Online Teacher Conference Sign Ups

I have always hated the back and forth paper passing it requires to sign up parents for teacher conferences. This year, I decided to try a new approach. I used a website called VolunterSpot. I looked at it and thought I would give it a try. I wanted to make sure I used a tool that would be easy to use and not obligate my student's parents to sign up with another website. I have to say that after I used this for my sign ups, I will definitely use it again. It was extremely easy to sign up, set up times, and send out to the class. There were even videos to use in case I needed help. When the link went live, my parents signed up with no questions! It went extremely smoothly. I sent out a survey after wards (surveymonkey.com) and 97% of my parents preferred this option over paper sign ups. They commented that it was very easy to use. My two comments are that one parent didn't get their reminder email until after the conference. Secondly, this online option doesn't give you a way to manipulate your schedule in case you need to spend more time with a particular parent. That is the only real negative I have. Overall, thirty minutes with each parent gives me the time I need to talk, but I can see how this might not work for some. I highly recommend this website if you would like this option for scheduling anything from teacher conferences to classroom volunteers.

www.volunteerspot.com

Report Cards and Conferences Are Here!

The trimester has come to an end and report cards are completed! Now it's time to give myself a grade on the start of fourth grade. I have to say that things are going pretty well! I give myself an A-. The minus comes from the unknown of the year; not knowing the trajectory of the year but that will be fixed next year. As for technology, I think we have done pretty well as a class! We have produced one Voicethread project, five writing assignments (three of them have been shared on our blog), many math days where we explored ipods, a research project using tech, conference sign ups online, a very successful Twitter exploration, and parents have commented on our student's work! I think my favorite technology success is the independence my students have gained using Twitter. Each day, one student is the iPad Twitter person. They are in charge of tweeting our learning and adventures. They are allowed to look at our followers (60+ other classrooms) and see what they are doing and they are allowed to comment (if approved by me). We probably average about five tweets a day from students. I didn't expect this success but the children are loving it. I know it sounds like small successes but with being in a new classroom and new grade this year, we are doing well! I am excited what the new trimester will bring for us.

Blogging

The world of blogging in my classroom has begun! We finally got the problems ironed out and the children posted their first blog post about the field trip to Old Salem. As I have talked about before, I often struggle with making sure technology doesn't interfere with the traditional teaching of the classroom. I made the children write a rough draft, get it edited, and then they were allowed to publish it to a blog. I feel this is a good compromise. They still had to go through the process of writing. I think I will make this a common practice. So my next question is about 4th graders typing their first drafts. Do you feel they should still be handwriting their work or is it okay to allow them to type their work? Some children prefer to type (as I do), but it is too early? Should they still be practicing their cursive? They do write in other areas such as spelling, homework, and math. Not sure what the answer is. I would be curious of your thoughts. We plan to post a couple more blogs in the coming weeks and then I'll send out a plea for comments. That will motivate the children!

Feeling the Stress of the School Year

My school year in in full force and I realized that I have posted on my blog in a few weeks. That is sad to me. I told myself I would try to keep this going weekly, but life has a way of slipping by you, especially when you are teaching! My class has molded itself into a great group. They are kind, funny, and excited about learning! They love technology and get excited when I give them options to use technology in their learning. We have gathered quite a group of followers and followees on Twitter. We are following 35 or more classrooms. We are playing geography games with a couple, which the children are enjoying! I have used Twitter to help us learn latitude and longitude in our lessons, by plotting our followers on Google Earth. It's all about keeping things authentic!

I have our iPad floating through the classroom each day to allow each child to post tweets. Each day the child changes and the child is our "researcher and tweeter" for the day. This works better than remembering to tweet as a class at the end of the day!

We are diving into the world of blogging. Of course, our blog is having some technical difficulties currently, so we are working with our tech guys to sort things out. I'm hopeful this will be a great place for publishing in the future! I'll blog more about that soon! More to come...

