U05a1- Students Meeting the NETS-S

I teach for a county Head Start where we use objectives instead of standards like most school districts.  I was unfamiliar with the NETs for students.  I have heard of them but that is about it. We only have one very vague objective: Tools and Technology. This objective is where we rate the children on everything they do technology wise in my classroom.  When reading through the NETS for students, I think they are very clear and I could see how they could be integrated with older students.   I wish we had a more specific objectives to cover some of the same things the standards cover.  I would like to see a creativity and innovation objective to use with my students.  I have some students that can do so much on the HATCH pads and computer but there is no real way to show that they are creative.  I would also like to have an objective about technology operations and concepts, that way we could see the student’s improvements as the year progresses. 

After looking at the student profiles I have a greater understanding of how these standards can be included for young learners.  I mostly focused on grades Pre-2 in the age range of 4-8 years old since this is the age group of my students.  The NETS can be met by students in any age range through communication, collaboration, and publishing web 2.0 tools.

Some ways that communication covers these standards is if you use a web site like Skype and have the students work together with others. This covers standard one.  Anytime that students are on the computer, they how have to demonstrate safe use for technology which is standard 5.  If the students used a site and recorded an electronic book and shared it with their friends, they would cover standards: 10 demonstrate and navigate electronic books, 9 communicate about technology with correct terms, 8 independently apply digital tools, 4 digital presentation, and 3 engage learners from multi-cultural. There are many other ways to cover the standards with young children.  There are learning websites that would cover most of the standards just by having the kids log on.  In all the examples that I mention above the students would need to use collaboration.  They would need to collaborate with other students in their class, teachers, and others that they connect with during their projects.  Any project they complete the students will be publishing it in some way.  It might just be for their teacher and the other students in their classroom, but it might also be for others on the internet.  Publishing was a hard concept for me since we are not allowed to publish any of our students work on the internet outside of our Teaching Strategies GOLD website.  It is a safe site and unless you are the teacher or parent, you are unable to view the students work. This rule is in place because we have lots of single parents, parents who are incarcerated, and foster parents. Not being allowed to publish their work is for the safety of the children.  I remember once during my undergrad when working with standards and having a hard time finding what standard fit my project, a professor telling me that you can make almost any standard fit a project and I feel it is the same with NETS standards with communication, collaboration, and publishing projects and using web 2.0 sites.   

References:
http://www.iste.org/standards/standards-for-students/nets-student-standards-2007

http://www.iste.org/standards/standards-for-students/nets-for-students-2007-profiles

U01a1-Blog on PBL

U01a1 Blog on PBL

While viewing all three examples that were included in this week’s viewing, I found many similarities between them. In From Worms to Wall Street, Appling Math Skill to a real World Problem, and March of the Monarch’s the circumstances and design of all three projects had one major common theme which was real life skills and application.  I thought this was really important because it seems that to many times in education today, we teach students concepts but do not show them real life application, so the students forget what they learned. The students played an important role in their education during each project.  Project based learning is student centered and made the students excited about learning.  The students showed increased engagement and knowledge by learning real life skills that they will use in everyday life.  Each video showed that project based learning can be used with students of all ages and levels.  During the projects students were required to communicate with their group members, outside community members, or students from around the world.  Students were making decisions over an extended period of time of about six weeks per project with a final assessment at the end.  Technology came into play with all three projects because students were using the computer to design flyers, make blue prints, communicate with others, and to record their final presentations that served as their final assessments. Adding technology increased student engagement during each project.  Throughout each project the students were faced with decisions and teamwork scenarios which forced them to work complications out which is a skill that they will need to succeed in the future.

 In reading Reinventing Project-Based Learning stated “Projects are worth the effort (Boss-Krauss, p.6)” and the three teachers expressed that projects were more work for them but worth it in the end to see their students excited about learning.  Teachers seem to be a facilitator in project based learning and also a student.  It seemed that many times the teachers were learning along with the students.  Teachers also served as a guide to guide the students instead of dictate what the students did while working.  The one thing that all the teachers agreed on was the project based learning covers state standards and took learning across the curriculum including language arts, science, history, social studies, and math. 

