Field Placement Notes

I can't believe I waited almost a week to post about my last observation!  It was the first week that I got to really see the iPads in action.  The students were supposed to do a practice test on their individual iPads while the teacher walked around answering questions.  I noticed a few things happening during the class, and then after about a half hour I got bored so I asked the teacher if I could look at the programs she was using on her iPad.

There were a few very noticeable changes with the iPads in the classroom.  First of all, as we all expected, each student seemed to be very engaged, sweeping away with their little fingers answering math questions.  Curious to see if they were all actually on class, I circulated the classroom to look over some shoulders.  Aside from one student who was setting himself a reminder about a test in a different subject (which I guess is just as innocent as flipping through a paper assignment pad/planner during class...), everyone seemed to be on task.  Pretty good!  Another change was that there seemed to be less going off-topic.  Granted, this could be because they were preparing for a test, but usually when there is a class going on and students are raising their hands to contribute to the discussion I've notices that they sometimes get side-tracked and end up talking about things other than the official plan for the lesson.  It's usually math anyway so I'm not sure that it was bad, I'm just pointing out a difference - the classroom was much quieter because each student was working alone and quietly.  The teacher did fill in some noise when she asked one student to help another figure out how to submit his answers.

My so what here has to do with some other less visible changes that I think the iPads are bringing.  The teacher told me that because now her tests are automated, there are not free answer questions.  The technology can “grade” true/false and multiple choice questions, and it’s even ok if you submit a number answer.  But when it gets to questions that were on last unit’s test such as “Explain why 103.2 x 10^4” is not in proper scientific notation” and “Why is it important to be able to express really big/small numbers in scientific notation”, the iPads can’t grade it.  I’m not sure in a math class how much these types of questions matter, but it’s something interesting to think about.  Another thing that I thought was interesting was the “suggestion box” for each class that this teacher teaches where students can post how they think they should use the iPads in class.  Most students who posted wrote practical “in case I forget my homework at school”/ “so I don’t have to carry heavy textbooks around” answers, but I thought it was interesting of the teacher to open this big decision up to her students to hear what they had to say about it. 

A little late on this post, wrote it all but forgot to post... 

Today, I helped the students prepare for their math test. The students have an on-going checkers game that they play on the smart board and each team is awarded a turn by answering a question correctly. They were working on addition and subtraction of large numbers, as well as being able to write out long numbers in word form. I made up questions and wrote them on the smart board. When it was one of the group's turn, their representative (alternated so everyone could have a chance) would do the work on the smart board to solve the problem. All of the other students in the room did the problem in their "scrap book". Each team had a chance to agree or disagree with the student at the board's answer. If the team agreed or disagreed correctly they would earn a turn on the checkerboard. If a team was not sitting in their seats or arguing about where to move a piece on the board they could lose their turn. One team lost their turn twice while the other team was extremely disciplined and was not penalized. After they finished the test review they took the test.

The students really enjoyed the game to prepare for a math test and I could see that many of them studied so they would not let their team down when they were called up to the board. The element of gaming was involved and made the students feel invested in what was going on in the classroom. Also, I could see that certain students showed their leadership skills and took control of their team while others followed. When I looked around the room, each student was engaged and the when a student got the answer right on the board I could see them gaining much confidence in their abilities. Only one student got an answer wrong and her team consoled her. After the game I thought that the students would have a hard time transitioning between the technology and immediately having to take a test. However, the students had no problem transitioning.

After volunteering at an inner city school and doing my placement at a private school, I can see integration of technology being a problem depending on the location. In the after school program at the public school they recently started a computer program that is phonics based. They are required by the principal to do this program 20 minutes out of the afterschool program’s time. Some of the students have a hard time transitioning between the computer program and homework on paper. The students at the private school seemed to make this seamlessly. I wonder how are we to integrate technology so that every child has an experience with technology without taking away class time to refocus? How can we accommodate students that have a hard time transitioning their focus from work with technology and work without technology?

