Don’t Try This In Your Lab

One of my middle school classes is going to participate in the Human Genetics: A Worldwide Search for the Dominant Trait project. As an introduction to this project, I wanted to fly to all the schools currently signed up for the project with Google Earth. The problem is Google Earth won’t run on the computers at our school – at least it won’t run at any speed that is acceptable. The computers are pretty old and the graphics cards don’t support true color so we have to run it in OpenGL mode which on the computers at school is extremely slow probably due to the fact that we only have 256MB of memory in most of the machines.

I then investigated Microsoft’s Live Search Maps as an alternative. This too requires true color to run in 3D mode but I set up a tour in this anyway and used it in 2D mode instead. This is not the don’t try this part .. yet. This is definitely not as showy as their 3d mode or Google Earth but if you Map All between each school you get some idea of distances. The students were interested to see where all of the other schools are and liked the zoom to street level functions even if the flying capability wasn’t there.

The first requirement for the Human Genetics project is to write an introduction letter from the class which is to include the location of the school in latitude and longitude. I wanted to review this in a fun way so I decided to do the Crack the Code activity as a whole class project. Now, this is where the don’t try this part comes in! I wanted to use a 3d model of the earth to try to find the locations but as I noted above these won’t work in the lab. So, I found Find latitude and longitude with Google maps which lets you move a marker and the latitude and longitude will display. While this wasn’t as showy as something 3d and wasn’t very fast especially on zooming in and out, I thought it might work. Let’s just say so not successful!

Upon reflection, I feel this would have been better with the students trying this (even with the same tool or a similar tool that zoomed faster) in pairs or small groups rather than as a whole class. In our lab we don’t have SmartBoards and we don’t even have a projector so all whole class activities are around a single monitor. Another don’t try this unless you have to item. We do have a fairly large monitor and there really aren’t issues with not being able to see but it’s not extremely engaging. So, why didn’t I do it as a small group activity? We’ve been having bandwidth issues and if too many people are online at once we lose our Internet connection so I wanted to avoid that and truthfully I thought it would work as a whole class activity. I was wrong.

Since we can’t really do this project as I wanted to do it with the 3d tools, I think I may break the no homework from computer lab rule and assign this as homework or maybe as optional homework with some kind of incentive to complete it. This way the students can use Google Earth or Microsoft’s Live Search Maps at home if they have newer equipment (and most do) to find the locations in the activity and to find the latitude and longitude of the school. If there are any students that don’t have access at home, I will work with them during study halls to do it at school.

So, my advice to you if you have older equipment is to really think about how engaging the activity will be without the latest tool. I know I need to keep this in mind when I plan lessons. They might be fun at home when I’m planning them on my new with lots of memory and flat screen monitor computer but that doesn’t always translate to fun in the lab on old computers with very little memory and old monitors.

September 30, 2008 Lesson Plans, Reflections No Comments on Don’t Try This In Your Lab

Frustrations, Triumphs & Plans

Frustrations:
This week over on the Elementary Tech Teachers Ning there is a discussion about Frustrations in the Computer Lab. I didn’t start it but I definitely empathize with it. It’s very hard when you get asked the same questions over and over and over again and no one seems to be listening. That discussion thread got me to thinking how best I can try to head this tendency off at the pass:

  • I am going to start classes out with a presentation on what we are doing for the day away from their computers. I do find that once they are sitting at their own computer they are too easily distracted and don’t listen to instructions. I have been doing this with the younger grades but not the older ones. I am going to start it with the older ones too and see if that helps things.
  • I will remind classes daily that they should read their screen and ask their neighbors before asking me.
  • I will also remind them that if they do want to ask me a question that they must remain seated and just raise their hand and I will get to them. It seems that a lot of teachers use a red cup to indicate trouble and I may try something like this. If they have to keep their hand raised they can’t continue trying to work so they become more impatient. If they could put a cup up and then try to continue that might cut down on them calling out my name or getting out of their seats. I have not used this up to now for fear the red cups would become a distraction themselves.
  • I will stop talking and start over if they begin talking over me. Some of the classes are just chatty and I don’t mind if they talk while they are working but they need to listen while I’m talking.
  • I often remind the older grades that if this were a new video game they would just be trying it and I want them to use that same approach in computer class.

I have also had some frustrations this week due to problems with our Internet connection. More and more of what we do in class depends on the Internet so when it’s not available that can be a real problem. For the next few weeks, I am going to have alternate plans available for each day so that if there are issues I don’t have to try to figure out what to do at the last minute. Our provider did come out and look at what was happening this week but they said there was nothing they could do – of course at the time they were there it was up. Isn’t that always the way it happens?

Triumphs:
 I’ve been using some of the ideas that one of the teachers that I have met online has posted on her Kid Pix Projects pages and the kids have really enjoyed them – thanks Ann. Kindergarten was introduced to the pencil tool in Kid Pix and asked to draw a picture only using that tool. A few of them really wanted to use other things available in Kid Pix but did do the assignment. 1st Grade reviewed the pencil tool, Uh-oh Man and eraser and then created Self-Portraits only using the pencil tool. I did let them use the flood fill bucket at the end to color in the background but they had to have finished their portrait with only the pencil tool first.

2nd Grade started an ABC Chart of Initial Letter sounds using stamps that start with the initial letter sound. 3rd Grade also started an ABC Chart of Initial Letter sounds but they are using stickers instead of stamps. 3rd Grade really liked learning how to move things around and about flattening stickers and how to use the scissor tool to delete things. They have a hard time with the eraser and often end up erasing more than they want to so they think the scissor tool is wonderful.

