Cultivating Minds Without Losing My Own

Join me on my Adventures in Elementary Education

How Awesome is Technology?!

October18

As I sit in the middle of no where watching my husband play softball, I remember I forgot to create an edmodo assignment for my class tomorrow. I know we will be out here pretty late and when we get home I will need to focus on getting kids ready for bed and packing lunches for tomorrow. By the time all of that is done, I will be one tired puppy and any hopes of remembering to post an assignment would not be promising. What’s a tech-loving teacher to do? Download the edmodo app and post from my phone if course! It is truly amazing how far we have come technologically speaking. In fact after downloading the app, creating and posting the assignment, I am now blogging from my phone as I shiver and cheer the grey team on!
One of the essays I read for my graduate class last week mentioned that this generation of students we are teaching has never NOT had Internet, wireless access, cell phones, or social media. It’s not a matter of teaching them how to use it but rather how to responsibly and respectfully contribute to the world wide canvas that is the Internet. In the same essay the author, Stephen Wilmarth, further explains that our students are no longer consumers alone. They are creators and contributors daily. If they update a status, tweet, blog, or upload they are contributing in ways that we never dreamed possible! I’m still amazed everyday when I post that people are actually reading what I write! And not only people I know, am related to, or work with either! Complete strangers from all over the world are reading my ramblings. It is an amazing feeling! I have more followers and friends online than I have ever had in real life!
This amazing sense of “no boundaries” means we need to be even more mindful of how we present ourselves on line. Digital citizenship is becoming a mandatory element in our curriculum. We must model it as well as provide written guidelines. Our students need to see teachers and parents using technology for all the good it can provide. They must also understand the consequences that are in place if it is used disrespectfully. Remember once the post/share/tweet/upload button is hit it is out there for the world to see and extremely difficult to completely erase. That being said, create on my friends! I love reading what you’re all up to!

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Assessment Two Ways

October3

OK, my secret it out…..I have been watching WAY too many episodes of Chopped on the Food Network when I start naming my academic posts the way chefs name their main courses!  We wrapped up topic 2 in our math series today.  While my students love taking their assessments on our Pearson Success Net website (though not nearly as much as I love them taking them on the web especially since it grades them for me 🙂 ) I really felt they needed to SHOW me they learned something this time too.  Hence a dish I like to call Assessment 2 Ways. 

Students took turns using our classroom computers to take the traditional math test with a technological twist recording answers on the web.  Other then the obvious benefits such as less wasted paper and the option to have parts of the test read aloud to students who struggle with reading, it also has a huge benefit for me the grading-challenged teacher!  Students get immediate feedback upon completion of the test.  Not only do they get their score, but they also learn which topic areas they did well in and which areas they need to revisit.  Students who do not do well on the initial test will have the opportunity to study those areas, revisit the on line lesson videos, and retake the test on Friday.

Creating Pattern Word Problems

The second, more performance-based, assessment they took today involved creating a word problem that can be solved using a pattern.  Once the problem was written they included a partially completed table and illustrated the problem.  All of our original word problems are displayed in our hallway with post it notes to encourage other 3rd, 4th, and 5th  grade students to solve them.  Students (and teachers) can take a stab at solving the problems on the post it and leave their best guess stuck to the paper.

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