What: I had a change in pace from last week were I got to observe the 4th grade science class to this week where I observed Lina teaching a 5th grade class how to use a specific online tool. The whole class that included about 20 or so boys came into the computer lab and logged onto their specific desktop. It was important that they could save things on the computer in a way that allowed them to access the files from different computers and different programs because they were going to use a photo editing tool called "Pixlr". Their goal was to find a photo online that they had the rights to and they did this by using Flickr. Then they were to save it to their desktop and then re-open it on Pixlr. From there they could do pretty much whatever they wanted to do to the picture from annotating it to making it multi-colored.

Along with Lina's lesson a 6th grade teacher came in to ask for some guidance in his attempts to put most of his lessons and teaching resources online so his students could access the material anytime. They also got into a small debate about which online presentation tool was better with one argument being that one was newer and thus better and the other argument being that the tool they already used was efficient and didn't need to be changed.

So What: After sitting through the boys guide to Pixlr and seeing some of the pictures they made, I really started to question the usefulness/innovation of the tool. The boys could make cool pictures with many different effects and colors, but by the end the original picture couldn't be discerned anymore and the purpose of the picture was to provide a visual of the Jordan River and other major rivers in the Middle East. Pixlr also bothered my slightly because it seemed to almost just be a glorified Paint program. However, the one good aspect of Pixlr is that it has 3 varying levels of complexity with the most complex level being a serious photo editing tool that allows you to have layers and theoretically create very specific edits. The other great part is that it is a free tool that anyone can download unlike other more commonly used photo editing tools. I'm still on the fence about the usefulness of teaching the students how to use Pixlr but I could see how it could come in handy later when they know how to use the more complex levels of the tool.

Now What: While I was observing Lina's tech class, I was also looking for online geological tools that I could use in my lesson with fourth graders. I found a really cool website (SciStarter) that asks everyone to be a Citizen Scientist by providing big data projects that can be done in your backyard, at the zoo, and many other places. While I was hoping there would be a relevant project focused in the greater Philadelphia area, I was out of luck. I also had a somewhat hard time finding relevant and useful geological tools online. Eventually I found the iPad app, easyLearn Rocks & Minerals, which seems like a very useful tool for learning how to identify rocks and minerals because it has several modes including a learning mode, activity mode, and quiz mode. I hope to learn more about this app and hopefully have a draft of a lesson that I can give to Lina and the fourth grade science teacher by the end of the week. Also, Lina said she would buy the app for me:)

During my placement this week the students participated in a mock election. They had to have their signature match their signature that they did the day before, had their ID’s checked and voted behind a curtain with a remote control clicker hooked to a smart board program, on a laptop. The kids absolutely loved the experience and felt very official. Each student was a part of one of the original 13 colonies and they learned last week the basics of the electoral college, which Mr. W called “points”  After all of the 4th grade student cast their votes, the program on the computer showed how each state voted in graph. I mainly helped check students in to the voting place today and I did not do much else today I spent a little time after on the online website for the students. Mr. W gave me access to the website that the students use. There is a homework calendar and various sites for continuing learning at home as well as “badges” that the teacher gives out for those who do well on an assignment or work hard. The badges are posted on their profile.  Each student has a profile with a few categories that they fill out. The categories they can fill out are their favorite quotes, how they learn best (visual, experiential, listening) and their future career. Parents are also allowed on the site to check out their child’s progress.

 The program on the computer allowed for the students to interact and experience voting. Students were able to also understand how the Electoral College works by seeing the results and the “points” that each state gets. This hands on interaction with technology was a unique experience for the students. The online site Mr. W uses allows students and parents to engage in learning outside of the confides of the classroom. I like the idea that students are able to personalize their profile as well as find fun quizzes and cartoons put up by Mr. W. This relates a lot to our blog discussions and tweets for this class. By allowing “classrooms” to be a fluid and porous space, students are able to self motivate themselves to their interests and when they want rather than feeling obligated and confined in the physical classroom and times during the school day.

 I would like to know how much interaction students have outside of school on the website. I am able to see when students log on and am hoping to check throughout the evening and weekends to see the usage of the site for outside learning. I would also like to know how long it took to get students to use the site properly and to understand how it works. 

