CAROLYN:  This worked out great, I’m so impressed, and where’s why I’m impressed.  I’m impressed that I’m taking risks with the computer that I’ve never been comfortable doing before.

ME:  like using applications that you don’t know anything about?  Or…?

CAROLYN: Yeah, all of that.  Everything.  Just going in, I went and got the lap tops this morning without anybody. I’ve never gone into the computer lab, or brought laptops to the classroom without another person here who knows computers better than I do.  Because I just felt like it would be a nightmare, and I wouldn’t get anywhere and I’d be frustrated, so just in knowing , because your films were so accessible, your training aids, because I went through it and had immediate success, I felt confidence, that I’ve never felt before.  So I thought if I can do nothing else, I can walk the kids through exactly what I did.  And they might not get um, as far as I did, but they’ll get somewhere, and we’ll stop and start from there and troubleshoot from there.  But I was surprised because I’d been in a classroom where students have had their laptops and there been other people sorta running the show, and I can’t figure out to , I have no idea where to start to help them.  This time I had a lot of ideas of where to start to help them, when they couldn’t get somewhere.  And I think its because I had to do everything.  I wasn’t relying on somebody and there was nobody to rely on.  And I did it, because you  made me do it.  So, I just had a kind of confidence that I’ve never had before  and I, I mean, I get goose bumps thinking about it because it is a breakthrough for me, and I know its important for them, so that is very cool!  And they’re actually going to come out with something where they’re going to know – they will have created it themselves, they’re going to know how to do it, and they are going to carry that through.  And I just think it’s a great program [Comic Life], its very cool, because it can be so widely applied.  And they learned how to drag and drop stuff, they learned so much, how to populate their own photos, how to save, how to locate the desktop, how to connect to the server, what that means.  Everyone of those things was new for them, because they hadn’t done any of this stuff.  Its always been done for them, or not done.

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Oh, how awesome is that?!?

I’m soooooooo excited that she was not only able to navigate the website to find the tools she needed, but that she was also able to navigate the internet to find the photos she needed in order to make the comic page above!  I’m so proud of her, and cannot wait to see her put this to use in her classroom!  To add to my joy – NOTHING IS DEFAULT on this page.  She messed with all the details!  I’m so proud!

You may be laughing at me, and my proudness (it’s a word, promise).  But I’m telling you, this is something big for my teacher!  Ms. Anti-tech, Ms. Quadruple-Triple-Click-to-open-something….big…..and. I. Am. Proud!

I see nothing wrong with being scared.  Deep down, I know that something terrible will not come from me posting about my progress, and in fact, shouldn’t I learn from this?  If I post, and you read, and we come to the determination that it is all crap, then you may comment.  Tell me it’s crap!  Then I learn, right?  Won’t make me feel any better, but at least I will be more knowledgeable.

So here goes……………………….

My final project is about TPD (tech professional development) with one tech-avoiding teacher.   I focus on three areas of her classroom in which technology can be incorporated (truly incorporated, a game-changer):  administratively, instructional use, & student use.

So, my idea is that (1) current technology training isn’t sufficient, and that (2) if trained successfully (taught how to use technology x, and why to use technology x) then even a teacher who regularly avoids technology can/will continue to use technology within the classroom successfully.  So, in this particular case, my teacher has failed in the past at tech integration because she is missing the basics.  Technology training hasn’t helped, PDs haven’t helped, and an ITT hasn’t helped, because no one has addressed her need for the basics.  (What’s a window?  What’s a browser?  Where do my files get saved?)

A IT spec could help her, but it would have to be instigated by the ITS.  How can a tech-newbie-teacher who wants to incorporate technology decide where she needs help?  How can she know what’s available?  She can’t.  So, with that all in mind, I determined that if I could put what she needs in one spot (www.klbuley.com), and if she devoted the time she would to preparing a new lesson, then she would/could learn to love teaching with technology.