It was a good feeling to watch students excited about learning because it seems like students are pushed so hard and not focused on having fun and with projects students are learning and having fun at the same time.      

 

References:

Boss, S., & Krauss, J. (2007). Reinventing project-based learning. (1st ed.). Washington,D.C.: International Society for Technology in Education.

Curtis, D. (0). Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/newsome-park-elementary-project-learning-video

Curtis, D. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/march-monarchs

Ellis, K. (0). Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/mountlake-terrace-geometry-real-world-video

 

 

Board Builder

I made a Board Builder using Discovery Education on balls that will be used during our Ball study. In my classroom, we have six studies that we use as part of our creative curriculum.  I chose to make my Board Builder on Balls because it is the only study that I have not made something for during my last two classes at Wilkes. Now I will have some type of technology connected to all of the studies that I will do with my students this year.  I connected a song, two videos, four pictures, one digital book, and an assessment from Teaching Strategies GOLD. I used GOLD as the assessment because in my class the students are not graded, they are just observed and rated on the inter-rater reliability tool GOLD provides. Everything I added will enhance the students’ knowledge of balls and will support our discussions and shared writings that we complete every day during large group circle.  The things that I included are connected to my Board supports my students’ interests that way it will want to use my Board. My students will have the opportunity to use this Board Builders during free play in the computers area.  There will be three students allowed to use the Board Builder at a time: one on the computer and two on the HATCH Pads. The students will be able to use the Board for 10 minutes a day for a total of 30 minutes per week.  The students will be able to access the Board during the entire ball study which last for about eight weeks.  I feel this Board Builder will give my students a greater understanding of Balls.  As Gardner states, “Students need to know why they are learning what they are learning and how this knowledge can be put to constructive uses” (Gardner, p. 142). 

http://app.discoveryeducation.com/builders/boards?assetGuid=0ec327a3-e183-f8c8-405a-4f6f125a7f24&review=true
 

Five Minds Video Blog

Blog on Respectful and ethical minds

The first thing that stuck out to me was a quote that said "new teachers grow one day at a time." This is my second year in my position and I do feel that I grow everyday.  I know this year I have done more with my students and I have grown so much as a teacher. The video also said that community can support during projects.  We use community members during all of our studies when we have volunteers come in to share with my children.  The projects or studies that I use in my class are about the same length as  the flat classroom because they last about 10 weeks, and that is about how long my students spend on a study.  Last year we collaborated with the other Pre k classroom to share what we learn during our studies.  My class shared a video of things we built and discovered during our building study. One of the other classes shared a fashion show with us.  We have not got into sharing with other teachers outside of our program, which is an idea that I would like to include in one of my studies.  I know that in our beginning of the year study, we talk about pinatas and it would be great to connect with someone who makes and uses piñata.  My students thought that piñatas were to have candy, but we learned from a Mexican parent last year that they put toys in them.  It would be nice for a Pre k student to tell my students about how they use piñatas at a celebration.  We are trying to use collaboration with our families through a website called teaching strategies GOLD.  We ask parents to add to our lesson plans, send in supplies, look at conference forms, and be involved in their child's education.  Right now, we have one parent who is helping and loves it.  She told us that it makes it nice to be able to communicate with the teacher without having to go into the classroom.  Our program is starting to see that we need to start using technology in our programs.  They are starting with our parents so that we can start letting our students connect with others through the Internet.  As I was watching this video, it made me think about my sister who teaches in North Carolina and I think I might try to set something up with her where her students help to teach my students.  I think that my students would enjoy seeing people from another state since most of them have never left our small town.  I really enjoyed watching this video and it made me think about new ways technology can be used in our classroom and it made me think about what the future holds for teachers in terms of technology in the classroom. 

