Thursday, February 25, 2010

Interview

A few weeks ago, I interviewed one of my students. The student, M, is 11 years old. She has been attending my school for the last 2 years. She was very enthusiastic about talking to me. I selected her because she is very honest and somewhat opinionated. I felt she would tell me the truth and not just what I wanted to hear. She's also quite able to express herself despite having trouble using correct grammar. The questions I asked are in bold. Her answers are given verbatim. A few times, I clarified her answers. These clarifications are found in brackets.

Tell me your thoughts about the SB?

I like the SB because you can look at anything you want and the class can see everything and it’s so much better than my teacher bringing the computer around and showing everyone.

How has it helped your learning?

Now I’ve learned so much in Social Studies the first time we used it. We looked up Indian, I mean Native American stuff and we have been learning a lot and there’s actually a lot of people who have been learning so many things that I can’t imagine.

Has it helped in any other subjects besides Social Studies?

You can learn and have fun on the SB at the same time by playing the treasure game my teacher pulled up from the internet. It’s fun and you’re learning at the same time.

So you think it’s helped you learn grammar?

Yeah. It’s better because it describes more things than the textbooks. It uses words that we understand and we get better thoughts of things rather than just having a short sentence. The book goes too fast. There’s not enough examples to get it.

Oh and there was that game we played. The one from funbrain…

You mean Mad Libs?

YEAH! That’s the one. See that was really good because it used all these nouns and stuff and adjectives and the other ones. It gave us all these good words to put in sentences and we didn’t have to spell it or anything, just touch the word. Even though sometimes it was hard to touch it when it was bouncing all over the screen but that made it fun too.

I’m glad you enjoyed that game.

Um, let’s see… We could also take SRC tests when we all read a book together we can take the test together. And Google earth was the best. We can see things like the Eiffel tower and see where our friends live and you can put the address down and see the place. Remember how on the Grandparents breakfast day they [the parents and grandparents] all wanted to see the board. My two grandmas were so excited and they asked what it was and they said “we didn’t have that when we were little”. One of my grandmas said “man that would have helped us when I was little”. She was very excited to see the differences between when she was little and now how there are tvs and computers and smarboards in the classrooms.

Your mom got to see the board too, did she have anything to say about it?

Your parents get real excited when you come home and you say Mom look what I learned on the SB today and parents are happy that the board helps you so much and you look up things and get more information and put it up on the SB so you get more time to see everything.

I think that’s it, no wait, remember in social studies. You can look stuff up during social studies when you have a question and you can find the information right there.

What do you mean by that?


In the textbooks, you know how the sentences [paragraphs] are really short? Well on the Internet it’s more like a paragraph [whole web page] and that’s so much better than one little sentence. It helps you understand it.

You can go up and get a pen and you can write things and you can write it in cursive or however you want. It’s not boring like just sitting there listening cause you get to do stuff out of your seat.

How do you think the SB helped your writing?

It helped us by showing the class and how it was a big picture and seeing it clearly and seeing it better.

Can you explain that a little more?

You know, how you can show us everything, like, just put all the sentences up so we can see what it’s supposed to be like and if we get stuck we can look at that and it helps.

I’m going to list some things that we used the board for in writing class. I want you to tell me your thoughts about each thing. If you think it wasn’t helpful, it’s okay to tell me that, too.

Doing research?

That was the most fun things because you can just imagine so many things that you can look up on the computer and you can see so many things. The White House was pretty cool. I didn’t know that it had 135 rooms. It’s way easier to find stuff on the internet than in books because you don’t even know if the stuff you want to know is in that book and maybe the library doesn’t even have the book you need but the internet does.

So the SmartBoard helps with Internet searching? But can’t you just do that on a regular computer?

Yeah but it’s fun to see it all together and like, when you showed us the good websites and not the bad ones to use it was easier to do it myself.

Scholastic website?
That was also a fun thing to do. Half of the things I looked up there I didn’t know.