So Many Things To Choose From

Wikis, forums, Twitter, class website, Moodle, iPods, iPads, and the many websites and blogs...oh my! I'm just bombarded by how much information is out there! I am trying to figure out the best way to incorporate it all into my classroom activities! I have to say that it gives me as much excitement as it does anxiety! Where to start and which activities are the best ways to teach curriculum to children are my two continuing questions.

My latest idea is starting a class blog to use solely as a place to publish written work. I like the idea of sharing globally with other classrooms and receiving feedback from other people, especially since we are now following 17 different classrooms and that number goes up every day! There are so many things our children want to share! The blog idea is formulating in my mind. Our school has an internal blog network that can be shared with anyone, which seems like a safe route to take. I am always thinking about and considering the safety and privacy of our students. I'll keep you posted on this work in progress. I'm sure I'll be asking for comments for our students as soon as it takes off! For now, I'll stick to my tweets, OTHER blogs, and the many magical things happening on our SMARTboard everyday!

Voicethreads and Wikis

We finished our iPod project and I am in the process of final edits on the Voicethread. I sat to listen to the children's interviews and was blown away by their excitement, engagement, and entertainment. It was great to see the children show their personalities through their questions and delivery of the answers. I could tell how much the children enjoyed this project. So, my next adventure to discuss is another collaborative idea by my colleague, Chris. Here is my advertisement for his great idea and my support by passing it on.

Chris has started a wiki page for educators interested in tweeting on Twitter with their classrooms. He has made different areas where educators can contribute to different "hashtag" conversations. It also allows people to leave their Twitter names if they are interested in collaborating with other classrooms through Twitter or other means. It is a great idea. I am excited to see this take off. Feel free to share and contribute!

http://twitterclassrooms.wikispaces.com/

The Gift of the Clothespin

So, this post is dedicated to my colleague Chris, who came up with this brilliant idea that I stole (with his permission, of course). As I have been working with my fourth graders in the computer lab, my biggest frustration has been hearing the following words: "Mrs. Karol, I need help!" Don't get me wrong. I love helping the children with their computer needs, but it is overwhelming to hear 5 of them saying that phrase at the same time.

I was venting to my colleague about the iPod project and how it was going well except for the constant need of help. I admit I didn't schedule enough time in the lab for what I wanted the children to do. It all ended up working out fine, but I left feeling like I needed to pull my hair out! Chris told me that he felt the same way, especially when starting a new project. He told me he had thought about giving the children a clothespin or another object to put at the top of their screen as a signal that they needed help. Brilliant! I remember in college, when we were in our education classes, they taught us about little tricks like that and I thought they were great ideas, but never got around to using most of them. Now, this trick has been a life saver!!

We were in the computer lab, typing up our iPod interviews and I explained the system to the children. I told them the things they could work on while I was helping other children and I modeled how to use this new system. I have to say, it has changed the entire mood in the room! I can't tell you how excited I am to use this new concept every time we are in the lab! Hats off to Chris on this idea!

The iPods Come to Life!

So, I started the iPod projects today. There were some interesting moments. I have to say that overall, it went well. We recorded our interviews and uploaded them to each child's itunes account at school. I think my favorite part was listening to the boys create "interview voices" while they asked their partner their questions. It made me laugh, especially when they took on a different interview name! I was surprised to see how the children helped each other out with the technology steps and all the children met the goals (in a limited time) (issue number #1)!

The next step will be to take their interviews and turn them into a paragraph. This will be the tie to reviewing writing skills. I am excited to see how well the children do with their paragraphs. This will be a great way to evaluate their work using the 6+1 Traits rubrics. Remember, I'm a traditional girl, with a technology twist!

Then we will start the next technology part...Voicethread! Yay! This is where it gets fun!