 

 

A-B-C Summarize

“Work may be good in the sense of being excellent in quality” (Gardner, p. 128).  It is hard for me to say that this week’s project is excellent because of the time restrains that I had.  It was a rough week in my house with my husband being in the hospital. After reading this quote, it made me feel better about this project and that it might not be as bad as I am thinking.  Project 2 was definitely by far the most challenging.  I started by trying to think about a teaching strategy that I use in my classroom and it was hard to find one since we use the creative curriculum.  We only have the children for six hours a day and three hours is play, and two hours are spent at meals, so there is not much time to do group strategies.  The one strategy that I like to use is A-B-C- Summarize because my children need a lot of work on their alphabet. My children do seem to like when we use it.  I like to use this strategy one-on-one or in a small group.    When I use this strategy with my children, it covers a couple of our objectives.  The objectives it covers are using writing and drawing tools, writes to convey meaning, writes name, identify and names letters, and uses letter sound knowledge.  After the children complete their alphabet, I would put it together and make it into a digital book and maybe record the children saying the letters and sounds. This would reinforce the children’s knowledge of letters and letter sounds.  This would be a major project for my children.  I read in our Gardner text, “Children may well benefit from carrying out evocative classroom projects or from pursuing a unit on generative topics like “patterns” or “water” or the cradle of civilization (Gardner, p. 55).    I agree with Gardner that children benefit from projects.  I know my children love to do science projects and any projects with the teachers.  I know that I always enjoyed completing projects and felt like I learned more from doing a project than just learning something.  I think that adding digital media would reinforce this topic and strategy with my students.

https://www.smore.com/v7sg-a-b-c-summarize

 

 

 

 

 

Blog On Content Creation

This week’s Blog post was hard and fun to do at the same time.  It was hard because I teach such young children. They did not understand the question. On the other hand, I received some funny responses.  When I asked the first little girl in my class about what creativity means, she said “I don’t know. To draw pictures and play with my friends.”  Then when I asked her what she would change about our class if she could change something, she said “I would make it magic. Can I go play now?   The second child I asked said his favorite part of school was the block area because there are cars and he can build a garage.  When I asked him what he would change he said “the kitchen area. If my mom was here, she would be in there.”  So since I’m proud of my students that they were willing to help with this post but didn’t completely answer the question, I asked my supervisor to answer the question and here is what she responded: “I want to believe it is because I understand the importance of it.  However, when I walk down the school halls and see art work that is a carbon copy of a teacher project, it concerns me.  I am a strong supporter of the creative curriculum.  It is used in our classrooms very successfully. I hope that the creative thinking process is allowed to continue as our students move on to higher grades.”  I agree with my supervisor that one thing I would change is to continue the creative curriculum in higher grades.  If there was one thing that I could change in my classroom it would be the time students are allotted to be on the computer and HATCH Pads.  Right now, my students are only allowed ten minutes a day for a total of thirty minutes a week.  It is hard to put limits on the students when I know that they could be learning so much from the computer and HATCH Pads. More so, I would also have more than one student computer and two HATCH Pads.   If I had more computers and HATCH Pads, then more students would have the opportunity to use them.  I would also like to have a projector screen.  This would have helped me out today when we were doing a wiggle giggle that I found on the learning station because for the students to watch it and follow, I had to show them on my lap top, which was hard to see. Even though I know the students enjoyed it, it would have been easier for them to see to follow if it would have been easier to see. 