Personal research?
I didn’t know that people recycled 50% of the cans. I found this good website.

How did that help your writing?

I think it made my speech better to have more information in it and stuff.

Organizing paragraphs?
People can see what you’re talking about instead of just reading it and when you underline it, it’s better because you can see where the teacher was reading.

So underlining things helped?

Yeah and the colors too. Oh and saving stuff. That was the best part about the Smart Board that we got to study the same things for a couple weeks but we can still save it and go over it again if people forgot about it. And there was that one time I was absent and you printed what I missed so I didn’t get behind and all that.

YouTube Videos?

We got to watch the old cartoons [School House Rock] you learn stuff that you didn’t know and now you know it. It’s in your brain and when your teacher asks you the question it pops up in your mind and you already know it.

Do you think you could have gotten that from a book?

No. A book may give you a sentence and it would be good words but it wouldn’t give you the right words that you would need. Like a book would tell you a horse is a mammal that can run really fast but you need more to understand it. So by looking it up using the SB, people can learn more stuff and know how it helps so many people rather than just one person and it gives you information the book doesn’t.

Anything else you want to add?

You can put up a white blank board and you can write down the words that we’re having trouble on and you help us with it instead of having a regular white board. You can erase it better, there’s no marks on the board like pens do. You don’t have to clean it every single day.

What things could I do to make the board better?

Nothing that you can explain better. Nothing. If you explained it wrong someone would raise their hand and you can explain it better. We use it perfect. We use it for what we need it for. For everything! For speeches we looked up so many things on the SB. It’s fun how you use it. Not the other teachers but how you use it. You look up things and think “oh my class would love this one and you see how we love it just by our faces and you pick things how they look fun and it’s just exciting how we look up things that are fun and we’re learning.”

Thanks for talking with me.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Changing Practices

I'm reviewing some notes for my class which is what this whole blog is for... I had written down a question that I was supposed to ask myself.

"How am I changing my practices with this technology?"

Well I've been thinking about this a lot. Because it's a multi-layered answer. Obviously the SmartBoard changes how I teach dramatically. From a physical standpoint, most of my regular white board is covered with the SmartBoard so I no longer teach using a regular white board. Beyond that basic change, I have changed how I teach lessons. Part of this change comes from how I prepare. After teaching the same thing for now 6 years, I don't need to put much direction in my lesson plans. "pg 16 verbs" would suffice (We mark benchmarks differently for anyone who reads this and wonders why my plans don't include benchmark notations). But now it takes a lot more than that. While the written plan might say "verbs.notebook lesson" instead, I also have to make sure that lesson exists and if it doesn't or I don't like the pre-made ones, I have to make it myself. And that takes more time and effort. At the same time, this time and effort is worth it because I know I'll be able to use it again and again. I feel like I'm dedicating more time to planning and preparing and that extra time reflects well in my presentation.

Another way the SB has changed my practice is by allowing me to integrate web based materials. In the past I had a couple of lessons where I would pull up a web page and then have the students gather around a computer 3-4 at a time. This severely limited my use of the internet and the valuable resources available there. Now I think nothing of pulling up a website and letting the kids go to town exploring and learning.

My classes are now more interactive. I used to spend 10-15 minutes at the beginning of class introducing the concept and reviewing the previous lessons. Then I would put the students in pairs and have them answer questions from the textbook. I knew that this was not the best approach. The kids liked my "lectures" (at least to a point) and I did my best to make them entertaining and memorable. But they were purely auditory and that in and of itself made the lessons less adapted to visual students. Now it's completely different. We've used the textbooks maybe 3 times since the board arrived last October and we used the books WITH the board, not instead of. The students work together using the board. My class is more unruly. They are more talkative and out of their seats. They communicate with each other. They think more. They reason more. They explore. We have broken out of the Catholic School mold of children sitting row by row with their hands folded neatly on their desks and I love it! I am happier with how I teach. I feel more effective as a teacher. I feel like no matter how boring my topic is (and let's face it, most people don't LOVE grammar) my kids will leave class with a smile because they got to answer their questions by dragging something with their finger or clicking on the right box and making it change colors or some other more enjoyable task than sitting and writing with pencil and paper.

