Optional Five Star Course

One of the Five Star courses I decided to take to help kickstart my transition to a "tech-ier" teaching world involved a portion on the role of blogging for educators.  I have a teacher friend who blogs regularly.  I very much enjoy spending hours looking at the blogs of other kindergarten teachers, gaining many new ideas for my own classroom.  One of the articles I read for the class was "Why Teachers Should Blog," by Shelly Blake-Plock.  It was a great read, and hit the nail on the head why it's so difficult for me to blog.  At times, it's difficult for me to put my thoughts and opinions down on paper, or in this case, the Internet for the whole world to see and comment on.  In addition, the author makes the fabulous point that "to blog is to teach yourself what you think."  This is powerful stuff! When you blog, it forces you to take ownership of your thoughts and feelings.  I love the reflection aspect of blogging.  It is my goal to use it more effectively as the year progresses and refer to my blog in upcoming years as a tool to determine what worked and what didn't in my classroom.

I also feel that blogging is a terrific tool to be used for collaboration with other teachers.  I know have access to thought-provoking, educational, meaningful activities going on in other states that I would never have had access to in the past.  With the decrease in funding for professional development, the opportunity to read the thoughts and ideas of other educators has been a true blessing!  In conclusion, my goal is to make a smooth transition from "reader of blogs" to "contributor to blogs" by the beginning of our next school year!

Introduction to Blended and Online Teaching: Post #3

For this portion of my assignment, I was asked to write a response to Dan Pink's YouTube video: The Puzzle of Motivation.  In this video, he is adamant that business does not listen to what science knows.  Research has shown that providing incentives and punishment for good/bad work results in less productivity.  More freedom in the business world has resulted in greater productivity and worker satisfaction.  He states that the three biggest principles include: autonomy, mastery, and purpose.  

Although his video particularly targeted the business world, this could easily be applied to education. When he talks about the "candle experiment,"  he relays the information that giving monetary incentives diminishes the creativity that flows when individuals are not put on on a time restraint, pitting them against others.   In the experiment, the group that was given no incentives solved the problem faster than the incentive group.  I feel that this could become a problem in education.  When schools are told that they can only reward a certain percentage of the most highly effective teachers, teachers are less likely to collaborate and share resources - and the students suffer.  

We should focus on purposeful planning.  With each activity, we should ask, "What is my purpose in teaching my lesson?  How will my students show mastery?  Is this meaningful for them?".  Teacher autonomy is important.  Textbooks can be utilized as a tool for the teacher's toolbox, but should not be the only method from which they gather lessons.  The world has too many creative educators and terrific resources for boring instruction!  

Introduction to Blending and Online Teaching: Post #2

In my Five Star course, we are have starting researching the SAMR and TIM models for using technology in education.  I have been asked to answer a few questions after researching and viewing videos on the TIM model.

1. Where would you rate yourself in each area?

I use many activities throughout the week on the entry level in language arts.  I frequently use Starfall and Reading Eggs to build literacy skills in my kindergarten classroom.  I recently completed a project in the transformation level, by allowing my kindergarten class to create a list of rules they felt to be important for Halloween safety.  They used PowerPoint to write the rules and attached clipart to make it visibly appealing, and then they acted out the scenes to show the importance of following each rule.  It is my goal to do more activities at this level, as the students  were more excited and learned a great deal about collaborating with one another during this time in addition to reinforcing other skills.  

2. Where do you think you could reasonably be at the end of the next grading period?

It is my goal to be mostly at the adaptation level by the end of next quarter, using the technology as a tool for greater learning.  I would like my students to create an alphabet chart, complete with clipart for each letter and words we know.  It would be a terrific resource for our classroom.  

3. What steps will you need to take in order to make the growth happen?

In order for this growth to occur, I will need to continue teaching my students proper use of the technology in our classroom.  We will need to continue to learn more about the device, so that it truly becomes a tool, and not a novelty in the classroom.  I want the focus of the lessons to be about the content, not about the iPad the student holds in his/her hand.  We will also need to continue to work with the word processor in the computer lab, to ensure students are comfortable using it and know how to locate and place clipart into a document.

Introduction to Online and Blending Teaching: Post #1

My school recently offered all teachers in my district the opportunity to take courses through Five Star at no cost to us, so of course I jumped at the opportunity!  One of the requirements for the course involves answering questions via our blog.  Here is the first question.

How could you adapt or change one of your current class/course policies to reflect a moving mindset? Is this a change you are willing to make? Why or Why not?
As I have stated in a previous post, I recently received a grant through the Scott County Community Foundation for 6 iPad minis, headphones, an Apple TV, and an speaker for my classroom.  I have already started to change some of my class policies to reflect a moving mindset  I love the opinion from the Will Richardson, stating that education needs to be taught differently, and we shouldn't always try to be "better."  In some cases, different is better, but it all starts with a shift in thinking.

I wholeheartedly agree that we, as educators, need to understand that students have access to an infinite amount of information within a matter of seconds through the use of the Internet.  In my own classroom, we have utilized bundles through My Big Campus, BrainPop Jr. videos, and other websites to research. I also use an app called Doodlebuddy frequently to replace paper/pencil activities.  When applicable, I make an conscious effort to decrease the amount of paper utilized, instead replacing it with a meaningful technology piece, such as the examples listed above.  The students are more engaged, which in turn results in more learning taking place in the classroom.  It is my hope for all the kindergarten classrooms in our district to become one to one with iPad minis.  We teach a generation of digital natives, and it is important that we teach the children how they best learn.

Wowsers!  I am slacking!!!  We have been SO busy in K that I haven't had time to breathe, let along blog!  I must get better!  Anyhow, one of the reasons I haven't had time to blog is that this wonderful, amazing, box was delivered to my classroom and it was filled with...

6 glorious iPads!

A big portion of my time has been spent looking for apps.  Not time-filler apps, but the meat and potatoes kind!  So far I have KidBlog, Reading Eggs, DoodleBuddy, and PicCollage.  We are taking things VERY slowly!  I am ever so grateful to the Scott County Community Foundation for the grant I received that allowed me to provide these for my kinderkids.

So far, we have used our iPads for name practice, number practice with one to one correspondence, a collage of Mm's and pictures that begin with Mm, and Reading Eggs.  Each child now has a log-in for KidBlog, but we haven't tackled that big project yet.  It's a goal for next week!  

Morning Meeting board - after PLUS hallway display

I spent some serious time working on my classroom this week!  I used the Rock Star Glam packet from Amanda Hagaman to decorate.  I LOVE it.  For the outside of my classroom, I scored 12 x 12 scrapbooks sheets for 50% off at Hobby Lobby.  Then I laminated them and hot glued some awesome glitter clothespins for an easy work display!  I still have lots to do before school starts Monday!

Morning Meeting board - before picture

It's hard to believe it's almost time to go back to school!  I have been hard at work in my classroom, attempting to get it ready for 20+ adorable kinderkids.  I still have tons of work to go, but my meeting board is my primary focus!  It's a little tricky, because my meeting board is over a chalkboard. Last year, I used paper and it wrinkled like crazy by the end of the year (as you can see)!  This year, I plan to use thin, rolled plastic tablecloth to see if that works better.  I'll keep you posted!