Blog on Creativity in the Classroom

In the video “Do schools kill creativity?” by Sir Ken Robinson made some excellent points about creativity and learners of all ages.  He said “all kids have tremendous talent.”  This I believe is true and it is something I get to see every day in my classroom.  He also said “creativity is as important as literacy,” which is interesting because in schools it seems like most of the emphasis is on math and literacy.  To answer the question “do schools kill creativity in a lot of ways?” I think they do.  Especially now with standardized tests and focuses on getting all the information in and not on mastering the information.  Sometimes it would be helpful to let the students be creative with topics so they would master it instead of just go over it.  There are many ways digital media can be used in a classroom to support the students and creativity. In my classroom, some ways digital media could be used to enhance creativity are in the puppet area, during circle time, and throughout the studies. In the puppet area, I would like to have the students film their puppet shows that they perform.  I would like to have the kids watch their shows and show family and friends.  I think that this would be a great way to motivate students into creating more shows so they could share them.  During circle time, I would like to use digital books sometimes that way when we are reading the same book for a third time in a week it would still be interesting hearing and seeing it from someone else.  A lot of times now, some students are saying not that book again.  It is also hard to include digital media in my circle time because my students are limited to ten minutes of screen time a day with a total of thirty minutes a week, so if I use a book with the students that is six minutes long, that counts toward their time.  It would also be nice to have a way to play books for them besides on my laptop that way it is easier for the children to see and hear.  Another way is to let the students explore and be creative with the HATCH Pads instead of limiting them to the games that were downloaded for the HATCH programs. Even though there are many ways to improve digital media usage in my classroom, one way that students can be creative is with music and dance.  The students are encouraged to dance and make music every day in our music area.        

 

Resources:

Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity? Can be found at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

I created my Prezi about clothes so that my students can use it in the computer area to enhance the study and their knowledge about clothes. We do five studies throughout the year and the boys struggle the most with the clothing study, so I felt that making this Prezi about clothes would help get the boys excited about the study.  I tried to keep the videos short because my children are limited with computer time every day.  I also tried to keep my Prezi easy to use because I teach young children who would be using it by themselves.  While searching for media to use in my presentation, I found everything I needed on Discovery Education. Discovery Education provided many useful resources and it was easy to navigate the site.  I found videos, images, songs, and noises that I included. While searching the web I found an article from the Huffington Post that really made me think, it stated, “A study by AVG, the Internet security company, found that young children are more likely to master tech skills than life skills. For example, while 58 percent of 2- to 5-year olds can play a computer game, only 43 percent can ride a bike” (Taylor, p.1).  While reading this article it reminded me about Gardner’s text and something I read, “Without having some mastery of computers, citizens cannot access the information that they need, let alone be able to use it productively (Gardner, p.13). When thinking about all the ways I use technology every day, it is really important for children to have mastery of computer skills but I also feel that it is important for young children to master everyday skills like riding a bike.    

 

Resources:

 Gardner, Howard. (2007). Five minds for the future. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. 

Taylor, D. J. (2013, september 22). Children's immersion in technology is shocking . Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-jim-taylor/childrens-immersion-in-te_b_1871896.html

 

Here is the link to my Prezi:

http://prezi.com/d0pj4s9wlvtx/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

https://educlipper.net/#dashboard/stuff/522fc193d9990b09dc000001



In my classroom, we complete six studies throughout the year.  Everything I chose to include on my eduClipboard will help to enhance one of the studies.  The pictures of the family would be used during the beginning of the year study to show the children that some people have large families.  I found two video clips to use during our tree study that talk about trees growing and using trees for solar panels.  The video about using trees as solar panels will help students learn that trees can have many different uses.  I included why games matter because I think it would be helpful to show some of the parents during an end of study celebration so that they understand why we play games in our classroom.  This year we will add a recycling study, so I included resources to use during this study. 

Ambrocik_u02a1

Tweet

http://lemmetweetthatforyou.com/t/4yjg48

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>My name is Amanda. I teach head start. I want to learn more about media in my class. I have a one year old daughter.</p>&mdash; Amanda Mike Ambrocik (@AmandaMikeAmbro) <a href="https://twitter.com/AmandaMikeAmbro/statuses/375037372057923584">September 3, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I'm Amanda Ambrocik and I teach Head Start Pre-K.  I want to help my students to use more technology. I have a one year old daughter.