Thinking About Science and Technology Integration

Ever since our resume workshop this week, I've been really focused on how to bring more technology into the classroom in my main placement. This week my CT and I had some great conversations of things we can do each day to utilize the technology we already have!

One thing we've started to do this week is to use the ActivBoard to help us to do interactive writing with our students. Each student gets to use a whiteboard, and students take turns using the ActivBoard to write words for everyone to see. We began by having students brainstorm things that they are experts on. This is going to lead up to our "All About Books" which will be the focus of their writing in March. They've learned about all kinds of features that can go into informational books and so pretty soon they will be making their own All About Books! 

I'm about to start helping to take on a science unit where students will get to observe and interact with guppies, worms, snails, and other small creatures. Something that works really well for our students is having them work in small groups, so we thought we would have science centers where groups could rotate around the room. This made me think of- of course- technology integration! Because we don't have the luxury of having 24+ iPads, my CT and I could make use of our personal iPads in a small group setting. 

I'm not exactly sure what this will look like yet but I have some ideas. I've been perusing around the educational app website on Apple.com, and I've found a few interesting ideas for science stations with my students. One app I found is called "Sid's Science Fair". It engages players in experiential learning, and it's for ages 3-6. It looks like something where I could tailor it to focus on exactly what we were focusing on that day. I also thought we could use an iPad (or iPod even) for students to draw what they see. A simple drawing app could be used for this. We would focus on labeling parts of our diagram and then I could use a dictation program to help record what they say about their new found knowledge of all things worm/slug/insect! 

Another really relevant app for what we'll be taking on is called "Meet the Insects Village Edition". It provides information, pictures, videos all tailored for "little explorers". It includes an observation journal where students can upload their own photos. 

Tracking the Trackers

"Just as the internet has opened up the world for each of us, it has also opened up each and every one of us to the world. And increasingly, the price that we're being asked to pay for this connectedness, is our privacy. With every click of the mouse, every touch of the screen, we are like Hansel and Gretel- leaving breadcrumbs, or personal information, everywhere we travel through the digital woods."
-Gary Kovacs: Tracking the trackers 

After discussing issues of online privacy this week, I saw this Ted Talks video and started watching. This Ted Talk is all about the information that is being collected about you as you surf the web. Before watching this video, I had no idea to what scale this was being done, or for what reason. After I watched this, for lack of a more fitting phrase, I was freaked out. I feel like there is a crowd of people following me (or according to Kovacs- stalking me?) wherever I go online.

“I am being stalked across the Web. And why is this happening? Pretty simple: It's huge business.”-Gary Kovacs.

What could this mean for our students? According to this Ted Talk, the example of a nine-year old girl was used, who web browsed something close to 4 sites and ended up having near 25 follow her. This is a process that could take less than a minute- easily! 

Taking a step back, the person who did this Ted Talk works for Mozilla (Firefox) and potentially wants you to install his software to "track the trackers". Just as he commented on why trackers are tracking people across the web, having you add his company's software significantly contributes to their business. I think referring to the web analytics tools to follow user behavior as "online stalkers" is a strong term, but it isn't a comfortable thing either, and I think it's because it's this thing that is mostly unknown. And there is such little regulation regarding it in our country. So for me it's something to keep thinking about and to be mindful of. 

The take home message for me after watching this video is that internet history is a permanent thing, and that students need practice in being safe students of the web. I think schools have a responsibility to teach ways to be safe online. What's so interesting is that those ways to be safe online are changing, and this Ted Talks video was a reminder of how quickly the web can change and how proactive users need to be about being safe on the web. 

Edmodo Possibilities

I'm trying to go to things in my placement that will help with my professional development and also to experience more of the "teacher culture" of my school outside of class time. This week I went to a technology class Wednesday after school and on Friday I met with my grade level teachers for our Professional Learning Community meeting. The tech class was focused around Edmodo. First, I have to say, that a tech class after a very long Wednesday was a little rough. One of the teachers was leading it, and it was a good way for teachers to get tech hours without having to leave the school or plan a special day to do it- they could just stay after school until 5 (which, most of them do anyway) and spend time learning this new technology.

Edmodo is actually AMAZING. If I could sum it up for you all, it's almost like an education focused Facebook with much more security. Edmodo is capable of much more than I was able to learn about in our one tech class, but I will be blogging about what I learned from that day. The person who was teaching us this tool teaches 5th grade. He uses it as a part of his teaching and created a group space where all of his students can access (and only them). It is essentially a closed Facebook-type site where students can post notes to the whole class, access assignments, and ask for clarification on assignments. There is a parent account option as well, and he has all of his students parents/guardians on Edmodo, and he uses it to send out weekly newsletters. It was really exciting to see the potential here for using it in the classroom. I actually haven't completely ruled out Edmodo for kindergartners either- maybe I would just use it to keep in contact with students families? I think there is definitely potential there! 

One thing I immediately thought of when I heard that it was a "Facebook-type" site, albeit a closed, safe community, was bullying. This teacher, who has been using Edmodo for about 2 years, said a few things about that. One was that he has his group set so that each post to the wall of the group sends him a text to his phone, so he monitors it frequently. A key thing for him was making sure that students realize that he 1) reads everything that they post, and that 2) they can all read everything that everyone posts. It turns out that after they recognize those two things that he doesn't actually need to do a whole lot of monitoring. And if someone abuses the classroom rules for posting, he can set them to "read only". I loved that! They are still a part of the learning community and can access the information, but they are in a posting time out. When I was listening to teachers talking about this all I could think about was how important something like this would be for my students. I was part of the generation who figured out Facebook in high school, and I don't think I was fully aware until later on that everything that I post might be up there for a long, long time. Students don't always realize that the stuff we post online is up there for good! How valuable might something like Edmodo be for students to get a safe version of a Facebook-esque site before the real thing?