My placement doesn’t involve much technology so you can imagine how thrilled I was when on Wednesday the teacher said that she got her lesson plan idea and design from Pinterest! She found a lesson plan relating to Halloween to get her class to write. The assignment was a writing prompt:

While in a haunted house,

I see___________________________

I feel__________________________

I hear_________________________

Through using their senses, they are able to fill in the sentences and create a paragraph about being in a haunted house. She wrote with black and orange markers in a wavy font (to make it look scary).

                I thought it was so neat that something as fun as Pinterest was being used in a classroom. I love wasting time on Pinterest finding crafts, quotes, recipes, and never thought that a teacher would be able to find things to use in the classroom. I also thought it was really fun that she used fun colors because it was Halloween. This activity helped me see a different side of her that I don’t usually see—she’s usually exhausted by the time I see her but because of the storm I got to see her on the first day of the week and she was energized, fun, and engaged in the activity. She even acted out some of the emotions the kids experienced in the haunted house.

                I think that this shows that technology and social media sites can definitely be used for advancements in the classroom. Clearly this example has shown that other teachers helping out teachers on Pinterest is fun! Do you think that one day all of teacher’s lesson planning will be virtual and open for others to see? 

What?

Although it was Halloween my classes today proceeded as though it was a normal day of the year. There were no costumes, talk of Halloween, or candy. Mrs. P the computer teacher first presented the first grade children with a skeleton dance song on the smart board where the children had the opportunity to listen to the skeleton sing and dance about bones in the body. I think it was her way to bring some fun to the classroom since it was Halloween but it technically could not be celebrated within the school. She even made it clear to the students that Skeletons and bones could be for any day of the year not just because it was Halloween. The kids got to follow along with the dance moves and attempt to sing the lyrics. Following the video they were told to guess approximately how many bones were in the human body after the hypotheses the children returned to their own computers we taught them how to use the GOOGLE search engine to “research” the amount of bones in the body and come up with an actual answer.

So what?

It was very interesting for me to be in a school that was so anti-Halloween. It was sort of surprising that Mrs. P had to reassure the students that the Skeleton activity was not a Halloween themed activity even when the students presented their own conversations about Halloween. On my walk to the school I saw a daycare center where all the children and staff had be decked out in full blown Halloween costumes and compared that to what I was experiencing at this school. I’m aware that not all families celebrate Halloween but at the same time there are various celebrations that not all families place values on and the restrictions placed on these children to even speak upon their traditions is surprising to me. My elementary childhood was filled with Halloween, Valentine’s Day, and Holiday themed parties and these children were living a different experience.

Now what?

I’m not pushing for Halloween to be celebrated within the school but I am interesting in observing more differences between my experience and the experiences of current day elementary students. It is interesting to see what other boundaries are established in public school education and how teachers/administration go about enforcing these policies.

What: Today was the younger kids Halloween Parade so most of the school got out of class to enjoy the costumes. But I did get to visit a fourth grade class that was actively using technology. Mrs. Hardy allows her students to have free time in the morning from 8-8:30am to work on independent projects of their own choosing. They can use computers, interview teachers, create art projects, and do anything else they can think of as long as they write a proposal to her that includes a clear learning goal and plan to reach that goal. Some of the projects included creating a floor plan for an eco-friendly house on a floor plan creating game found online, projects involving Scratch, making foreign language dictionaries with online translators, and art project on paper. I also got to hear two of the students present on their finished projects. And after the presentations I had some time to ask Mrs. Handy if she used technology in the classroom at any other time, and she told me that when they have writing assignments the students turn in a handwritten draft but then during the revision process they use a Google Doc.

Besides visiting the class, I also got to spend some time with Lina who gave me some links to some interesting websites about technology in the classroom. She also suggested that I start working with a science teacher from the school to develop a lesson plan that incorporates technology. To kick start me on this project she sent me useful links for lesson plans that have technology and science.