So the site is up and running, and incomplete.  I’ve set up some basics, and laid out Section 1 (instructional use).  I still have to complete sections 2 and 3, as well as construct the write up for submission.  ANY feedback is appreaciated.

Sincerely——————————-

I have not had but a moment to look through the site, but the first thing that I noticed was Math games that the kids can play against others in their class!  How exciting, and how motivating for students.  I’m not sure how this will turn out this afternoon, but I’m hoping that I can figure it out before its time for these guys to go to the lab………….

until then -

I volunteered in my son’s class again today.  I hope to receive my official word of approval (from the school district, and the university) to go ahead and start my research.  Until then, I am just helping out.

Back to the point, today I came in and knew that the students would be working on their research projects, studying Alaskan animals.  They were to eventually write a riddle about their animal, to see if others could guess what their animals are based on the facts they found.

Sooooooo….I talked to the teacher about working with the students, individually, to get them to be able to express the facts they gathered in pictures.

I only had time to work with 5 students today, due to my own time constraints, two long recesses, and a long math series this morning.

Here are the five pages that the kids made today.  I’m really proud of them!  We went to the internet, searched for pictures, and I filed them on my desktop, and then showed them how to drag and drop into the poster, and they did the rest themselves!

I thought they did a great job with a program that they had never seen, working with a computer, which they don’t do (as a class) nearly often enough for normal stuff (like drag-and-drop) to be a skill that they have.

Since this was education related, I admit that I did not educate the students on how to select pictures that do not violate copyright laws.  I’m only showing the few we did here, and I probably will not post the rest of the class.

However, they will be on display in the hallway starting next week!!!!

I thought I’d share the first Comic Life poster I created in reference to last week’s post on my new purchase.

Here’s another one I made to make the kids happy.  They enjoy watching me do my homework, and wanted to see what I could do with their Halloween pictures.

Well, I sure enjoyed working on Comic Life, and found that its more fun that should be allowed with homework   I’d love to see classroom application examples from K-12 schools.  Anyone know where I can find some?

***********Added 2/11/10*************

I forgot to show you guys the one that I was actually working on for the class.  Everyone is supposed to create a poster based on somewhere they live, or work.

I’ve finished all my applications, and I’m just waiting to hear back from my committee that it has all been submitted.

I updated the desktop to Windows 7, and had to do a clean install.  Unfortunately, that means I had to back everything up, and then reload all my extra programs (like Office), which I forgot to do (the reloading, not the backing up).  So, although I now have a homegroup set up, I can’t open Office documents until I reload that onto the machine.   No worries, I’ll tackle that next week.  Currently, the computer is dismantled and sitting in my kitchen as we prepare to have new carpet installed tomorrow morning (yeah!).

I purchased an iPod Touch, and boy am I excited about it!!!!  It’s all I’ve been talking about on facebook (my poor friends).  There’s SOOOO MUCH POTENTIAL here for classroom use, especially at the KINDERGARTEN level!!!!!!  I am going to back off of the exclamation marks now, but seriously people, my daughter (5 yrs old) has learned 60 new site words in just a few days using the I Can Read app.  There’s a free version, which she exhausted within a day or two, and so I paid $1.99 for the full version, and she loves it.  Wish I knew where an online version of the app store is, so I could link it for you.  Anyway, she is soaking up so much from this little device, that she doesn’t get from a computer.  I think maybe there’s too much to do with a computer, and at her age it can be overwhelming.  I think Nelly works (yes, we’ve named it) because it fits easily into her hand, it’s interactive, and hard to mess up!

So, now what?  I’m looking for educational grants online that will give money to those with great ideas for classroom technology….I’m sure this idea isn’t original, but my daughter is adorable, and I figure if I let her be the spokesperson, we’d be a shoe-in!    Wishful thinking.

Regardless, I am just floored with its classroom capabilities, and hope to be able to see it come to fruition in a local classroom before I’m done with my project.

My daughter has been making, “eating,” and emailing cookies to her family members (mainly my sister, and mother, since they are saved in my contacts).

