Hello all! I am Ashley Scott, a fourth grade teacher in Troy, PA where I teach Science and Social Studies to three groups. I also teach writing to my homeroom and have tutoring or seminar groups at various levels for math and reading throughout the year. This will be my second year as a full time teacher. I am taking my first two graduate classes this summer, EDIM 516 and EDIM 508, in hopes of increasing my awareness and abilities to incorporate digital media into my classroom.
Throughout my first year of teaching I felt like I was scrambling to find enough teaching resources to cover the necessary content. For science, I was given a PSSA prep book and outdated mapping of curriculum as my guidelines. Throughout the first weeks of school, we used the PSSA prep book as a guide and then I was introduced to Discovery Education (DE). I used pieces from DE while I continued my hunt for other resources. I found that other grade levels in the district were given a science curriculum. So, I researched and found the means to get a "sample" of the fourth grade leveled curriculum. I linked the curriculum with the Pennsylvania State science standards for fourth grade and began mapping out the rest of the school year using the materials provided and DE. Occasionally, youtube or various other sites were used, but the curriculum I was sampling not only provided an online text, but also online videos and activities for each lesson and unit. Social Studies is a little different, a new curriculum had just been purchased at the end of the previous school year. We had teacher manuals, books for students and supplemental resources from local agencies as we cover Pennsylvania history. Once again, DE provided wonderful songs, videos and other resources that we were able to incorporate into our classes.
For all of my classes, when I need more to enhance a lesson I first check with any colleagues also teaching the same curriculum or who have taught it before, as well as any colleagues teaching the same subject in various grade levels. Second, I go to Discovery Education (DE) and search for anything relating to the topic at hand in the appropriate grade level. Third, I search youtube. I don't have specific channels that I follow or have found, I just do a topic search and scan for anything credible. Lastly, it's a search on the web through either google or bing in hopes of finding something worthy to incorporate into my lessons.
As I attempt and try various methods to incorporate new ideas or findings the constant challenge is having something for everyone. Whether it be a text/book for students to read in front themselves or a computer/iPad so they can explore or follow along with what I am doing through the main computer and smart board. We are fortunate enough to have smart boards, computers, laptops and iPads, however the number of students in our building and grade level far exceed the amount of devices available. The second major challenge I find due to the number of devices is keeping the students engaged through the smart board and main computer.
My goal and hope through the courses I am taking this summer is to have a stronger understanding of how to reach my students using the resources available and to have a wider array of resources to tap into when in need.
Hi, Ashley--it is a pleasure to read your post as it resonates so closely with my own experiences in trying to incorporate technology into the classroom, namely the lack of enough devices for every student. Our school recently switched their technology initiative from one-to-one laptops to BYOD due to a lack of funding. While many students are able to bring their iPhones and iPads into the classroom, often these do not translate into the English curriculum--especially in terms of writing and composition. There is a constant struggle to balance the needs of all of the students with the amount of technology that we have available to us. I wonder if you have come up with any strategies or solutions to solve this problem, or at least alleviate it? Or perhaps you have some ideas that you are interested in seeing how they play out throughout the course of this class? Let me know! I would be interested to hear your take on this!
ReplyDeleteHi, Ashley
ReplyDeleteI also have trouble finding enough devices to use with my students. My district adopted a BYOD policy. However, most second graders do not have a usable device or a device that does what I need it to. Like Erin, I would be interested to know if you find a better solution to this problem.
-Kirsta
Erin and Krista,
ReplyDeleteThat is an interesting concept that both of your districts adopted with the BYOD policy. I am curious what the socioeconomic makeup is for your schools? While for some, the BYOD policy would be great but with approximately 45% of our population in our school being on free or reduced lunches, I don't know that that would be feasible or realistic for our district to consider. Unless, the devices currently still there could be rented or used by students without.
I just completed my first year as a full-time teacher, however one great thing about our technology department is they have found the means to purchase another iPad cart for our building, which means 4th grade will actually have the opportunity to have their own cart. Negative of that being that there are 5 4th grade classrooms and we each have (only) 4 computers in our classrooms. I did do a few group projects where students had to share the iPads which for some worked great, it kept them focused and on task, but for those not used to having to share technology, it was a nightmare.
I certainly don't have answers and hadn't thought out possible solutions yet. However, maybe this would be a good project/task to continue to look into throughout the course? Hopefully by the end we will have solutions to help alleviate this stress!
My school has also permitted students to bring in their own devices this year. I was one of the pilot teachers and we used them primarily in our video editing classes. It was much easier for the students to shoot and edit their work on their own phones or ipads because they have access to them all of the time and it allows them to become more creative. The challenge was that our policy was only to allow devices that measured 7 inches or larger. This was done to prevent devices that would operate on their own network. I understand that the students have ipads that would also be on their own cell network but the policy remained. Some students only had a phone. Do what do you do? Let the kids use their phone and bend the policy or not permit them to use such a great tool to do the work and have them use antiquated computers?
ReplyDeleteI find it so smart of districts to enable to BYOD policy but I can also see how it would be problematic for their current policies that deal with using devices throughout the school day. I think if it is something that is going to be used during the lesson or class time then they should be permitted, however if not being used, they would need to be put away. I'm sure they would run into a lot of gray areas there as well.
DeleteI'll be interested to see how districts tackle this in the future!
Ashley,
ReplyDeleteI can certainly empathize with developing curriculum as a teacher that is new to a district. When I started at my current school, I had no curriculum for my Geography course. I followed the outline the previous teacher used, but I quickly found many topics were already covered in Science class. This took quite a bit of feeling my way through the curriculum and planning over this past summer to really get things to a level where I'd like to be. I also have similar struggles with limited amounts of technology. It takes a great deal of planning to sign up for the various pieces of technology ahead of time. We attempted bring your own device this past year, but found that our junior high students struggled with the responsibility of using their cell phones appropriately and at the appropriate times so we will not have this policy to use next year. This is highly unfortunate because I used this in a number of ways. Have you tried using class dojo? Even my ninth grade students liked customizing their avatars and it worked with classroom management as well.
I have not heard of class dojo? What is this?
DeleteI'm sure it will take me yet another year (or two) if I am fortunate to stay in the same position to acclimate to the changing curriculum and feeling like it is adequate and where I would like for it to be. Good to know that I'm not alone in this endeavor!
I also am so intrigued by so many districts using the BYOD yet finding so many problems with using it is a downside. I will be interested to see if my district leans this way in the future!
You really incorporate many strategies and media forms into your daily lessons. I'm sure the students find this variety engaging as they are able to interact with the lessons. For some students, school is the only time they will ever be able to use some of these devices.
ReplyDeleteI have 3, 6, and 11 year old kiddos and each one of them is fascinated with technology. My 3 year old can work a computer, ipad, smartphone like a pro. I have found so many educational activities and games for him and my girls as well. It certainly makes learning fun and it is something they actually want to do.
Ashley,
ReplyDeleteThe challenges of a first year teacher are very similar to a veteran teacher's. Thanks for including your use of DE as resource. I neglected to include this in my post, but it is one of my most favorite resources. I use video segments, and animations in every unit, and almost every lesson. I like to use the video segments to front load a difficult topic, and also as a review at the end of a topic/lesson. This year I set up accounts for each of my students so that they could access the assignments that I set up in DE at home. This may help with the lack of devices; try a little flipping. If you don't want to set up individual accounts, you can create the assignments and assign them by a code provided at the end of the assignment creation process. The students simply go to a website and enter the code, and up pops the assignment. Have you ever used the Assignment Builder and Board Builder features? They may be very helpful to you.