So What: Visiting the Mrs. Hardy's fourth grade class made me really hopeful. I felt like she was using technology in a very effective way that allowed her to meet all of her students' needs. The students who felt comfortable could take on big projects online like building the floor plans for a completely eco-friendly house, and the ones more comfortable with drawing could take on an equally challenging project with a completely different medium. Also, the way she required the students to write her a proposal with a specific goal reminded me of some of the characteristics of a good game that McGonigal talks about - Mrs. Hardy created a game for the students that was voluntary because they chose the project and that had specific goals that were allowed to be open-ended depending on the student's interest. And along with using technology as a tool to allow her students to be creative and goal orientated, she also was already using Google Docs with her fourth graders. I was extremely impressed by this especially since I had observed the fifth grade class last week who had not been using any technology besides paper and pencil.

With Lina's help in finding resources online, I really was able to find good lesson plans about a specific subject. Lina is always saying that there is no point to create lesson plans when you are teaching around a specific subject because there are so many resources out there and if you know how to look you'll be able to find what you need. Now I really know what she is talking about, and see how having a data base or a few go to sources could really help teachers more easily incorporate technology in their classroom.

Now What: I hope to maybe visit Mrs. Hardy's fourth grade class again and maybe even pop into the fifth grade writing class to have something to compare my observations to. Besides that though, I hopefully will be focusing on the creating a lesson plan for one of the science teachers that focuses on Rocks and Mineral (what I know:)) and incorporates technology. There are many possibilities for how the technology could be incorporated, but I'm thinking of looking for iPad apps that pertain to the subject or using an online tool for creating quizzes that is similar to one I have used in class (IFPs). From there, I hope not only to create the lesson plan but also present to the class and even maybe collect

What kinds of religious posters did you see? Were they about the technology? I'd love to learn more. 

I too remember having A LOT of structure in computer class as a child. You mentioned that you were surprised to see so much independence in student computer use, but I'm wondering what you think of this? I wrote one of my papers about student sense of ownership in relation to the structure of technology usage. Do you think the students feel more empowered by work that is truly "theirs" because of a lack of structure? Or would more structure be beneficial? 

This had already taken place three times before and I gradually found the concentrations in this placement. When I first showed up in this class, I was overwhelmed by this unusual, students' self projects-centered class format. It is reasonable to me that since this is a computer and technology class which has greater tolerance for more students' constant discussion and fewer teachers' instruction. Teacher walks around to check each student's work and give proper guidelines. Today, it is the seventh grade who is taking this class which, compared to the sixth grade, behave more focused and involved in the projects they are working on. I noticed that even this should be an individual project (programing short stories), some students gather, discuss and help each other. While at the same time, students who rarely talk and pay great attention to their own assignment also is a big phenomenon.

I had a conversation with the teacher about their behavior last time and the teacher provided me a broader perspective on the diversity of student bodies. This is a technology class and the purpose of the class is to teach kids practical skills to use computer and internet for their own advantage in future life, academic life mostly from the standing of school. When students are taught systematically these knowledge, they showed how familiar they have already been to the computer: some have, some haven't. The difference in the background knowledge of the computer or technology was reflected in their different attitudes towards the class. On the other hand, which is more important because the difference in initial abilities was not much huge, the diversity in students' bodies located in students' own personalities or pursuits. The teacher mentioned that when she was teaching a class in which all of the students were math honors, those students showed more patience and concentrated on their own work quietly. This occurs to me that whether or not we should differentiate the education or the curriculum depends on different qualities students showed.

I think I am going to shift the focal area from the general phenomenon in both classes of six and seventh grades to the difference in students' different behaviors according to their grades. For example, when the students were randomly surfing the internect in the classroom, what would their preference be? When students gather in a group and keep talking and discussing, what would their topics mostly be, sixth grade students having their talk on popular songs, online gaming and seventh grade students on their project more?

This is a class which looks like connects school education and technology very close. But what we have to keep in mind is that, it is a technology class per se and even the application of the computers in this classroom is for the purpose of learning them. But there is an undoubted fact that we have to admit, this technology class exists because of the need of bringing in modern technology in education system. Because school needs the students to be ready for further uses of school online accounts, online assignments and instant communications via internet, it considers these courses necessary.

