Hello Blog Readers!
I've just returned from visit #3 to David's classroom at Kensington Woods charter school, and this time I focused on David's use of a class web-site http://www.couplands.net/ to provide info to students (and parents). I questioned students about their use of the website and most students said that they used it to check their grades (and for missing assignments) or for finding assignments. Some said that their parents use the website as well. David said that he updates the website almost daily for assignments and usually weekly to transfer reports from Zangle that show grades and assignment completion. He told me that the web-site offers him the ability to save time in class by "always having the same answer" for student that need assignments or want an update on their grades. Unfortunately, there is a task in transferring from Zangle to the website because student names need to be removed from the reports. I would encourage you to take a look at his web-site. He has set it up with a syllabus for each class, assignments, grades and a link for the Robotic Club that he sponsors. He also includes a nice link to his Appalachian Trail hike, which I thought was a nice personal connection.
The Robotics site actually was pretty amusing, showing some animated "games" created by students. To me this was a good example of ways to engage those otherwise perhaps "disengaged" students that are the creators or technology for this generation - they made cool stuff without attending Jeff & Liz's wonderful Tech Workshops!
As a parent, I use the website that my son's teachers have set up and find it very useful. My husband probably checks it nightly to see if Ben has accurately recorded his homework in his planner. We can also use it to see what activities he has done during the day (great dinnertime converation starter when you kids say "I don't remember what we did today"...). Ben is in 6th grade and one of the teachers updates the site daily for the whole 6th grade staff. Check it out at http://benjaminlaframboise.blogspot.com/
In response to Jeff's questions from my last blog post, I do feel that some of the technology I've seen at Kensington Woods enhances learning. I also think that each teacher will have their own style and what works for one teacher might not work for another. I think a Web-site will be part of my teaching practice. I like David's use of the CPS "clickers" for homework correction - but I think that the usefulness in Math is probably better than it would be in Chemistry. I would really need to weight the prep time needed for setting up the CPS vs. the learning goals that students will get out of it. From the little I saw of the SmartBoard, I would really like to try using one and see a direct application in Chemistry. It would be like using a blackboard that is capable of saving the written solutions and merging it with a datashow projector.
I will also add at this point that "old fashioned" technology items (blackboard & chalk, overhead projector) seem like the most straighforward and useful teaching tools that I have witnesses so far in my observations. David uses the overhead projector daily in his lessons to work out problems for students and likewise, my mentor Mr. Morgan uses the chalkboard almost exclusively. These 2 teaching tools allow the student to see how you solve a problem and take note is "real time". I sure that I will use them along with other more "technology based" tools in my teaching practice.
Maybe a mix of old & new will work for me!
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2 comments:
Hi Lynne!
I liked reading your post about how your field internship is going! It sounds like the teacher you're visiting is making good use of the technology he has available. I think that these websites can be really useful to both parents and students, and somewhat lifts the make-up assignment burden from teachers' shoulders, since assignments can be made accessible online.
However, that makes me wonder if David feels his constant website and grade updating is a hassle. I feel like when grades and assignments are expected to be posted online daily, parents and students lose patience with teachers who may not have the time to put every single grade in the gradebook immediately after having received the assignment. I've noticed that a lot of my students are constantly asking my mentor teacher to print off their grades because they know that they're readily available, and they get frustrated when she doesn't have everything entered because she just has not had time to grade since they turned in homework the day before. Has David mentioned anything about this matter to you?
It's good that you're seeing some possibilities so that you can make better informed choices, Lynne. I get the clear sense that you've taken advantage of your time at Kensington by asking a lot of questions, both of Dave and his students, and I commend you for that. It was nice to see how he used the class websites--I happened to stumble across a writing/thinking activity connected to global warming on his Phy Sci page...very inspired.
Keep on exploring the question of where/if the use of tech tools can enrich the learning and teaching experience, and don't forget that student teaching is a great time to experiment...a built in "net" and feedback, too
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