Edustange

1. Positive digital footprints, 2. Communicating with digital tools, 3. Transparency for parents and family, 4. New ways of thinking about Web tools, and 5. Effective digital citizenship” (Posted by Jenny Luca on Aug 26, 2011 in Creating Global Classrooms)

I sent a note home this week introducing my parents to blogging and eportfolios in my grade four classroom. A few families have put restrictions on internet publishing. I will have to exclude them from our Posterous site and the wikispace eportfolio project. I will have to adapt their learning to private digital formats like a Word Document or PowerPoint.

Why not simply do Word and PowerPoint with all of them? I briefly asked myself. I think Jenny Luca explains why very well. My students need to learn how to create positive digital footprints as they practice digital citizenship. I don’t think Word or PowerPoint represent authentic learning experiences for that. Transparency for parents and family is also critical in public education at this point. We need to effectively publish student learning and we need to empower students as publishers. When teachers publish student work, teachers reflect on student learning. When students publish their own work, students reflect on their own learning.

My students are young, and the Saskatchewan is remiss in addressing Jenny Luca’s outcomes in its curriculum, but they need to be addressed. I’ll try and meet with those parents in my classroom who are reluctant to allow their children to publish on the internet. Perhaps I can talk them around.

I’m a little sorry so much of our communication has shifted from desktops and laptops to smart phones… or simply phones since they are pretty much all pocket computers now. It probably is good advice to simplify the message. I still enjoy the odd flash on my pages. I added this one to my portfolio resource page. It could be a great way for students to explain their learning. I was not sure the embed would work so here is another link to the animation.

Yesterday I decided to give up on my small netbook. The XP operating system, or perhaps Dos seems to be corrupted in some way. I played around with the system, all the while feeling I had been warped back tothe pre-Windows world. My efforts failed. This has become the all too familiar dilemma of replacement or repair. With technological obsolescence and depreciation weighing heavily on the one side. I’ve turned to available resources in the mean time.

I have an HP laptop that has become the family computer. In this time of downsizing it feels heavy to pack around now. I also have my Blackberry Torch. With the netbook sidelined indefinitely I’ll have to rely on the laptop and the smart phone is going to have to up its game.

I am exploring just what RIM has built into the Torch. There are limitations to be sure. Blackberry does not open and edit Google Docs and Tweetdeck is lost. It can handle part of my workflow. I can accesss my school’s attendance program. I can also administer this blog. This is my immediate tech focus. It will be interesting to see how the changed technology changes my communication and work flow.

It takes time so live in the now when you have to. My intern is teaching a lesson while her university advisor is observing her. I’m sure it is well planned and well documented. She is that sort of teacher. Before that my hour and fifteen minutes was one long improvisation. It began well with a review of how we will use the library later this morning. I then shifted into a quick organizational moment. I was simply returning some papers to the students before moving into the morning’s topic. This was to be a five minute eactivity. No such luck. A student reminded me that we were finished the unit and that I had said we would shift old material into binders. That process took over half an hour. largely because we had a fire drill in the middle of the process. All I was left with was fifteen minutes. Sometimes the plans need to be disgarded and there is no point in stressing about it.

On Thursday my fourth grade class is going on a 5 Kilometre walk south of town. The Trans Canada Trail runs along the south slope of the Wakamow Valley where the Moose Jaw River cuts its way through the Saskatchewan prairie. Along the short hike we can get a sense of  Southern Saskatchewan’s varied habitat: short grass prairie, parkland, rivers and ponds. It is a handy ecosystem close to home. I guess if you think about it, we can all find a handy habitat near our homes. The students are excited, I am less so.

I was very excited about the idea as I road my bike through the area this summer. The reason I am not excited now is because I don’t feel ready. It has been a busy three weeks. My days are consumed with daily preparation and learning with the students. My elaborate plans for the hike have not transpired. Okay, the stakes along the trail with QR Codes linking personal devices was overly ambitious, but I had more modest plans too. Yesterday Olivia Holman (my intern) and I put together four activities for the hike. I’m not sure the students are ready for them. Perhaps that is not important.

I need to remind myself that they can experience the hike without elaborate preparation. They can bring their experiences back for reflection in the classroom. Its silly. I begin many math lessons with an exploration before we focus on the concepts and practice the outcomes. Why would I not apply that to my student’s study of habitats?

I finished up my first week of classes in the fourth grade room. First weeks often feel long and tire me out. This one did not feel long, but it did tire me out. Last night I flaked out on the couch. My priority was establishing a sustainable work flow with the class. It varies from year to year as I try new things and respond to the differentiated character or unique needs of this year’s group. There are echoes, but the groups are never the same. I am stressing whether I am building an effective, inquiry based, differentiated, connected studio classroom design. That sentence is a mouthful but it encompasses my goals.

In the quiet classroom, after my fourth graders bubbled out for the long weekend, my pre-service partner Olivia Holman and I exchanged our assessment of the first five days. We especially focussed on the students needing adaptations in the classroom. I pulled out the binder where I keep records of adaptations from last year. The truth is we missed some needed adaptations, though in fairness we identified some needed adaptations not yet documented.

I have twenty-three students at the moment. One has a personal program plan. There are a further seven students with written records of adaptation. I adapt for students all the time. Everyone deserves adaptations for learning. We are increasingly expected to document them. I guess that is the times. My intern remarked one student probably needed a fidget toy, that in fact she had need one. I realized I did too. In fact I still need them.

In public school the only one I was allowed was my pen. It became many things in my imagination. As I grew older the space ships and secret agent laser pens vanished and the creativity found its way on the page. I doodle. I doodled for decades through conventions, staff meetings, and professional development. When the personal devices came along I traded my pen for a Palm Pilot. Then I went to meetings with a lap top. At this point I have a Smart Phone. People say its always on it. Talking with Olivia it suddenly became obvious to me, its my newest fidget toy.

We spent half an hour yesterday morning running a role play with our students on differentiation and why being fair to people does not mean everyone gets the same thing. We pretended to be doctors then asked each student to pretend they had an illness. For each one we responded with the same prescription, “Take two Tylenol and call me in the morning.” The young people got the point at that moment. Today I distributed two swivel chairs to young people who needed them. Inevitably others asked for their own chair. I wish I could supply a chair to everyone; at least to give them a chance to decide for themselves. Most would like them, but some wouldn’t. We all need our own unique adaptations and the a classroom should accommodate them all.

I was worried that when I lost my tables I would be off track; back to quiet disconnected uniformity in a teacher-centred classroom. I feel a little better tonight.