    This isn't relevant to technology but I'm in an ESL classroom and the teacher who uses technology was out today so I picked another topic. 

                The part of my visit today that I’d like to focus on was the push in part (in ESL, this is where the ESL teacher goes into the mainstream classroom and just works with the children who need the help but also co-teach with the teacher) of the second grade classroom in the subject of writing. The teacher of the mainstream classroom and the teacher of the ESL classroom both run the discussion. Today’s subject was “restaurants”—the children listed all the words associated with restaurants and after, listed local restaurants.  Following the brainstorm, the students wrote about their favorite restaurant and focused on what they saw at the restaurant that they chose to write about.

                The teacher of the mainstream classroom has no control over the classroom: there are kids rolling on the floor, out of their seats walking around, lying across their desks, braiding their hair, and talking to each other. She would threaten them but they were empty threats—the kids knew she wasn’t serious and has no authority. When she got too frustrated by a problematic child, she asked another child to walk the problem child to the disciplinarian’s office. The other child returned within seconds saying that the problem child didn’t want to go. She went out in the hall and was gone for five minutes. This left the ESL teacher in charge and she was firm and direct and followed through with what she told them and they immediately paid attention, focused, and participated.  

                Clearly, this shows that some teachers are better than others. Perhaps teachers should find what they are good at—maybe the mainstream teacher is really good at teaching math and should be a math teacher instead. Or maybe she would be better at teaching older children. This brings me to a question (and maybe a new approach for administrators of schools)—what if teachers got to teach what they were good at rather than what the school needed? 

What: I returned to lower school for my second official visit and started review and researching some educational apps for iPads as Lina, the Technology Coordinator for the lower school, asked me to. Lina's goal is to create a list of must have iPad apps for each specific grade for the teachers. Each grade recently received several iPads but has not put them to good use which made Lina have to take them back in hopes of helping the teachers put them into good use. Some of the apps that I researched today that I found very useful were Puppet Pals (an app that allows students to tell stories through images and audio), Simplex Spelling (tutors students through learning how to spell), and Squeebles (which allows teachers to create spelling quizzes that get presented to the student as a game where they must save certain characters). After working on researching for about an hour and a half, Lina introduced me to teachers from Kindergarten and 5th grade in the hopes that I will be able to sit in on their class during my next visit. Lina hopes that I will be able to observe how the teachers are using technology and report back to her. From just being introduced, Lina and I both saw some problems in the way technology was being utilized; the Kindergarten teachers seemed to just use technology as a fun thing to do in the morning, the 5th grade had a computer cart that was so messy that the students didn't feel like using it, and a writing class had four computers in the room but only practiced writing with paper and pencil.

So What: To start with the Kindergarten’s use of technology, using technology as a way to distract the students or just give them free time seems like a waste. Even the Kindergarten teacher we talked to the most complained about her students being distracted and unconnected which she related back to their proficiency with technology and place as the digital generation. However, the only way she was using technology was as a way to further distract and disengage her students instead of using it as a way to excite them to learn. This same teacher is going to be starting a math unit with her students where they do drills on the computer which I might have the opportunity to sit in on - maybe there this will be a better use of technology?

While having a messy computer cart doesn't seem like the biggest issue in the world, it definitely had an effect on the 5th graders opinions of the lab tops in the lower school. When Lina and I went to visit the 5th grade, she directly asked the students how the cart could be better organized and nearly half of them raised their hands. The comments ranged from leaving the computers set up and out in the classroom to designating a shelf in the cart for each specific laptop. The students were surprisingly opinionated and ready to give advice for better organization which suggests that it actually made a difference in how they thought of the laptops. Earlier Lina and I had talked about how messy the cart was and how she thought it made the students not want to use the computers, but I didn't truly believe her till I saw personally how the students reacted. The accessibility of the technology including the ease of use really matters in the classroom - the students don't want to deal with computers that take a long time to load or are so disorganized they can't find the right cords.

