Teaching with (more) Technology: The Adventure So Far

I like teaching social studies. Really. I loved social studies as a student. Now I get to teach it...sometimes. I even did my masters project ( in 1998) on using the internet to teach grade 6 social studies

At my present school, I've taught grade 5 and 6 social studies for at least 5 years. This year, much to my surprise, I'm teaching grade 7 and 8 social studies for the first time in at least 5 years.

I'm also the "computer teacher" at my school. After somewhat of a hiatus of a few years, I'm back in the lab.

I've decided I'm going to experiment to my little techno-teacher heart's content this year. Here's the summary of some adventure highlights and lowpoints:

1. Every student I teach has a Google Docs account. I have them complete and share as many assignments as possible on them. I can "mark" them (or even PRE-VIEW them) and give suggestions how to improve the assignment. Some students are actually revising their work. They can email me with questions. (Buzz just came out last week. I wonder if that will be useful).

1a. Students started playing with Buzz the minute they saw it. I don't think they quite get how public it is. There is a 78 comment conversation between some of my grade six students that strays into the realm of cyber-bullying. We'll have to deal with that when we get back to school next Monday.

2. I have been composing "study units" using a Google Doc. I do run off a paper copy for students. What is really useful, however, is having my unit online by linking the doc as a web page. All the links are live. Students can copy and paste parts of my doc (a chart for example) into their work. I've been able to scan useful pages of their ancient textbook into PDF format and link them. Graphics are in colour. No student is ever without a copy of the assignment as long as they have access to a computer and the internet.

3. Online videos and photographic slide shows are wonderful teaching tools. Unfortunately they clog up bandwidth. We've choked up the network on many occasions. We are still working on possible solutions. I'm not sure how legal it is, but I made screenshots of a particularly wonderful slideshow and put them on a Google Doc presentation. When the original website chokes, students have an alternative.

3a. We need to reframe the idea of watching video and looking at pictures as "work."

3b. We need to reframe the idea of being on a computer as "work."

4. I'm finding I have to provide a lot of modeling and framing for students. For example: I've started to include frame paragraph outlines to help students structure short answers. I provide cut and paste charts for compare and contrast activities. I'm finding that If I want to get students to use higher order thinking skills to finish assignments, I have to provide pretty concrete instructional examples on how to complete the assignment. Some students don't need this structure and can create their own. I'm fine with that. Some will always need that structure. (Did I mention I used to be a special ed teacher?)

5. My grade six classes have been epals with a school in Illinois for a few years now. We usually have a Skype session at the end of their quarters. Just this week I've made contact with a teacher in New Jersey to do more Skyping and online collaboration.

6. I'm liking the conversations I'm starting to have with my students. I'm liking that I can incorporate information sources from close to home and analyze them.

7. I'm tired. This kind of teaching, no matter how much fun, is a LOT of work and takes even more time.

7a. You can't always get what you want. Some online stuff, no matter how cool or useful, just will never be available on our school network.

8. The adventure continues...

Laptops, Google Docs, and Grade 5/6 Social Studies Oh MY!!!!

I must admit, I had a wonderful lesson on graphing climate averages for ten Canadian Communities using the spreadsheets on Google Docs.

What made it particularly pleasant was the portability of the laptops; I could create small groups of 3 students per laptop and move them well apart from each other. This way, there were no other computers and students to distract group members from the task at hand. Three can cluster around a laptop and be totally involved.

We started with one of those S & S Learning maps which showed 10 communities all over Canada with their minimum and maximum average temperatures. Students had to create a spreadsheet with 3 columns: Communities, Average Winter Temperature in Degrees Celcius, and Average Summer Temperature in Degrees Celcius. They entered the data from the maps. (One group member could read as another typed). They then created a bar graph; winter temps for the most part below the zero mark in blue and summer temperatures above the zero mark in red. I then asked them to share the document with their two buddies so all had a copy. Too too cool. (No more, "The document is stored on his/her computer and he/she is not here.")

(As well, grade six has been studying basic integers in math; this ties in with integers and data management. Not bad eh?)

I love having a laptop on my desk...or how Google Docs are changing the way I organize myself at school

Thank you Living Sky School Division for giving me a laptop for my desk. Thank you also for the wireless internet that goes with it. I am finding that I am finding new ways to use it productively while I am at my desk. For example, I've been experimenting the first days or weeks of school with the Spreadsheets on Google Docs to not only create class lists, but also to record marks, lockers, locker combinations etc. etc. I know I can use Open Admin; however it takes time for all the info to be inputted into the system. So far, I've created a spreadsheet for each grade I teach, and have been adding pages as I need them. I can keep them open all day with out them logging off. I can also access them on any computer on any network. I can also add student names when I need to. I'm a little nervous going "paperless"...

So far, after 4 days, it seems to be working. Any tips from anyone using it for the same thing?

Observing the Obvious

I've taught Google Docs to my grade 7/8 computer class as an introduction to word processing. I've been requiring my grade 5/6 class to use the slide show to finish an assignment in Social Studies.

Guess which class is more motivated not only to use it, but to explore it's uses?

Google Docs? The experiment continues.

I'm having my grade 5 and 6 class use the presentation tools in Google Docs with which to present their Social Studies research data. So far, it seems to be working well except for the day the internet was down. They are loving doing something new, and I'm liking being able to have a collaborative link to their ongoing work.

If anyone has any useful information regarding Google Docs, let me know.

Adventures with Google Docs: The next frontier?

I've taken a bit of a plunge into (for me is) the unknown. I've introduced my grade 7/8 computers, and grade 5/6 homeroom kids to Google Docs.

The grade 5/6 kids are ENTHRALLED (or at least some are, and some more are prepared to be). When they had their 5 paragraph essays to word process (yes! I make my kids do 5 paragraph essays because of some traumatic events of my past resulting from my inability to write an essay of any kind), a few of them elected to use Google Docs because they could work from home. Today, I shared a "view only" copy of their new social studies mini-research assignment. Hopefully, this will be a back up for those pesky missing papers and will lead into some interesting sharings with their data. However, I was jolted with pangs of guilt when, after school, two students were "chatting" with other students already at home. (Well, looseleaf and pencils can be used for academic purposes OR writing nasty notes to your recent enenmies).

I've created a word processing unit which covers word processing as a process and allows students to learn 3 kinds of word processors: commercially available (ie Word), open source (ie Openoffice.org), and online (Google Docs). I've put it together for my grade 7/3 computers class and I'm teaching it now. I'll share with anyone provided they contribute to the refining and extending of it. (It is pretty basic!)

I'd also like any kind of feedback, sharing, tips, suggestions, inspirations....from anyone using these or similar online tools.