And it's not just language arts that receives this benefit. I can show them everything. There hasn't been a time yet where I wanted to show the kids something that I couldn't find available on the Internet. In social studies, we still use textbooks but the kids have developed a sense that the book doesn't have everything in it. Last week we were studying the early Floridians. We were making a chart of the different tribes and one of the questions was about whether the tribes were mound builders or not. Well the book didn't say and that led me to think the answer was no. That answer wasn't good enough for my students who immediately directed me to Google, where they typed in their search terms and discovered that the book had not in fact included the information that the tribe were actually mound builders after all. I get the feeling every day that I use the board that the possibilities are endless. The learning is deeper and more lasting.

I can't really say enough good things about my SB. At one point this year I was getting very frustrated with school and working and being away from my toddler and it was hard and then this board arrived and it changed everything. Has the board changed my practices? It's changed my life :)

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Thoughts

I sat down and talked to my kids about the board again today. The results are in the posting below.

I've been digesting the things they said to me. Nothing they said was all that surprising. In fact most of it I'd already heard more informally. I could tell that a few of them were trying very hard to give thoughtful answers and those were the ones I appreciated the most.

One thing I hadn't really counted on was their inability to really put to words how the SB had helped them with their writing. In some respects, this doesn't make a huge difference for my project. They like the board and they perceive it to be helpful. Their writing scores and consistent class engagement provides support for the board but I do wish they had been able to give me some substantial feed back on why they felt the board was helpful. Maybe it's because we haven't done a board lesson for a few days but I had really hoped they could say something like, "I have a better understanding of how to structure my paragraphs." Ha even as I write that I realize it's not something any of my kids would have ever said. I guess what I have to keep in mind is that, even if they can't express the benefits, I am still seeing benefits. The focus group information was interesting but not as helpful as I had hoped it would be.

Focus Group #2

What are some of your feelings about the SB now that we’ve been using it for a few months?

It’s awesome
We’re lucky to have this advanced technology.
Sometimes the internet doesn’t work and that’s really annoying.
Google Earth is the best. It really helps us learn geography.
It can help us understand more about what we learn.
It can help us learn.
We can use it like a real computer.
Instead of taking turns looking up stuff on regular computers, we can do it all together.
The internet is a powerful resource and tool to gather information and that’s why it helps us.
It does more than I thought it would do.
I like being able to touch it and being able to draw and erase with my hand.

What are some of your favorite activities that we have done so far?

Google Earth
Scholastic
Watching You Tube videos
Treasure Hunt (game)
Yeah, Treasure Hunt is the best! Can we play it now?
I like doing the Internet
I like the White House pictures (website)

How has the Smart Board helped you write your speech?

It helped us write better because we could see examples of how to write and also how to speak. The You Tube clips were awesome.
It’s great to pull up information and share it with the whole class cause then we could see how to do stuff.
It lets you go back to old stuff and make sure you’ve got everything.
It changed my life!
It makes stuff fun and not boring.
We learned about how to use Wikipedia the right way to do research.
We watched about vetoes. I didn’t know what a veto is but now I get it. So now if I’m president I will know what to do.


If you could change anything about the board, what would you change?

I’d make it cover the room and all the walls.
I would change the color—add more color markers.
I wish we could all use the board at the same time instead of only one at a time.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Well Here's Something

I was concerned I wouldn't have anything to use the SB for while my kids are rehearsing their speeches in class but I was wrong! Maybe this is a little bit of a stretch but hey, I think it's worth something...

So as we started going through the speeches, I found that some kids are just struggling to get through reading theirs. We can't really work on much expression until they have the words down (and yes, you'd be surprised how hard it is to read your own work when it's spelled properly). So then there's a second group of kids. They can read their speeches just fine and now we have to work on presenting them not just reading off a sheet of paper. Well it's hard to teach kids how to show passion in their voices and it's plain to me that there really is passion in a great deal of the writing.