Along with the messy computer cart, I visited a 5th grade writing class that had 4 computers plugged in a sitting at a designated place in the classroom, but the boys were only practicing their writing with paper and pencil. While I am not saying questioning the importance of handwriting, I do think that in today's day and age it is very important to know how to write through typing. It is more efficient and I feel like most educators as you go higher in education expect students to write through typing - I have not turned in a written assignment in years. I just could not see why the teacher would not utilize the computers in his classroom until Lina said that he has been teaching for over 20 years and he has always taught with paper and pencil. There seems to be a major hesitation for change and possible innovation with technology at the lower school.

Now What: As I continue to visit the lower school, I hope to really find where the hesitation to use technology stems from and hopefully be able to help the teachers become more comfortable with technology. While this is something easy to say and think about, it is actually a huge task that Lina has been working on for over a year and has barely made any progress. Maybe we can focus our goals for the next 6 weeks of my placement, to focus purely on the 5th grade writing class. Depending on teacher willingness, Lina and I could attempt to create a portal for digital storytelling that would give the writing class a database of tools. With these tools that would include apps, websites, YouTube videos, and anything else related to digital storytelling, the 5th graders could possibly take a break of pencil and paper and learn another way to write an essay.

While the middle school math class that I am observing uses a lot of technology already, the teacher (and students!) keeps talking about how eager they are to begin using iPads that were donated to the school.  I’m excited for the next few weeks when they will be integrated into the classroom, and the teacher is discussing how she plans to use them with me.  For now, while these poor children are still stuck in the dark ages, they have been practicing working with scientific calculators. The way that the teacher introduced this technological tool to them was interesting to me.  She said “We want to use our heads before we use our tools,” but then explained that “when numbers get very large, sometimes calculators are faster.”  When a student used his calculator to solve a complicated problem quickly she praised him by saying, “good use of tools!”

I thought that this idea of using our heads before our tools was very interesting.  If Andy Clark had been observing this classroom, he might have tried to argue that they are the same thing, but I thought that this was a very grounded way to introduce technological tools and not create a dependence on them for the students.  Especially in a math classroom I think that there is great value to understanding how to solve problems, and only using tools to carry out what students know how to do with numbers that are long enough that doing the math out by hand would seem tedious.

Like I said, I am really excited to see these iPads integrated into the classroom.  Sometimes these students use whiteboards to write down their answers to problems in class – will the iPads replace those?  I am going to focus a lot on what changes and what stays the same with the integration of the iPads.  Another thing that I am going to look out for is that a few of the more gifted students in the class often stay late to work with the teacher on her iPad on this cool math program to work out problems they’ve come up with during class.  I wonder if once they get their own iPads, they will work on this on their own during classtime and not be as bored while they are waiting for their classmates to finish working on something.  This is something the teacher brought up with me as a hope for these iPads – to allow the more gifted students tools to further their learning and not waste time, and to help the slower students find tools to help them catch up.  I’m looking forward to seeing if this will actually happen.

                When I first walked into the classroom, an ESL classroom, I was struck by how unfortunate it was that two teachers must share a classroom. It is split evenly down the middle: one teacher teaches third and fourth graders while the other teaches first and second graders. The younger ones don’t use as much technology as the older students and the technology they do use is outdated. They use a Califone Card Reader and some programs on the computer. The programs on the computer don’t relate to their spelling words for the week and usually when they’re on the computers they just play matching games with words and pictures. The older grades use a SmartBoard—they use it with the curriculum, and highlight, make notes, and answer questions on it. Both the teacher and the students use it. They also use the computer station. They use it to take quizzes about books they are currently reading or practice their English speaking because each computer has a microphone and headphones.

                I found it very interesting that the students were very eager to be at the computer station. The computer station and the Califone Card reader (for the first and second graders) and the SmartBoard (for the third and fourth graders) are the only technological stations. The other stations involve reading and writing. The one student ran to the computers and actually wasn’t assigned to the computer station first and he had to be told by the teacher to find his name on the chart and go to the station he was supposed to be at. I feel like there is such a disconnect because I didn’t use a computer when I was that young and these kids know how to work these computers so well. I think the computers in this case are used effectively because the teacher can’t be at all the stations at one time and the computer provides immediate feedback.

