Course Reflection

I really enjoyed taking this course.  I think that I am at a very beginning level - but I am so excited to use technology differently this year.  I have already shared with our new leadership team at our building (we have a new principal, assistant principal and instructional coach!) that I was taking this course at a meeting with them 2 weeks ago.  The instructional coach has already taken 4 courses through five-star and was asking about my RUP.  She is excited to hep me implement some of my new ideas.  I think that I can get on the technology committee at our school and share ideas that I have.  It has been very helpful for me.  I feel that I will continue to build my PLN's.  It is exciting to see what some of the fantastic teachers in our course were able to do for their RUP.  I want to do a classroom newsletter that can be interactive.  I would love to try and write a grant to get a classroom set of tablets.  I feel that this class has really motivated me to try new things.  I can't wait to start school again in two weeks.

Digital Footprint

I searched myself and found out that I have a neutral footprint.  You can find me through the blog for this class and also on Facebook.  However, I rarely post pictures or comments on my Facebook account.  I don't have much of a footprint and that is just fine with me.
I did read the article about things you can do to leave a more positive footprint for future employers.   Because of that, I deleted a sentence from my initial introduction that I thought might come across as negative.  I don't worry too much about my footprint because I am a very private person and don't put too much information out there.  I don't spend too much time on-line if it isn't related to work.  I will do a search if I want to find specific information, but other than that I don't spend hours on my computer.
As a kindergarten teacher my students are just beginning to understand how the internet works.  It is very important to teach them how to stay safe on-line.  Along with being safe, they can begin to understand how to gather and share information in a responsible way.

Module 7 Curriculum Design

Susie definitely needed a way to remember all of the resources she had found for her cell project.  No matter how you teach a particular unit from one year to the next, you need a plan to incorporate new ideas with your old ones.  As I teach a unit each year I have a cover sheet that lists the activities I can choose to use, materials needed and assessment options.  That way, as you find new ideas and resources, it is easy to keep them with the unit materials.  I guess I am still old-fashioned because I print out a hard copy of lots of websites and pictures of things we did.  That way I keep updating the file each time I teach the unit.  

I am thinking it might be a good idea to include a separate technology resources section for each of my units.  Currently, I just have all of the resources I use for a certain unit listed together.   As I find activities and lessons using an iPad I might include them this year - even though we don't have iPads in our rooms yet.  That way, when we finally get them - I won't have to start all over again like in this example with Susie.  

Pink Video Comment

I watched this video for the first time a week ago and now I just watched it for the second time.  It is so interesting to see that there is a mismatch between what science knows about motivation and what business does.  Taking what the research says about intrinsic motivation and applying that to education raises lots of questions for me.  I believe that for some students, doing on-line courses would be highly motivating and free them up to explore things of interest to them.  Using the ROWE model allows people to learn at their own pace.  I really love how this class is set up and it is highly motivating for me to know that I can watch videos, explore topics, share ideas and do it on my own time.  I love having the freedom to set my schedule and I think the non-graded course takes pressure off.  However, I signed up for this class and want to learn more - so the motivation was already there. I think this model works well when you have a group of people that are engaged in wanting to do something.  However, I think back to author Ruby Payne and her books about the effects of poverty on learning.  Sometimes we have students coming to school with their basic needs not being met.  Maybe they are hungry, or they see violence in the home.  They don't get support to help them with homework, aren't taught the value of an education or to be respectful of others.  There is such a disparity across districts.  I think I can use this information from the video to make sure that I give students more choice in how they can show what they know.  I can also allow students to complete tasks using a more flexible time table.  I think that the challenge that educators face today is differentiating the curriculum to meet everyones needs. It is the only way to keep students engaged, excited and intrinsically motivated to learn.  We don't have equality in schools.  Availability of resources, support staff, technology, and professional development is so different depending on where you teach.  I think that the way we fund schools is an example of carrots and sharp sticks.  I teach at a school that Indiana graded an F.  We don't have any Title funds, although we have over 70% free or reduced lunch students.  We don't have instructional aides, a literacy coach, or a technology coach.  Labeling us a failing school doesn't help.  School improvement is a complicated issue and it seems that we are using the old business model.  If you don't perform - you get punished.  We need to be more creative and find ways to help students who struggle.

Would love to hear thoughts!

I always do a summer writing project with my students.  I send home a stamped envelope and have students address the envelope to my home address.  I put a letter inside letting parents know that students are encourage to write to me over the summer and I will write them back.  I also include some blank stationary in the envelope.  I usually only get about 25% of students who will actually send a letter- and after 2 or 3 back and forth letters- the writing project stops.  This year, I was talking to my class about this activity and one of my kindergarten students asked, "Can we just have your email?  It would be easier!"  I told him that this activity was to practice their letter writing skills and I wanted them to practice their printing and spelling as well.
Now, a day later, I don't know if I need to update this activity or not.  I really do want them to practice the paper and pencil writing - but I would probably get more responses from more students if I changed this to an email.  I was looking at one of the optional tools and saw a kidblog.  I'm wondering if setting up something like that would allow all of the students in the class to keep up with each other in addition to just me?  What do you think?
Is writing a letter and sending it through the mail with a stamp not a good idea?  Is using technology an improvement for this activity?   Writing so others can read is am important part of early literacy.  I can't decide what would be better.  Any thoughts?

Web Tools

I was just looking at some new web tools and discovered Time Toast.
It sets up timelines in a quick and easy format.  You can add pictures along with the text.  I was thinking that I would use this tool to keep track of all of my PGP points for our School City requirements for license renewal.  Currently, I keep the forms in a folder and have to type them into a document that our principal needs to approve.  Each teacher needs a minimum of 45 PGP points to get an increase in their salary.  I was thinking that I could set up a timeline each year and anytime I go to a professional development training I could add it to my timeline. It would be a quick way to record what I do, how many points I have and I could even include a picture of any certificates for documentation.  This would still be at the substitution level of SAMR - but as I use it more I may be able to apply this in my classroom.  We can possibly make a classroom timeline each month that can be shared with parents.

Cool Tools

The tool that I started using since I signed up for this class is Symbaloo.  I can download the page to any computer at school.  I find myself searching other Symbaloo web mixes to find new sites for my students to use.  My students use the page daily at our math and literacy stations. I also shared my Symbaloo page with the other kindergarten teachers.  They weren't familiar with this tool.
Symbaloo allows students to choose where they would like to go when they use the computers.  The computer screen looks like a cellphone screen full of apps.  Previously, I chose one website that all students would use for that week.  Starfall was a favorite because it has such a wide range of skills.  Now, I can use each activity within Starfall was a separate icon.
Now, the screen allows students to choose what skill they want to review.  Right now, I have the icons grouped by literacy or math.  I have literacy at the top and all of the math sites at the bottom.  I started out with only 3 or 4 choices for each- but within a couple of weeks I was able to search other web mixes and now have over 30 tiles to choose from.
Students that still need help with rhyming or letter sounds can choose to go there - but my above grade level readers have more choices to work on blends or digraphs, or read a book, or write a story.
Now, I can create pages for various levels of math or literacy in the classroom.  I can see how adding more pages and levels will help individualize learning. My goal over the summer is to have a literacy page - maybe even two different pages for literacy at different levels.  I can do the same for math.  I feel that using this tool is in the modification range of the SAMR model.