaggle. For each class I have set up five or six chat rooms. The students in the chat rooms make up their discussion group. Students only have access to chat with the students in their group. One thing that was bothering me was that I couldn’t figure out how to print out their conversation/discussion. I want to make sure that their conversation is appropriate and each group member is participating, so I could attach some points to the assignment. Through their conversation it is also obvious which students have kept up with the assigned reading. When I asked our district technology staff abut this they were unsure of how to do it. I found that when I printed it only printed what was in the window at the time instead of the entire conversation. It also would not let me copy and paste the entire conversation into a Word document. I ended up sending an email to the Gaggle staff asking them how to do this and they responded very promptly. Students definitely have a positive attitude about this unit, they are collaborating, and they are using technology.
Terri,
ReplyDeleteI love your idea about having people come in and talk about careers that involve technology. However, I think there are many jobs that are not focused on technology but use a large amount in their field. Would you consider having these type of professions come in as well?
Also do you have any students with comprehension difficulties? I am wondering if some students struggle with remembering what they read and being able to react through a discussion. Will or could you make a modified discussion?
I think you have a great plan and I wish you the best of luck!
Stephanie Best
Terri,
ReplyDeleteOur Tech department actually takes high school students and they sign up for 4 years of training through our CTE (Career and Technology Education)program. They are given limited adminstration rights to the computers. They do maintainance and installation of new programs as well. Does your IT department have anything like that? If so, that would be a possible resource for your team of students to do the trouble shooting.
Terri,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea to include the community in your classroom instruction. I especially like the police department speaking about internet safety. That will make a huge impact on your students' grasp of what being safe includes.
As for a student troubleshooting team, could you use this to teach your students about civic duty? Have them write letters to your administration explaining why and how their team would benefit their classmates and their learning. It would be a powerful learning experience for them, especially if it brings about change in the technology policy.
Jenelle
Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteYes, there are many jobs that use technology in their field, and these people would also be great to invite into the classroom. These are the types of jobs students probably are not aware of.
I have 110 students, so of course I have some who have difficulty with comprehension. Hopefully, since there are anywhere from 4-6 students in the group, reading other students responses will help them remember what they read. Their conversations are very informal when they are "chatting", so I don't think anyone will feel like they are put on the spot. I think this is probably easier on students who have difficulty rather than discussing face to face.
V. White,
ReplyDeleteThat sounds really neat! I'm sure the students love it. I will have to check into it. Maybe our high schools have similar programs, but we don't have anything in place in middle school. Since all of our students have their own laptops, I think it would be a valid request if we asked for students to be trained.
Terri
Jenelle,
ReplyDeleteI love your idea of having the students write letters to the administration! I think this would make more of an impact than if I asked for it. Thanks for sharing your idea with me!
Terri