        I think the biggest question to draw from the routine stations of the classroom is how much can teachers use technology to teach basic ideas, in this case language? Because language is a basic skill, and most children acquire it naturally without much aid from technology, how can these students use technology more effectively to further their learning of English? If there is already a program created specifically for native Spanish speakers learning English, perhaps the teacher should look into it and introduce it to her children? If there isn’t a program out there, it should definitely be created. 

When I first walked into the classroom, technology was already present. There were about 16 students in the classroom each working on a mac laptop computer.  The laptops came from a laptop cart shared around the school. I met the teacher an asked him what they were doing on the laptop. He commented that they were working on their typing programs and said, “I don’t care about their handwriting, it is not useful anymore. They should learn how to type”. After the typing was over and the teacher was ready to start class, and it was time for the students to pick a new classroom chore to do for the week. However to make these more fun the teacher had each student pick a position. The positions were related to government positions such as the secretary of state whose job was to great visitor such as myself and the secretary of energy who is in charge of lights and operates the smart board when called for. The kids get to choose their positions but are randomly selected using a program on the smart board that has each of the kids faces and names and shuffles through to randomly select a student.  After each student was chose for their classroom duty, the students had to take their first math test of the year. Before the test the teacher showed an inspirational video via the smart board to get the kids “psyched up”. When the students finish their test they are advised to take a piece of candy and take a walk around the school. After the walk to “clear their mind”, they are told to double check their work. While this is going on, Mr. W took me outside to talk with me. He explained that he was behind in his curriculum because he was attempting to utilize technology more.  He currently uses Edmodo which offers students a place to get assignments, grades, and blog. Parents also have access to this website to check their students grades and assignments, however he says that he is wary of this because he wants the students to become responsible for their education. Mr. W gives me a group code to access Edmodo online. 

I was extremely surprised at the use of technology at the 4^th grade level and the massive amount of technology that seemed to be involved in each aspect of the learning, from classroom duties to test taking and even the technology that is expected to be used at home. I loved the idea of giving each child a task, but relating the task to a position. I could tell that each student felt important and that they were responsible to help the classroom run smoothly. Mr. W’s comment that handwriting was not important was really a wake up call to me. I thought about this because I had recently taking a midterm in which we used blue books. I noticed as I was taking the test that my handwriting was pretty poor and I kept think I would so much rather be typing. I question whether we should teach typing more than handwriting and whether teachers will accommodate this during a test.

At my next placement visit, I would like to ask Mr. W if being behind in curriculum is worth the inclusion of the technology? Why does he feel that the inclusion of technology is so important? As the teacher used the smart board to randomly select students to choose their classroom duties, is there a way to utilize this program to randomly select kids in the classroom to answer questions in hopes to keep every student engaged? Would this help kids pay attention if they did not know who would be called on because a random program would select? Would this be unfair?  

I entered into the classroom of my first placement unsure of what to expect -- this is my first placement afterall! I was to observe a classroom of first graders (6-7 years old, I'm told) and I began the session with "siesta" time which was designed to allow students to quietly wind down alone for 20 minutes after lunch. Once this was done, the students had storytime and the teacher stopped every so often in order to test comprehension. Right after this, they went straight to maths where the class was split into two sections. Then, I followed the students to their technology class where they learned to type. 

I was surprised by the freedom the students had to learn independently -- in my own experience, I know that I was given a lot more structure. Additionally, the teachers considered the class to be "large". Compared to the 29 other students that were in my classes growing up, I was surprised as 18 seemed to be wonderfully small. Further, I wasn't expected the religious background of the school to be THAT prominent -- I was aware of its religious affiliations but looking at the posters on the wall and how the teachers addressed their students, it came as a little bit of a shock to me.

Aside from these things, I was intrigued by the inclusion of a "technology" class within the curriculum. Though somewhat short, the students were being taught how to touchtype, a skill that even I don't have. The students weren't as competent with computers as I expected (coming out of the youth panel we had in class) but they were already able to tell which computer was "better". How is this so? At such a young age, to be able to tell which computer is newer and better just strikes me as a marker of the consumerism that surrounds technology