Krista: Elementary School Teacher

I have been an elementary school teacher since 1990. I've taught grades 2-6 in Vacaville, California, Cartagena, Colombia and Beijing, China. I've spent the last 3 1/2 years teaching a reading intervention program and ELD to 3rd-5th grade students. Now I am working on my Master's degree in Education with an emphasis on technology.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Podcasting

Podcasting is creating and posting audio files on the internet for anyone to download and listen to.

Vodcasting is podcasting with the addition of video clips. It's like watching a video "on demand."

Podcasting is a relatively inexpensive way for students to present their ideas and work to a larger audience than just their teachers and classmates. It's a "no frills" but creative and fun form of communication without all of the privacy issues that can accompany the use of images.

I think podcasting would be a wonderful way for my ELD students to practice their English writing and speaking skills! I know they would be more motivated to write if they knew their stories would be heard by a lot of people. I also think they'd enjoy recording and then listening to each others voices!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Technology skills, technology policies and Internet Safety Rules for Students

1. What technology skills should be acquired by students at the grade level that you teach?

Age 8 to 11 years - grades 3-5 in elementary school

During the Piagetian Concrete Operations stage, children begin to thinklogically. In this stage, intelligence is demonstrated through logical and systematic manipulation of symbols related to concrete objects. Operational thinking (mental actions that are reversible) develops.

ISTE has established NETS-Student that includes a statement of whatstudents should be able to do by the end of the fifth grade. During the ICT Concrete Operations stage children:

• Learn to use a variety of software tools such as those listed in the 5th grade ISTE NETS-Student, and begin to understand some of the capabilities and limitations of these tools. (They do logical and systematic manipulation of symbols in a computer environment.)

• Learn to apply these software tools at a Piagetian Concrete Operations level as an aid to solving a wide range of general curriculum-appropriate problems and tasks.

2. What are the essential elements that should be addressed by an effective classroom technology policy guide for the grade level that you teach?

Be Nice to Computers

Always have clean hands

No food or drinks in the lab

Don’t touch the screens

Be gentle with mice & headphones

Print with permission ONLY

Click PRINT once

Leave your area neat, clean, and organized

Misuse of the computer may result in loss of computer privileges.

3. What Internet safety issues should students and parents, at your grade level, be informed of?

DO choose a username and password that would be hard to guess.

DO only school work on school computers.

DO tell an adult if you see a site that is not kid-friendly.

DO NOT share your username and password.

DO NOT share personal information about yourself or others on the internet, such as name, address, telephone number, birthday, pictures, or the name of your school.

DO NOT open or respond to messages from strangers.

DO NOT download anything without asking an adult so we don’t get computer viruses.

Quantitative Research Design: Observational Designs

by Krista Robertson, Cindy Lancie and Erin Gardner

Saturday, April 3, 2010