Podcasts

I've known for awhile what podcasts are, but never really taken the time to listen to one. Creating a podcast is much more time consuming than the time it takes to listen to one. In class I felt some of the podcasts were funny, the funnier the podcast the less it gave information about the topic (or so it seemed to me). I think some of my students would have a lot of fun with podcasts, but it would be quite a lengthy process to encourage students to write a complete script. Most students would want to record "on the fly".

I found this website: http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/ict/podcasting.htm . It has some really helpful ideas for using podcasting in the classroom.

As stated on the website, there are many student benefits to podcasting. From a 3rd grade teacher's perspective it gives the students an opportunity to review previously taught concepts, practice fluency, and hopefully have a bit of fun!

Wikis

A wiki provides for many different types of collaboration in and out of the classroom, such as: students can create resources for the whole class, students can participate in reviews of materials, create portfolios, collaborate on group projects, create classroom archives, community guides, and help organize thinking.

I really like the idea of my students creating a guide. During 3rd grade students study Ancient Greece, Rome, and Mali. Students could make a wiki that describes the various aspects of life in all of those civilizations. Each group of students could be assigned a civilization and would complete a wiki based on home life, education, sports, work, religion, etc. These are assignments that students have typically completed in Power Point. A wiki would provide them with more room for text.

In the future these wikis could also be used to help teach each unit of study. I think I've just come up with my wiki lesson!

For more information about teaching with wikis, visit: http://www.smartteaching.org/blog/2008/08/50-ways-to-use-wikis-for-a-more-collaborative-and-interactive-classroom/

Time keeps on slipping....

Where does time go? Every year I feel like time is always a huge issue when it comes to lesson design. The amount of standards that I need to cover and the amount of time that I have, never seem to coincide with the types of lessons that I'd like to teach.

Now in my eighth year of teaching, I tend to be a tad more lax when it comes to the pacing guide (mostly because I now know what the students have background knowledge about), but there are always some units that test the time table. I've most recently been teaching a unit on geometry. The students have had a lot of fun seeing how these concepts relate to their everyday world.We've also made lines, angles, shapes, and solids with various materials. This kind of teaching takes a lot more time than a worksheet, but is also more meaningful for the students.

I've also seen this lack of time come into play when I am teaching the students a new type of software. Although, my students quickly catch onto the tools, they also are fascinated with the seemingly never ending design functions. If there is a substantial amount of time (2 weeks) in between these lessons, I typically have to go back and review. Although, I know that playing the "what if" game won't get me very far; I still wonder how different my classroom might be if I had access to half a class set of laptops every day.

As I finish this last semester my goals for my classroom are to find ways to incorporate fun, meaningful learning; while also trying to meet those guidelines that tell me when I should be done teaching a unit.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog! Over the next few months I will be posting my thoughts about topics related to technology in the classroom. I am a third grade teacher in Northern Virginia.

Happy reading!