Pleasantly surprised

I am quite surprised how smoothly this class has been going so far. I was a little worried that we would be spending more time working on computer issues or kids not being able to follow directions and stay with us. That has not been the case at all!

Our focus was to make technology and this class work for all kids, those who struggle and those that don't. Jason and I brainstormed what we wanted our kids to get out of this class and how it could make some of their lives easier. To do that, we looked at what we wanted our kids to know and how we can use technology to teach it.

For the first unit, we had kids set up their sites, docs, and calendar. Jason made these tutorials that the kids could follow at their own pace. I must say every now and then he has a pretty good idea! The kids did better with these videos than I expected. These tutorials would work great in so many different areas. I would say by the end of the year they would need very little assistance.
By the second unit, kids had folders for each unit and were able to put all documents into the correct folders. The best part of that for me is that we no longer have notebooks that look like fire hazards! (at least not for Social Studies) We waste not one second looking for papers or papers they say they did, but can't find. Everything is right there! They either finished what they were assigned or they didn't. They can't conveniently lose it.

Another aspect of this class that has been great is when kids take notes. Jason has always had each student in a group research a certain part of an assignment. After they were done researching, they would share their part with the rest of the group. This was always hard for students with disabilities or kids with auditory processing issues because they would often be required to listen to other students and write down what they were saying. They had difficulty just paraphrasing what other kids in the group were trying to teach them, so they would miss some key information at times. Now, kids can just automatically share what they are writing with each other as they are doing the research. It eliminates one whole step and saves a lot of time.

Computer issues have been few and far between. I learn something new pretty much everyday. Jason or I can tell the kids what document or what powerpoint they need to have on their screens, and within a matter of minutes, they have everything they need.
Today, we wanted the kids to go back into their notes to highlight some of the important information that we covered. The kids actually showed us how to do that and helped each other.

Jason and I created our test that we wanted kids to take and put it in our shared calendar. We created it in Google docs. All they need to do is go to their calendar, click on the assignment for November 3 and copy and paste the website into the address bar. It will bring the test up and they can take it. When they are finished, they submit it and all of their responses will be put into a spreadsheet. We can then print it and very easily grade their responses. The next step would be for us to figure out how the responses will automatically be graded.

It is amazing what our kids are starting to do. We have lots of ideas of things we would like to do with this class. We really need to stay focused and pick a couple of things to work on a month. Otherwise, we could very easily get lost with everything we want to do.

Been a while

Since I've last posted we've started quite a few initiatives/projects. To give a brief update, all of the kids in this class have Google accounts through our school district.(It's amazing what Google offers for FREE.) The students used a movie tutorial site that Heather and I set up so kids could set up their docs. page and their websites. (I later found better tutorials in iTunesU. Of course this came after I had made all the movies and ran the classes. NOTE TO SELF: ALWAYS CHECK ITUNES FIRST) I would highly recommend setting up tutorials for kids to watch and follow. I tried once, and only once, to show kids a step by step process using my computer and a projector...what a mistake. Every new step required me to walk around the room and help multiple kids who were stuck in multiple places. (This was also the one day that Heather was not in school. I blame her for the hair I pulled out that day.) The tutorials allowed kids to work at their own pace.

The kids now have a docs page with the following folders:

"Notebook" - all Handouts, notes, etc.

"Presentations"- Google has it's own powerpoint within docs. Kids make and keep them here.

"Shared" - all docs. that get shared amongst the group go here. All kids see all changes made to each doc. Think, collaborative webquest.

"Tests Quizzes and Essays" - Google allows you to create forms that become online quizzes.

"Vocabulary"- self explanatory.

"Do Nows" - Just something we do at the beginning of every class.

The students also have their own websites. All websites had to:

1) subscribe to the calendar Heather and I shared with them.

2) link to both of our websites

3) have fun without being inappropriate.

I've never seen so many gadgets on websites before. Google offers free gadgets to be placed onto their sites. Little did I know, Pacman is making a comeback.

More on individual projects and the mistakes we made with "sharing" to come.

Jason

First Day with Kids

It was the students' first day back today. Heather and I decided not to tell the kids about the iPods but we did give a speech about how important they were as a class. The kids didn't believe us. They actually told us that they thought I was giving the speech to the rest of the classes.

We also informed the kids that all of their classroom material will be housed online on Google's suite of educational applications and that they will be one of two classes in our district to be trying this. They seemed interested but I imagine not half as interested as when we roll out 25 iPod Touch devices.

I'm STILL touching up the government unit. Found some great free apps for the Touch. Free Constitution App. makes one of our lessons much easier. We like to hand out things like stamps and tell kids to find that in the Constitution. (Thanks Rick)

-Jason

One week away

So here's the layout of the class. One of our classes will be a pilot, "mobile learning" class. The entire class will be online. All digital all the time. Kids in this class will be given two things:

1) A google account. One of the many tools google offers to schools. The account will give kids access to email, docs, sites, and calendars. Kids will have all of these tools to house everything we do in class.

2) An iPod Touch. Kids will have 24/7 access to their iPod touch and all of their online material.

Spent part of today planning with Heather. Came up with great overarching and guiding questions for the first government unit. Feel much more comfortable going into the year.

Also made some "how to" videos for creating a google docs page and how to create a website. Posted the videos on my website.

I'm spending a lot of time thinking of how the iPod fits into class without forcing it into the class. It can be an overwhelming process. Every day a new app for teachers. Everyday a new feature that works with google apps. Sometimes I can get caught up in too many ideas and not enough focus. A work in progress.

-Jason