Where are you at in your Innovative Journey and what does it means to you during this complex time of year?
I have been on an innovative journey ever since I became a teacher 19 years ago. As far as this Master's Program and the use of technology are concerned I am in a place that I have resisted for years. I have let this Master's Program pass me by for the last two school years. I couldn't imagine that I could find the time, and I would rather have a master's in nutrition. But, the writing was on the wall. I had access to ipads and a computer lab with Mac desktops so I might as well "get on board". I didn't want to be like my 6th grade teacher Mrs. Harris who wouldn't let us use the word "nerd" because it wasn't in the dictionary. She was soooo behind the times. She had never seen the TV show Happy Days. She didn't know who The Fonz was. Crazy!
This Master's Program has pushed me even though I am resistant at each step. I teach 2nd grade so my first thought when I am asked to try different presentation tools and apps is "this is not for my students". I don't want to use tech for tech's sake. But after letting the ideas sink in for a day or two I find myself suddenly finding a way to apply some of the tools in my classroom. The latest has been Padlet. We write many animal reports, currently we are learning about frogs and their life cycle. We write these reports by creating bulletin boards together with facts, written on sentence strip, that we have found in an article that we all read and highlight together. In pairs they present their fact on a sentence strip and then we put all the facts together on a bulletin board. Padlet is basically a bulletin board on-line. So, the other day we tried it out. Each students was on their own ipad and went to the link in my classroom Weebly website (another tool I would not have used but for this master's program) and typed in their name and a sentence telling the title of their favorite book. It was exciting. They enjoyed seeing everyone's name pop up. They were engaged and the greatest thing was they were problem solving. When some students accidentally exited their "chat square" (and I couldn't get them back in) one of my students said, "I know what to do." It was an experiment and it had glitches but we figured it out and now I will use it for our next report. We will have a virtual bulletin board this time. I am not 100% sure Padlet s the best tool for 2nd grade. With a bulletin board on the wall they can see their work all the time. A virtual bulletin board is only there when students are allowed to access it.
So, my journey is what all journey's are. There are glitches and pitfalls and cool discoveries. It is worthwhile, which is the most important aspect for me.
I have been on an innovative journey ever since I became a teacher 19 years ago. As far as this Master's Program and the use of technology are concerned I am in a place that I have resisted for years. I have let this Master's Program pass me by for the last two school years. I couldn't imagine that I could find the time, and I would rather have a master's in nutrition. But, the writing was on the wall. I had access to ipads and a computer lab with Mac desktops so I might as well "get on board". I didn't want to be like my 6th grade teacher Mrs. Harris who wouldn't let us use the word "nerd" because it wasn't in the dictionary. She was soooo behind the times. She had never seen the TV show Happy Days. She didn't know who The Fonz was. Crazy!
This Master's Program has pushed me even though I am resistant at each step. I teach 2nd grade so my first thought when I am asked to try different presentation tools and apps is "this is not for my students". I don't want to use tech for tech's sake. But after letting the ideas sink in for a day or two I find myself suddenly finding a way to apply some of the tools in my classroom. The latest has been Padlet. We write many animal reports, currently we are learning about frogs and their life cycle. We write these reports by creating bulletin boards together with facts, written on sentence strip, that we have found in an article that we all read and highlight together. In pairs they present their fact on a sentence strip and then we put all the facts together on a bulletin board. Padlet is basically a bulletin board on-line. So, the other day we tried it out. Each students was on their own ipad and went to the link in my classroom Weebly website (another tool I would not have used but for this master's program) and typed in their name and a sentence telling the title of their favorite book. It was exciting. They enjoyed seeing everyone's name pop up. They were engaged and the greatest thing was they were problem solving. When some students accidentally exited their "chat square" (and I couldn't get them back in) one of my students said, "I know what to do." It was an experiment and it had glitches but we figured it out and now I will use it for our next report. We will have a virtual bulletin board this time. I am not 100% sure Padlet s the best tool for 2nd grade. With a bulletin board on the wall they can see their work all the time. A virtual bulletin board is only there when students are allowed to access it.
So, my journey is what all journey's are. There are glitches and pitfalls and cool discoveries. It is worthwhile, which is the most important aspect for me.