TPACK Lessons Nov. 18, 2009

Leah's Weather Lesson
Leah's Math Lesson
Leah's Writing Lesson

PLE Week 10

The most important thing I learned from the videos was that technology can be used with very young children. I was surprised that the teacher in the spider lesson used the digital camera and web page to teach about spiders, because it seemed to me that young children would get bored quickly because of the technical aspect. However, the students seemed to be really excited about taking the pictures of their spiders and communicating with another class. The neat thing about the web page is that it allowed both teachers instant access to each other’s findings, rather than having to wait to reply through regular mail or even email. Attaching pictures to email takes a long time to do and open, but putting pictures on a web page is fast on both ends. In the Brown Bear lesson, I was surprised that kindergarten students were using the computer themselves to draw pictures. I think that is an excellent way to help children become comfortable using computers, as well as a good way to help students improve hand-eye coordination. I was also impressed with how much using computers helped non-English speaking students. English language learners can get the experience using computers without needing English, and this might be the most successful learning experience and feeling they have all day. It was also interesting to see the difference in ages using technology. In the kindergarten class, the teacher sat next to the student drawing on the computer. In the third grade class, the teacher was able to have the students work in small groups to complete the computer drawing. However, students in both grades were able to use the computers to draw, even the four and five year olds. I thought it was a really good idea to have the third graders use the favorites tab on the internet browser to help students access specific web pages. This kept the students from accessing sites where they might run into questionable content, and also helped the teacher and students obey copyright laws, since they knew exactly where the student had accessed material from.

PLE Week 9

The second grade classroom I am working in does not have a lot of technology. The teacher has and uses regularly an overhead projector. She does not have her own computer projector. There are two computers in the classroom, but neither one is functional, so they are not used. The teacher does have her own laptop and access to wireless internet in the classroom, so that could be useful for when she is able to borrow a computer projector to show the students something. The students are able use the computer lab once a week during scheduled time. One neat thing is that the school has televised announcements. Fifth and sixth graders take turns being news casters, microphone managers, cameramen, etc. each morning as they present the announcements to the school. Each class is able to watch these announcements in their rooms. My class, however, does not get to work with technology a whole lot (as far as I have seen), except for during their weekly scheduled lab time. I think there is a lot of technology that could be used to enhance learning in the classroom, such as GoogleEarth, digital probes, projected images, Stellarium, short video clips, etc. Whether or not the teacher can get access to these is the hard part.
I completed the midcourse evaluation and informed consent.