Twitter in the Classroom

So, I have started Tweeting with my students this week. I used our closing circle time to reflect on things the class learned or are excited about. I am still trying to figure out the best way to use this time effectively. My hopes are that after a couple weeks, I can have a couple kids tweet on their own about what we are doing in class. I will be monitoring this, of course. So far we have 4 followers, including 3 teachers and 1 parent. I invited the parents, but am hoping to get a bigger following after Parent Night.

I am struggling with how public this account should be. I am still inspired by Will Richardson, who encourages teachers to be public on the internet, with their students, as a way to build their PLN. I am hearing his argument, but realize I am dealing with children that are still learning the ways around the internet. This is why I have chosen to do this project as a class. I am keeping a close eye on everyone that asks to follow us and am not using any children's names or pictures on our account. We are pretty secure, at this point.

I am excited to see how this evolves. With another teacher tweeting across the hall, it has been nice to bounce off ideas and concerns. My hope for this project is not only to communicate with parents, but to allow their children to see how we can share opinions and learning safely with others on the internet. The children are so excited every time they see me reach for the iPad to tweet their thoughts. It has definitely gotten them motivated to share their opinions. I am going to find a place for each of them to go to share their thoughts individually, but that is another project for the future! Happy Tweeting!

Traditional Education vs Technology Integration

This year, I have moved from second grade to fourth grade. Not that I didn't like second, but I am excited about the doors that have been opened for me now that I am teaching an older group of children. I already have some ideas that are churning in my mind as to what I will do with my class. The next question is what will be my limits and how much will my students be able to do?

I have always struggled with finding the balance between traditional expectations and the ability to incorporate technology in everyday assignments. When we think of elementary education, we think of teaching reading, writing, and math fundamentals. We need children to leave our early grades knowing the basics, so they can excel in learning more about things they are passionate about. I have always said that we don't teach children information, we teach them how to find the answers to their questions. Of course, technology fits right in with this idea, but we do need to find a balance of traditional ideals and incorporating 21st century learning. Fourth grade will allow me to dabble a little more in these new areas.

The first project I have on board will be a "Get to know you assignment". I am going to assign homework to create 15 interview questions (writing component). Then, they will pick 10 of their best questions and interview another classmate. They will use iPods to record the interview and use the information to write a paragraph about their partner. Then, I will upload pictures of each student into a Voicethread and the children will record their paragraphs on the picture of the student they interviewed! I will then make that into a Quicktime Movie and drop that into my Moodle course for my class to enjoy! I am waiting to see if this is too ambitious, but time will tell. I'm excited to see how they do. I'll let you know how it goes!

It's That Time of Year Again

Well, the meetings have started and we are officially back in the swing of things. We came back to the usually faculty meetings, where we announce the news of the summer, go over the summer reading articles and books, and find out all the fun that we will be embarking on this year. It is always bitter sweet getting up that first day for meetings, wishing we were still in bed and staying home with pets and family.

This year had a new feel for me. We came to school to see all the new SMARTboards hanging in the classrooms and I was excited to feel the energy. As a member the faculty that had a board last year, it was fun to teach tech to my colleagues and get them excited for the moment they had their own boards in place. I felt honored and excited to be taking on a role as a facilitator and teacher among my peers. I'm sure this year will be full of fun and also a million questions from friends who need help with their new technology! :)

We also had the privilege of hearing Will Richardson speak to the school about technology usage in the 21st century classroom. Of course, compared to some of my colleagues, I was sitting at the edge of my seat, ready to hear what he had to say. His talk was full of many facts and figures, to which I found myself nodding my head in agreement. It wasn't what he said to me that stuck with me, but the way the conference was held. He encouraged laptop usage as well as using Todaysmeet.com to facilitate our own discussion while he was talking. It was amazing how some of us could multitask and hold our own discussion, while listening to Will speak. He talked about Twitter, Delicious, Evernote, and many other 2.0 apps that I have experimented with. The one that I hadn't done much of is blogging. So here I am, blogging about my new found excitement. I guess that was the point of the lecture and Will did his job. We'll see where this takes me.

Happy school year and happy blogging.