September 23, 2010

Hard to believe that September is almost over. The weather has been fantastic. It has been 3 weeks since I have been to Florida. For the past few years I have counted each day until I get on the plane and head down to the house. But life has changed drastically at work. Now I breath in happy air everyday and can't wait to get to school to start another day.

My summer was spent knitting. Knitting, and knitting and more knitting. Got the new iPhone 4 and in August sat down to prepare for my return to school. Since I am not a regular classroom teacher my days are different everyday. Probably why I like it so much. I can only imagine how it must be to teach the same subject matter over and over again each year. One must be bored after awhile. Keeping that thought in mind I felt my teaching style needed some freshening up.

My experience has shown me that the majority of kids can learn software packages on their own with a bit of experimentation. I can't imagine what they thought of me standing in front of the room showing them the tools on productivity software packages or how to work iMovie. They either didn't ask questions because it was Monday and they weren't awake, it was just after lunch and their focus was still on recess, or it was the last block of the day before sports and their brains were totally fried. However, ask a kid what they did once they got home and the answer was always they were busy doing something on their computers. Total focus.

With that in mind I decided to tap into that night time focus and created a series of video podcasts on Google Apps. It was my idea that if the students watched the videos at home they would be more focused, could try out the apps without worrying if the person sitting next to them figured it out before them, and they could post any questions on my website they might have.

The word I am getting back from faculty who have utilized my website has been positive. I had a teacher on the 3rd day of the new school year bring students to the lab to create their own Site using Google Sites. The students had yet to be introduced to the software and how to use it. I directed the students to my website and handed each of them a headset so they could listen to the podcast while they were in the lab. Lots of positive feedback from both the teacher and the students.

Now I am anxious to see how this works with my 6th graders. So far I have sent them to the website to learn about using the email program and how to bring documents from home to school and school to home. After viewing the podcasts they were to post any questions on the wiki on my website. I encouraged them to answer anyone's question if they knew the answer and we would address the questions in our next meeting. All of the postings needed to be done by Friday. I have my fingers crossed that I get responses that say more than "this is cool".

Not much time to get my knitting done since school started. Finished 8 projects over the summer. Have got to finish my sweater in the next couple of weeks so I can get started on some scarves I promised to make for my niece. Actually using several apps on my iPhone to keep track of my knitting projects. The apps also have a row counter, a place to list the yarns and needles that I use. Very useful. KnitBuddy is one - it was free. KnitMinder is the other. I think is cost something but I don't quite remember.

My middle school knitting group is starting next week at lunch. I can't wait to see how many kids show up and which of the many projects I have posted on my board they want to try.

What do Middle School and Grad Students have in common?

My job as Tech Coordinator gives me the freedom of not being locked to one classroom and a select group of students. It also has never given me the opporunity to grade papers and deal with over anxious students fighting for every point.

But now my grad students are driving me nuts with doing extra credit, counting each point and worrying more about what grade they are getting than worrying about the material they are learning. I wish there were a way I could just contract with each of them at the beginning of the semester that they will each receive an A. Now do the work and learn. But somehow I find that a difficult concept to apply when you are an online instructor. How will I be able to motivate them to keep up with the work and not slack off? I guess the proviso will be as long as you do the assignments with good faith, participate online in the discussions and turn in a final paper you get the A. But will that get me the quality of work I am looking for?