She wanted me to share this cookie she made with the Cookie Doodle app.

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And below are two pieces of “art” that I made using the Spin Art (free) app.  Really, it’s probably my best art ever!

Also, there is a flickr group you can join and post your Spin Art for all the world to see!  How exciting for our students (heck, its exciting for me!).

Well, guess that’s what I have to say for now.  Believe me, my iPod Touch posting will not end here, I’m sure I’ll be talking about it for months to come.

Another great app?  Words with Friends!  It’s a scrabble like game, and I think it would be great for maybe third graders.  The only downside is that the free version has advertisements on it, and they are not appropriate content.  So, you would either have to purchase full version (which is advert free), or maybe there is another education work around that I haven’t stumbled upon yet.

With that in reach, I’ve decided to focus some attention on gearing the kids up for starting their own blog.  I’m slowly teaching each of them (8 & 5) about internet safety, what you shouldn’t be clicking on, how to use search engines, etc, and I’ve recognized a few things.

(1) This would go much smoother if we had a project in mind.  Right now the kids aren’t 100% on board with the blog idea, so I think I will have to make it a whole family site.  I envision that if they can have their own sections, then they will feel some ownership over the project, making the learning process a little more intriguing for them.

(2) There’s only 24 hours in a day.  Well, between school, homework (theirs and mine), work-work, moving, family time, dinners and cleaning, there’s precious little time for real one-on-onen mini-tech lessons.  This planned activity for me cuts into their television time (ha) and my relaxing time, so we have to find ways to learn that satisfy all of us.

——So far, the only one getting to work on stuff is my 5 year old.  She goes to work with me until she has to be at school at 11.  So she has about two hours of time she can spend on my laptop while I am at work.  We’ve used this to help her master the mouse, and currently we are working on touch typing.  We’ve used some resources I saw recently on a blog I follow, and she’s doing okay.  Its not what we would call FUN, but for a few minutes each morning she can work on her home row keys, and eventually will get it.  I’ve put little sticker letters on her fingers, and that helps keep her from lifting her hand placement to see the key she’s touching.  The rest of her time is spent playing games, and navigating the Nick Jr website.

(3) Since my laptop is operating Windows 7 – I’ll have to upgrade my desktop soon so that I can really utilize the Homegroup capabilities, which should make life a little easier.

(4) I recently decided to spend a little more time to personally exploring iPod Touch capabilities in the classroom, which requires me to purchase one, and then see how the kids are with it, among other things….so that is something else I’ve added to the list for things to do.

——-Guess that’s enough whining for now.  I need to get to work   My Google Reader just told me that 50 new posts have been added since I started writing this post…..

I would say that I am tech-savvy (good thing, considering my career choice), and I have few reservations about looking up websites, following others on twitter, exercising my pln, and joining new networks on ning, BUT…..what if I wasn’t confident?  The whole idea with these types of networks is that members HELP each other, but what if I knew I had nothing to give (tech wise)?  I want to make sure that I leave this teacher with more than ideas of what she could be doing in her classroom.  I want to leave her CAPABLE of locating resources, confident in asking questions, and getting results ONLINE.

I am new enough to the networking arena that I do not mind committing a faux pas (if there are any), but how do I set this teacher up for success?  She isn’t ready for any gee-whiz applications, she just wants to know how to figure out why the SMARTBoard does one thing when she thinks it should be doing something else.  Where’s the basic info for those trying to build their confidence?  Shouldn’t there be a step-stool (of sorts) for her, so that once she’s confident, she can move up to the big table to learn about the gee-whiz stuff?

The best answer I came up with was to get her start small.  Join one group that you could go to and ask questions (if/when that time came), and follow the posts that come from the group to learn more, or to become encouraged to try new things….Is it really that simple?

I hopped on her computer, and whipped up a large ruler for her, and in the process found a ruler game for her to be able to use on the SMARTboard, however I think the timer is a little too quick for this early stage.

I’m come back and post the large ruler for you guys later.