Education and Technology

With the new school year I’ve changed the image on the teacher stations in our 2 labs. After consulting with administration, and our Instructional Technology Coach we came up with a list of programs that should be installed on these 2 computers. One of the programs that we left off was district email and it was the first tech request for the teacher stations by the teachers. To tell you the truth, I wasn’t shocked.

If you’ve spent any time in a computer lab, it can get a little boring when your students are using the reading, writing and math programs. Although that is true, we are in the lab to increase the students knowledge, it’s another tool, it’s not the baby sitter, a substitute for the teacher. Walking around behind the students, giving them advice, seeing who is having problems is what a teacher is supposed to be doing. Yes, they can run reports on each students progress, but that is just a number, if you aren’t watching to see what they are doing, you can’t truly analyze a poor score.

So, sitting at a teacher station reading your email is not constructive use of time in a computer lab. Use it wisely and that time can actually help your students learn more. They will realistically improve on those program lessons they are doing, while they will score better on county and state mandated tests because they have had hands on training when they needed it. Being a teacher is not an easy job, but use the tools you have properly and read your email during planning, before school, or after school. Not when you can be helping your kids in a classroom setting that just happens to be a computer lab.

That’s what I think….What about you?

I have been setting up the computers in our reading rooms the last few days. Asking the Reading Resource teachers to brain storm with each other, they have come up with some suggestions for the image I’m creating for the computers. One of the web sites that they asked me to include is from the Woodlands Junior School in Tonbridge Kent UK.

The Educational Games and Activities Zone page is chalk full of interesting and useful games to help students read, learn math, help their memory, learn the use of logic and much more. I recommend that any educator check out this site.

That’s what I think…What about you?

How young is too young for a child to start using a computer?

Based on doctors reports, no younger than 3 years old. After that, no more than two hours a day. I agree with this estimate, but what should they be learning at this age through 1st grade, which is 6 or 7 years old? After some thought, seeing what we have in the way of learning materials, the toys today and how we teach in our K-1 computer lab I’ve got some suggestions.

One of the best learning tools on the web today is StarFall.com. It offers a wide variety of learning levels from the alphabet, to actual reading. It has parent activities, teacher activities, downloads and more. It is a must web site to prepare your child for school, since today’s children will be behind if they do not have a lot of the basics when they come into Kindergarten.

Our K-1 lab is staffed by the wonderful Miss Mary, who is the most dedicated person I’ve ever met. She has a curriculum that has stations for reading, learning the computer, games to learn spelling, reading, math, counting and much more. Each day students work these stations with the help of Miss Mary, the students classroom teacher and a lot of the time a volunteer parent. Not only that, but with our video projector and connection to a laptop, the kids take virtual field trips to the Zoo, see what it’s like to be an Astronaut and much more. You name it, the kids can see what it’s like, all from a classroom with a computer and a dedicated teacher.

If more children would get a base of knowledge at home with their parents on sites like Starfall, Discovery Online, AOL@School, along with a lab experience like we have at our school we could close the achievement gap and start meeting the “No child Left Behind” mandate.

That’s what I think….What about you?

I haven’t written in the last few days because I just haven’t got to the computer to do it. I’ve been enjoying the moment with my daughter, who is learning new things daily. When she presents me with something new, it’s just a wonderful feeling.

At the dinner table or while I’m cooking she has amazed me the last few days. While she was eating some Talapia for the first time she decided it was so good she had to ask for more. My wife and I have been teaching her sign language since she was 6 months old, so I was just overjoyed to see her do the signs for “more please”. The next day after getting some banana for dessert, at the buffet we were at, she decided that she would say thank you. Now the sign for thank you looks a lot like blowing a kiss to a baby, so I’m sure that we might have that one confused. But then again she had no reason to be blowing a kiss at that point….

Tonight I cooked alfredo sauce to go with egg noodles in my anything goes version of fettucine alfredo. My daughter ate all of her dinner and her dessert while I cooked for my wife and I, but she couldn’t resist asking for some of the noodles alfredo since it was something that she didn’t have. After eating a few bites she reached out to me asking for a hug. It was like, “Wow thanks Dad, I want to give you a hug to tell you how much I liked you feeding me good food”.

It’s a moment I’ll never forget…. Remember, Anything Goes for Dinner….