tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5397515470557928812024-03-12T19:56:20.145-07:00Tech is Trouble....or is it???The story of a new to a school teacher navigating the foreign waters of technology.Miss Educationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07393257624915820097noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-539751547055792881.post-28592278772144206552012-10-26T12:39:00.000-07:002012-10-26T12:39:29.391-07:00Time, where did you go?As you may have noticed, I haven't posted on this blog in a long time....an embarrassingly long time. Long enough that other staff members are starting to mock my created, but never updated blog.<br />
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What this comes down to is time, or more specifically, my lack of free time. I am in complete awe of people who update their blogs regularly, network with other educational colleagues around the world, share their knowledge on twitter, chat away in the staff room about what they are learning, oh and of course teach a full course load, while changing, updating, improving and innovating amongst those courses. And these are just the facets of their life that revolve around teaching!<br />
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In this modern age of infinite information at our fingertips, it's a challenge to decipher the relevance of it all. While I am regularly reading, learning and expanding my knowledge I have also started to take the first steps of incorporating new things into my teaching. However I have to remember that the final part is self reflection and sharing.<br />
<br />Miss Educationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07393257624915820097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-539751547055792881.post-53877789556593689702012-02-27T21:11:00.000-08:002012-02-27T21:11:11.339-08:00Wifi in the World!<br />
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> Now the WIFI had been
treating me well, attendance, emails, basic research, I was impressed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However the true test was when my students
discovered the unlocked WIFI.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This discovery
happened about 8 seconds after they arrived in the room on the first morning
the WIFI was operational.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I estimated that approximately
50% of my students had access to some sort of wireless device that they
regularly brought to class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I planned
a lesson where about 50% of students would need to do some in class
research.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was not necessary, and if
unable to get online they would not suffer academically but I wanted to see
where two of my English 10 classes sat in regards to wireless handheld devices.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> Students were divided
into groups of 2 (the partner they were sitting with) and were given a poetic
form (Epic, Haiku, Balled, etc.).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While
a basic definition was provided to all students, the assignment was that they
were instructed to ‘teach’ the rest of the class about their assigned
form.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This meant coming up with a
correct definition, creating or borrowing a correctly cited source from online,
and explaining the purpose of their poetic form.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While all of this could be done without the
internet, some types were more challenging and the internet was a welcome
resource.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My estimate that 50% had
wireless access was pretty accurate, and the group presentations went off
without a hitch.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> However I am getting
ahead of myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think the most
startling moment was when I told the students to look up the information
online.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a visible pause where
they all just sort of looked at me, unsure if they were truly supposed to take
their devices out or not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even when
walking around checking on the progress of the various groups it was funny and
a little troubling to see that they still operated their wireless devices from
a lowered position under the tables, where they are used to trying to covertly
access information.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> What I really liked
about this lesson was the exposure students received to various types of poems,
especially the famous examples, and the fact that I saw numerous groups lending
wireless devices to other groups to check a definition, or look for a source.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Overall the WIFI proved to me on this day that
it was an invaluable tool, with a much broader reach than simply doing
attendance.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>Miss Educationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07393257624915820097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-539751547055792881.post-4503478891614613652012-02-10T00:06:00.000-08:002012-02-10T12:34:30.920-08:00Wifi!<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Our school got WIFI in October. And
not just your standard WIFI but ‘let’s see how hard we can push this, non
password resitriced wifi’. Again this
was exciting, and again portable city was not going to be included. Can’t blame them, it kind of made sense, only
4 portables (aka classrooms) outside, sounds like a wiring nightmare. While others were discussing the brilliance of
this new tool I was creating more overhead transparencies. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"> The
installation school wide took a couple of days, the emails were informative,
but I brushed them all off, at least not having any classroom disruptions was
one bonus. Until the knock on my
door…..where two lovely folks entered with a modem, some cords and tools and
told me they were there to install the WIFI! While my Socials 10 class
continued working in groups, these welcome souls efficiently installed my WIFI….in
the portable! </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"> Now, I was skeptical. They removed my wired connection, and said not
to worry that the wireless would be up shortly.
Effectively leaving me without any
sort of connection I defaulted to AHHH I’m never going to have internet in my
portable again! Now this may sound
irrational, but I had just taught at a school where NONE of their 8 portables
had ANY kind of internet connection, wired or not! I calmed myself and when nothing had happened
at the end of the day I thought that maybe I just needed more patience. I was fully prepared for this to be a ‘we
tried to get it out there but it just isn’t working’ scenario.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"> </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> When I arrived
to work the next day I started up the computer early, thinking that I would
need to hustle inside to check my morning emails. While the computer whirled and
wooed I set my usual stuff up for the day only to notice a new little blinking
notification on my computer….not only was I connected to the WIFI but the
single was <gulp> strong! </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">
</span>Miss Educationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07393257624915820097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-539751547055792881.post-43965858730185053392012-02-10T00:02:00.001-08:002012-02-10T12:35:18.125-08:00Tech Nightmares<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Up until October 2011 tech was a far away dream in my classroom. While I use technology regularly in my
personal life (computers, cell phones, ipod, twitter etc) I had never been at a school
where technology was feasibly accessible.
Sure I could book a projector (for one class) and then spend half of
that class trying to hook it up properly, or a could book a mobile lab, where
more than half of the computers would have dead batteries, or I could take my class
down to a computer lab where they couldn’t remember their passwords from grade
8. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> So prior to this September I was a
cynic about technology in the classroom, wait I should rephrase that,
technology in MY classroom. I had an old
school projector, I had my overheads, and my little world worked perfectly.</span><br />
<br />
Then I received a permanent job
at a wonderful secondary school in Surrey. When I
arrived for the summer pro D in August I already knew this school had a
different take on technology. During the
presentation teachers were tweeting!
They had not only heard of Twitter, but were actively using it! #OMGimhome! I was impressed, but also fell back into my
regular ‘this will never apply to me’ stance as I was placed outside in
portable 3, a spacious, well lit lot in #portablecity. </div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Now I’m not slagging portables, there are
benefits (hello running around outside, getting to watch the wildlife and
always knowing exactly what the weather is doing) but all the glorious
technology I had seen during the summer, and kept hearing about was all found a
4 minute, and one big hill walk away, and I was back to the reliable overhead
transparencies!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>Miss Educationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07393257624915820097noreply@blogger.com0