We were just about through the whole class worth of speeches when suddenly I had a brain storm. I thought well, it's hard to describe passion so why not show it?

I thought I may run into some issues showing an Obama speech to my students. I don't want to get in a political debate with them (or their parents!) but I did want them to see the president giving a speech with every ounce of his being. So, second best option-- The West Wing! Thankfully there are hundreds of clips from this amazing show available for viewing on You Tube and since I didn't think it would be necessary or appropriate to show them a whole episode, I just pulled up a few 2-3 minute clips. They watched in pure silence as the actors demonstrated exactly what I was talking about. One student turned to me when the second clip was over and said, "Mrs. B! I think I get it!"

Could I have possibly shown all the students these clips using one regular computer? Sure, but it would have taken the entire class period. I have found yet another wonderful use for this incredible board!!

Monday, February 8, 2010

Done! (Sort of)

I haven’t been writing in my journal as much as I would like because although I’m using the Smart Board in other classes, I’m trying to keep my focus on my inquiry project which deals with writing. Last week was a really hectic week. It was Catholic Schools Week which means that nothing goes according to a normal schedule and most classes are interrupted for one reason or another. I spent the week’s language classes taking kids individually and going over their speech with them and then typing it for them. Yes, I know they should probably type it themselves but I don’t have a month to get this done and I am much faster. Plus, they type for homework 2 times a week so they are decent enough. So there wasn’t much Smart Boarding going on in language. I bet there are ways I could have integrated it but to be honest with myself I was just stressed to get this done. Sometimes I feel a little TOO much pressure to use the board. This is pressure I put entirely on myself because it is certainly not coming from my boss. It does come from students at times though. They get disappointed when I tell them I don’t have a SB lesson for them. I think that speaks highly of the board itself. I would have loved to let kids explore with it while I was helping kids get finished up with speeches but unfortunately I only have the one computer to connect it with. So anyway, that’s why I haven’t written more. Over the next few weeks we’ll be practicing and that won’t require using the board much either. Maybe I’ll take a side journey into my use of the board in other subject areas.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Fourth Participation Log

Lesson: Compare and Contrast presidents.notebook file. (For background and understanding regarding speeches)
First Count: 11/11

Second Count: 9/9 (Students left for speech)

Third Count: 8/9
Notes: The students were really enthusiastic about this lesson. For the first count I wasn’t sure if everyone was paying attention but when I called on the student in question, he was ready with the correct answer so I am counting it as all being engaged. Towards the end of class they started getting antsy but it was almost lunch time so that is to be expected.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Time Crunch

We’ve been in a rush to get the speeches done so we can start practicing them. I like to have the students practice for at least 2 weeks before giving their speech before the judges. I bet this seems like a really long time to an ordinary classroom teacher who would probably send his or her students home and tell them to practice it there. My kids need to feel comfortable in the environment where they will perform so we practice a LOT. It’s also neat because the repetition helps the other kids learn the facts of all the speeches. If they only heard it once or twice they would not process the information but after hearing each other’s speeches several times they start to learn new things. I guess there is not really a whole lot about Smart Boards in this posting but I guess what I’m trying to explain is why we’re not using it as much for writing these days.

Here’s what I’ve learned from this speech process:

The Smart board helps kids understand—
Paragraph structuring
Outlines
Search techniques
Editing

I don’t even have to compare one year to the other to see that these speeches are the best written I have ever seen. I’ll freely admit that there were times in the past where I had to essentially write the whole thing for students but this year EVERY single student had something written down, even if it wasn’t a complete essay it was far more than just a start. I have many of the same kids I had last year but I also have new kids. I have some very talented writers but I also have kids who struggle severely. The only change has been the Smart Board so I have to conclude that these positive changes can be attributed to this new technology. I can’t wait to crunch the numbers.