The teachers are starting to ask me if I could integrate with certain things more. I’m happy with that. All of Middle School has to turn in a crossword puzzle as part of their Book Report next month so I’m working with the Middle School students on how to create crossword puzzles in Excel and I’m giving them some web sites they could use too. I’ve also started putting spelling lists into Spelling City and a few grades have played some of the games there with their spelling lists.

Plans:
I just found out that Voices of the World is starting up again this year. I had just signed up to have 2nd Grade do the Online Autumn Project (Kindergarten was already signed up to do this one) so they won’t be doing Voices of the World but I will have 4th Grade do it. 4th is a small class this year so I can teach them how to record their own voices for this. I’m hoping that our Internet connection doesn’t give us problems again because I really would like to finish the book reviews on Voice Thread this coming week.

And how is your school year going so far? Share your frustrations, triumphs and plans!

September 20, 2008 Lesson Plans, Reflections 2 Comments on Frustrations, Triumphs & Plans

The Journey Begins

My second year in the computer lab has begun and it looks like it will be an interesting one. I am hoping to have each class do at least one collaborative online project with other schools in the US and potentially around the world. I’ve already signed up for a few and have a few others in mind. Here’s what I’m hoping to do by grade level:

You’ll notice I didn’t list 8th Grade. That’s because I have a year-long project planned with them that I don’t want to take away from with anything else. If I find that they have time for other things later in the year, I’ll try to find a project at that point and I am going to have them, along with the other grades, participate in World Math Day in March.

I can already see some challenges for this year in addition to the fact that the equipment is old and prone to running slowly at times. Many of the Kindergarteners seem very inexperienced on computers which means they’ll need more individual help and it’s hard to be everywhere at once. 7th Grade is very chatty and is difficult to motivate and to get to listen so that poses a definite challenge but they’re all very bright and I think we can do some interesting things this year if they’ll settle in.

I’m trying something all new with 8th Grade this year. They’re going to build a wiki around their Social Studies curriculum throughout the year. I hope that we’re going to be able to learn to podcast and we’ll build an online timeline of important events and add resources to help with studying and to help to bring Social Studies more alive for all of them. This has the potential to be really good or to crash and burn – only time will tell. Before we can start I need to get signed permission slips from all of the students and we need to cover Internet Safety and Copyrights.

I’m excited about the potential of this year and hope that the ideas that I have in my head work out in reality!

September 9, 2008 Reflections No Comments on The Journey Begins

Professional Development Meme Results

Back in July, I was tagged by Nedra at My Journey into the World of Elementary Tech for the PD Meme started by Clif Mims and at that time I picked my 3 goals which were:

  1. Read at least 1 of the books on my Shelfari shelf.
  2. Become familiar with wikis and set up 2 of them so they are ready to go in September. The first one will be used as our Class Website for next year. I have set this up however I have just started adding all of the content that I want to have there. I need to set up the students since I will have them do some posting to the wiki and I haven’t even attempted that yet. The second wiki will be used as a year-long Social Studies project for the 8th Grade. Once again, I have set this up but have a long way to go with content and I have to establish student accounts.
  3. Like Nedra who tagged me, I too want to learn all about podcasting. I’ve read a lot about it but never really done it and I want to use it with at least one class next year so I need to know as much as possible.

And how did I do?

I actually read (okay read & listened to) two books on my list:

  • Teaching Computers in Pre-K through 8th Grade: One New Teacher’s Voyage in Education by Salvatore Mamome: I was really looking forward to reading this one since I too teach computers to grades K through 8. I was hoping that this book would be both a fun read and maybe give me some pointers in handling some of the issues that I have run up against. I’m sorry to say that I was disappointed. Most of the book is sample projects & lessons which could have been helpful but tended to be more test oriented than my classes are and did not take advantage of newer Web 2.0 technologies. If you’re looking for general information on setting up a computer lab, grading and lots of concrete examples mostly using Word then this might be a book you would find useful. It wasn’t what I was looking for though.
  • The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century, Updated and Expanded by Thomas L. Friedman – My timing was great on this one since over the summer this was offered in audio format as a free download from the publisher. I took advantage of that and listened to the book. I don’t know that I necessarily agree with all the ideas put forth in the book but it definitely gave me a lot to think about and helped to solidify my idea of a theme for the Computer Lab this year – It’s A Small World. This book I would recommend and have to a few people since I finished it. I plan to read Mr. Friedman’s latest book, Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution–and How It Can Renew America when I get a chance.

I’ve been using the Computer Lab Wiki for about a week now with the students and it seems to be working fairly well. It’s very nice to be able to change something easily either from home or while I’m at school. I know I still have a lot to learn about the potential here and my students haven’t started contributing – yet. I have plans for a few grades to add to the wiki and will begin this shortly. I’ve only just introduced the 8th Grade Social Studies Wiki to the class. We will begin using this once I get back signed permission slips from all of the parents. I’m hoping this will be a successful project. I did run into one problem last week in that wikispaces went down while I was teaching. When that happens I don’t have access to what I’ve planned to do so because that happened, I’ve started putting my lessons plans in a Google Document that I can pull up if need be.

Podcasting is still somewhat a mystery to me. I am going to start working with 8th Grade on this in the next few weeks so I’ll see how it goes. I would have liked to work more with this over the summer but ended up spending a lot of time getting the lab set up for the new year and I just ran out of time.

September 9, 2008 Memes No Comments on Professional Development Meme Results