Week 12

The most important thing that I learned about using technology in the early grades is that it can be done and easily. Three additional things I learned are, first there are many programs that young children can use that fit the curriculum of the early grades. Kidsperation and Kerpoof are two programs that are easy to use and that can provide good experiences for young children. Second, the teacher does not have to do all the technology work. While the teacher may need to structure the lesson to provide support in using technology, the technology available is easily used by children. For example, I have a two year old nice who knows how to work an i-pod touch. If she can use that technology school aged children should be capable of using simple technology. The last thing I learned is that the children can work together with technology. This will support learning how to use the technology and the actually curriculum while helping children work together. In short, technology is absolutely a useful and important tool for children to learn in the early grades.

Lesson Plan Links

My lesson plan links have been posted under my links section of this blog.

Week 11

Our Favorite Dinosaurs
The children seemed really excited to be videotaped about their favorite dinosaurs. Even though the younger children were in kindergarten, they were still able to participate in the technology experience. I also think that pairing the kindergarteners with older students helped the older students and the younger students use technology better. Overall the kindergarteners and the older students had a good time.

Creation Stories
The project in this video allows the children full creative control over technology. The children get to create their own stories using a program like digital storyboard about creation. While the video did not show any children, the video showed how children can become involved in technoloby that is more then just sitting at a computer.

A Day With Fractions
The children seemed to take the assignment very seriously. They were professional about what they said and how they said it. The children also spoke clearly in their project. They seemed to care how the project turned out. The project itself looked very professional and showed off the children's fraction skills.

The two videos that were required to watch (Bookends of War and Inside Kapunahala) showed that children like having hands on projects. The children were not frustrated or discouraged about the project. They were actively involved in creating a good product. The children also seemed to learn more life technology skills. The knew how to use cameras and the internet to find out information. The children also worked together as a team to create projects. The children seemed to work together better as they were involved with the technology because they wanted to create an awesome project. Overall the children were extremely engaged and pretty happy.

Week 10

I learned the technology can be used with younger students to teach them concepts. I noticed that the teachers had to give the children instruction on how to use the technology to complete assignments. The kids worked with the teacher a whole lot of the time. The teacher really interacted with the students while they were using the technology. The technology used was very simple. I loved how the teacher used cameras as a way for the children to use technology outside the classroom. This was a simple way to involve technology in the lesson. The children got really familiar with technology in all of the lessons. The teachers had two objectives. They taught the lesson and they taught the technology that went along with that lesson. The children seemed to really enjoy using the computers to finish the assignments. Parents were also involved through the use of technology. They saw the technological products of the children.

Week 9 -Technology Inventory

The classroom I went to belonged to a first grade teacher. She has many technology resources in the classroom. The most exciting of those technologies is the Promethean Board. This is an interactive white board that connects to computer. The Promethean Board allows children to manipulate the computer screen using a stylist on the board. It is pretty much awesome. This model that the teacher uses includes speakers for the children to listen to music with. Also this teacher uses a lap top for attendance and she has a TV in the classroom as well. She does have a tape player in the classroom to listen to music with.

Because this teacher has a Promethean Board she no longer has computers in the class. She used to have about six computers in the classroom that she would have the children use during center time. The teacher wishes to have these computers back in the classroom because she could then connect what she does on the Promethean Board to activities done on the individual computers. However, the school does have portable labs that she can use.

The teacher uses the technology to get ideas for phonics teaching. She uses the Promethean Board to help the kids learn how to create words using different sounds and for reading stories. She also uses the Promethean Board with the daily routines like weather reports, calendar activities, and simple math drills. The day I visited the teacher was using a program on the Promethean Board that taught about money. With the Promethean Board the teacher has so many programs to teach about so many different things.

I decided to find out what other technologies where available to this teacher so I talked to the technology expert in the school. I find out that the school has three computer labs, two for language and one for math. They also have three portable labs for the teachers to use. The special education early childhood classroom is equipped with a computer for every two students. With the computer labs both the language and the math labs use programs that allow the children to work at their own level and pace. The programs will help a child learn skills in their weak areas as wells as pushing them in their strong areas. For the computer labs, students are taken out by level to work with computers. Higher readers go into the computer labs first. This school wants to have Promethean Boards in every classroom by next year.

I completed my midcourse evaluation and my informed consent form.