Ipod touch revisited

Well, things have not worked out quite like I had planned regarding using my ipod in the classroom.  I thought I might be able to use some kind of combination of Dictation and Google Translate for R, for translating modifications to his homework.  It has not really been needed.  R. just does the math computation and skips the word problems, his English has improved considerably in the time I have been gone.  It also took me a couple of weeks to be able to access the wireless network in my classroom.  My teacher does not use it, so I needed to seek help from another teacher.

I did get the opportunity to use my ipod with H.  He was struggling to complete a science assessment that consisted of two short answer questions about labs from the previous week.  H. was inside during recess to get that completed as he struggled to get it done during class time.  My MT was out of the classroom and he turned it in to me with virtually nothing on the page.  I tried to coax him into giving it some additional time and he could not.  I then asked him if he might be able to talk to me about questions from the lab and he agreed.  I did record his answers on my touch.  Unfortunately, my MT told me that he did not have “voice recording” as an approved accommodation (he has a 504) and in addition, she is trying to get him to write and does not give him alternatives!  I ended up transcribing his answers to the assessment so that she could determine how much he understood from the lab.  She gave him a 2.5 (just below benchmark) for the assessment and felt it was helpful.

I have not used the touch for C, to extend science in any meaningful way.   I did use Google to get a quick picture of a plateau to assist my MT while she was teaching.  The concept was confusing given the pictures we had and so I found a picture and put the ipod under the doc camera. 

I have used the ipod to record the six science interviews I have done in class.  All the students were engaged and intrigued that I had this device as part of my classes.  It has allowed me to focus on getting to know the students and not have to worry about taking notes.  I will continue to look for opportunities to use the ipod touch in my classroom as a means of differentiation.  I will look to my cohort peers to see how they are using the touch.

Differentiated instruction using ipod touch

R. is a student in my 5^th grade class who moved here from Japan at the beginning of the school year.  He arrived knowing very little English but goes to ELL each day – but not during reading time.  As I am returning to my 5^th grade, this is a subject area where R. continues to struggle.  The class uses a Houghton text and often has a “packet” of activities about the reading to complete.  The teacher works with a small group while the rest of the class works independently on the packet.  R. sometimes works on something from ELL or Rosetta Stone and I am wondering if there is an opportunity to help R. using the ipod touch and Google translate as demonstrated by Jane in our first class.  At this time, I do not have wireless access at school, but I am working on that.  As a first step, I would like to be able to get the homework assignment (usually modified) translated into Japanese and sent home by email to R.’s mom, who reads and writes English pretty well.  Right now R. usually brings home the same homework as everyone else and my master teacher tries to remember to write a note home about the modifications and what to focus on, but it is difficult with 31 students in our class.

H. is a bright boy who has significant difficulty with writing.  He attends special ed to get help with writing skills as he gets so frustrated during writing, he completely melts down.  I am wondering if letting him use the ipod and the Dictation app could be helpful as it gets his ideas down by speaking and then the written version could be sent to an email or Google doc for him to continue.  Getting started seems to be the biggest hurdle.

C. is a quiet and bright girl in my class who has is looking for opportunities to have her thinking extended in science.  C is asking for more difficult science experiments or opportunities to learn something beyond the Foss kits.  Is there an opportunity for me to use the ipod to help her get there?  Even using Google to research erosion and deposition from our lab last week might help extend the lesson for her.

Exploring SketchUp

I spent some time exploring the Google Educator Tool SketchUp and I think it is pretty amazing. I can see  immediate uses in my dyad geometry class. Have you ever tried to draw a circle in front of a class of 8th graders? There are a series of tutorials I watched before trying out the tool for a test drive. Here is the one of the tutorials on circles to give you an idea of how easy SketchUp is to use.




I explored SketchUp using the free version that I downloaded.  There is also a professional version that is available and I asked my engineer husband if any of the CAD folks in his office used the tool.  He tells me that the software they typically use is pretty expensive and specific to their needs.  He was blown away when I showed him a couple of the tutorials on how to use the tool for designing buildings and bridges.

Whoa!! Weebly, Wikis and Widgets ....

I know that the technology classes at UW Bothell are going to help differentiate me from other school's teacher candidates.  I am trying to embrace and learn technology so that it can help me be a better and more efficient teacher (and student).  It feels like slow going this week!

We videotaped our read-aloud lesson and it took some help from our master teacher to get the file onto my flash drive.  I smugly headed home with thoughts of getting "ahead" on an assignment.  Three computers later and although I can see the video, the sound is gone.  It might be just as well since the video itself has shown me that I have many lessons to learn.  I am still smiling.

I chose a "virtual field trip" for a social studies assignment and got completely lost in a rich and engaging website.  I was hoping for a developmental opportunity as I do not gravitate to digital resources.  Next time I will either just head to a museum or I will plan for more time to mine the web for information.  I am still smiling.

My home scanner would not cooperate and so I headed to my local Kinkos to scan some old photographs for my digital vignette. I missed half of one of my kid's soccer games trying to figure out how to use the scanner and get the photos onto my flash drive.  I am still smiling.

I have struggled with unit plan templates from two different sources. One is a pdf file that I cannot copy or write to and another is a Word document that causes me difficulty when my lesson is longer than one page.  I spent WAY too much time and ended up creating a new template.  I am still smiling.

I did the Weebly tutorial as I knew that I would need remedial assistance for this assignment.  I think I finally created a portfolio with a link on our Wiki.  I am still smiling.

My own blog now has links to my blogging circle and I have managed to figure out how to comment on all of them.  Now that I have seen a lot of different blogs, I think I need to mess around with some Widgets so that my blog is easier to read and navigate. I am still smiling.

I cannot imaging doing this week's Literacy Running Record without a recording device.  That means that I will need to borrow and use more new technology.  I am still smiling.

Wish me luck!

Digital Immigrant

I love the phrase that I am a "digital immigrant" in contrast to my children who are "digital natives".   It is so apt for describing how I feel regarding many of the technologies teachers need to be comfortable using.  I want to (and therefore I will) get more comfortable with technology and so I am very happy to be taking a tech class that is highly integrated with my didactic classes this quarter.  Although I put my initial comments on a Word document (so yesterday), I am now trying to migrate my thoughts and ideas to a digital medium.

The "Why Blog" reading was a simple, yet effective message about the power of blogging.  It is a free and easy way to become a reflective, connected and better teacher.  OK, so instead of just blogging to fulfill an assignment (did I do that last spring?), I will use blogging to capture my thoughts and ideas on a regular basis.  I will also be kind to myself as I try to break the habit of jotting things down in a notebook (where's that notebook?) since the great ideas and must reads always seem to get buried with all the other minutiae in my life.

The video about Web 2.0 is a lot more daunting for me to watch.  I am still trying to get comfortable with Web 0.5, so I feel like I might never be able to catch up. From this quarter's classes, I realize that the Web is all about collaboration and sharing information in an effortless fashion.  I am going to try to keep a couple of things in mind.  The first one is that there are many tools that will allow me to become faster and more efficient and so they are worth the time investment to learn.  The second one is that using all sorts of technology is critical in education today.  I know that having the requisite skills is essential to securing a job in the field.  Just one of the challenges (I mean opportunities) that I face this quarter.