Digital Technology in the Field

http://bit.ly/1hTt9U0

 Frustrations 

       As I start this post, I can't help think about the negative side of technology. Since I was unable to set up a time to speak with the teacher I interviewed, I had to do it over e-mail. This led to having to wait for a response, while I stressed over the idea of sending or not sending gentle reminders. As I waited for my interview questions to be answered, I looked over the other posts done by my fellow classmates. I am now sympathizing with one specific teacher who had her internet connection end during the middle of her lesson. As I type, my internet connection keeps failing. I'm not sure why, since this has never happened so continuously before, but I'm hoping this has nothing to do with the fact that I'm moving next weekend (and my roommate pays our Comcast bill)...

 Confidentiality 

   I am a stickler about personal information out on the internet. I purposely chose not to use my name or a personal picture for my profile. I also have never posted my school's name when speaking about personal experiences. This has all been intentional. I feel like I can still express my thoughts/views without sharing specific places or people. Therefore, for this post, I will intentionally not be stating the school's name. I will also be calling the teacher I interviewed Ms. L. I hope this doesn't create any confusion. 

http://bit.ly/1o0yzkY

 Background 

      I observed Ms. L in early May 2014. She is the Media Specialist at the school I currently teach at. When working with the fourth grade this year, her job has been to teach digital citizenship, typing, and to collaborate with the three, fourth grade classroom teachers on how to visually present their current animal research project. I chose to interview Ms. L instead of another classroom teacher because I feel the collaborative aspect of her job is important to the overall growth of my students as they learn about the digital world, and I wanted to experience first hand how she interacts with them. When asking Ms. L about how she would describe her job this year, she stated, 

"I feel my role is to incorporate/collaborate with classroom teachers 

to make the media class an extension of the classroom. 

This is an opportunity for students to experience and complete 

digital activities that cannot be completed in the classroom 

due to equipment/time/tech skills limitations. 

I also believe that media class is where basic technology skills,

 such as typing, mouse use, and digital citizenship,

 need to be taught explicitly."      

 Pre-Observation Thoughts

     When I first thought about observing and interviewing Ms. L, the students were working on their animal research project. In the classroom they were using Kidspiration to input their notes and turn their outline into a research paper. In Media class, the students were making a visual representation of their animal project. Ms. L and I had spoke previously of having the students try to create a Voki to share their information or maybe making a short movie in iMovie. Due to the server difficulties and old technology, getting 15+ students to create a video on iMovie was too cumbersome and the students had already had a chance to use the Voki as a way to share information. Ms. L then suggested a comic strip. It was an easier way to share their animal information and she thought the kids would enjoy it. 

   As I learned a great deal about how I would change the research project next year, Ms. L also came to some conclusions after using Comic Life.

Comic Life <- Link

"In a sense these are scaled-down digital storytelling projects. This project provided an opportunity to discuss: image citing, image searching, Comic Life, visual appeal of a digital project, synthesizing/restating notes into appealing and short comments for a comic book, simple photo editing, etc. If I were to do this project again, I would make some changes and structure it a little more to ensure speedy completion. For example, I would locate and create a folder of pictures that many of the kids could use to limit their time spent searching for images." 

Observation

       By the time I was able to observe Ms. L, the students had finished their Comic Life project. During the time I observed, Ms. L had the students go back to working with the program Voki. Voki allows the digital user to manipulate a picture of a person or animal and provide text that can then be read by the person or animal the student created. An example of one student's Voki is below. 

The students felt very comfortable accessing this program. Even the students who usually need more step-by-step directions in the classroom, were able to access this program with ease. This was mostly due to the fact that Ms. L has one main blog that the students access and each weekly lesson plan could be found on the blog under the grade four tab. 

          This assignment was given in correlation to Stuart Little, the all school read. Ms. L assigned each grade a specific project to go along with the story. Here the students had to create a Voki that resembled them and had to tell (with two or more sentences) what they predict would have happen after Stuart drove off. As students were working on their project, Ms. L circled the room checking in with students and redirecting them as needed. She also used her Smart Board at the front of the room when she had a student question that she thought would be beneficial for the whole class to hear. She encouraged the students to play back what they wrote to make sure it sounded right. I specifically heard her working with one student who said she was done. Ms. L encouraged the student to play back what she wrote and the student then realized that something must have been spelled wrong because one of her words didn't sound right. I thought that, that was a nice way to have the students use auditory means  to check their spelling. Overall I noticed that students seemed at ease using the technology and were very comfortable asking for help when an issue arose. I also notice that Ms. L did a wonderful job circling the tight space and addressing individual and group concerns. 

     

 Field Experience Thoughts 

http://bit.ly/1gSvQVF

      I feel this field experience was very beneficial for me. It allowed me to see how the media teacher interacts with my students and connects current topics being discussed in class and school wide. In a previous post I discussed my thoughts on a Edutopic article and how the purpose of technology is to enhance the learning ("Successful technology", 2007). I feel that both the Comic Life project and the student's current Voki project allowed the students to be creative while still getting the learning objective across. I also enjoyed speaking with Ms. L about her experiences with technology and share many of the same views as her about technology integration. 

"I think integration is a must. 

Our students need to be able to 

comfortably and proficiently 

utilize the technology they will be 

using in future grades 

and 

the workforce. 

This means students should be 

regularly exposed 

to technology 

both through academic/practical projects,

 as well as, for fun. 

Regular practice will result 

in at least the students 

being comfortable with the technology

 if not proficient 

in its use."  

 Future of Technology 

When I think to the future of technology and how it is integrated into schools, I think of:

• Some form of digital citizenship being taught at all levels 

• Digital exploration: Students having the opportunity to explore and "figure" things out on their own in safe, collaborative setting with their peers. (I enjoyed the video on third world countries and technology and how it showed that student CAN learn on their own without direct instruction)

• Technology professional development for teachers to stay current with the times and accessing learning on a platform that their students enjoy and are familiar with. 

 Resources 

What is successful technology integration?. (2007, November). Edutopia. Retrieved April 20, 2014, from http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-guide-description.

*All other resources mentioned or linked within the blog post. 

**If you would like additional information on my teacher interview or the other questions I asked Ms. L, please just ask.