Mastering the Username and Password

For a seven year old, the idea of a username is baffling.  Typing in a password and only seeing black dots is confusing.  Not knowing where the letters are on a keyboard is frustrating.  Typing lowercase letters on a keyboard that only shows capital letters is discouraging.  It is repetition that got us to success only six weeks after the first try.

 (*this is not an actual students card don't worry I am not giving out passwords!)

It is the sixth week of school and my kiddos are progressing pretty rapidly.  I think of my class from last year (only my second year of teaching technology to first graders) and how far my kids are this year compared to them.  I know that is it me understanding that 6 weeks of just learning how to log on is a really high expectation.  We have become a success with our learning.com passwords, last week all students were able to log on with no questions and no problems.  Today I changed things up.  Gave them a little break from the taxing work of keyboarding and led them to a site called Teach Your Monster to Read.  When I explained that they had a different name and password card for a different website, it was no longer confusing, it was more of a race to see who would log on first.  This race I can get behind.  Mastering the log on means mastering time, and time is always needed when I only have my classes for a short 45 minutes.  We came, we logged in, we mastered.

 “Tell me and I forget.  Teach me and I remember.  Involve me and I learn.”
– Benjamin Franklin

Navigating with Dangling Feet

Those little feet are dangling above the floor.  Their brains are working hard.  Their eyes and hands are navigating the web.  They just finished watching their very first screen cast on how to fill out a Google Form.  They opened their first Google Form.  There are only 9 bodies in this photo, but don't worry there are 23 other 7 year old kiddos plugging away in the background.  They are navigating the form using their minds, the mouse, and the keyboard to fill in their answers. 

Me on the other hand, I am not navigating too well.  I am sweating.  I am pacing around the room.  I am worried we will not have enough time to answer the eight question form.  I am mad at myself for missing the one big step, how to get out of a full screen video!  I am not sure why these kids are so fascinated with making things big on the screen.  I should of known that was going to be the first thing they did with the screencast!  I am looking around the room at my giant face in a webcam video on the 22-inch screen.  I think they were more interested in the fact that I was on the screen than the lesson I was trying to teach.  There were a few students who had to play the screencast more than once to understand the task.

In the end, all 32 successfully navigated to completed their forms.  On the form I had one open ended question on what they wanted to learn this year in technology, their answers and first grade spelling were priceless.  Only a few understood the question, but hey on this screenshot if I can teach a 7 year old how to drive a garbage truck, it would be a year to remember!
                            
                       
What I learned from my very first try at screen casting with first graders:

• Less is more.  I always try to pack too much in.  Just the screencast would have been enough for their little minds.
• I have some strong readers and writers, but also some that will struggle when we start our typing program.
• They will always want to have free play.  
• It is going to be a long rewarding year.  
• Successful seamless navigation is my year long goal.  
• Teaching students to 'read' their screen, browser, tabs, and icons.
• Set high expectations and my kiddos will follow.  They amaze me everyday.   

                                                                    *Products used:
                                                                                   My student Google Site 
                                                                                   Google Forms
                                                                                   Screencast-o-Matic

“New technology is common, new thinking is rare.” – Sir Peter Blake

Is it Plugged In?

Is it plugged in?  These four words seem to be the answer to just about every question I have gotten these first two weeks of the school year.  My computer doesn't turn on, is it plugged in?  I can't connect to the Internet, is it plugged in?  My Promethean board is not working, is it plugged in?  Why won't the projector turn on, is it plugged in?  I should ask myself if I am plugged in as I am beginning to feel overworked and overwhelmed in the technology that surrounds me.  I am currently a teacher librarian, school technology specialist, and a technology teacher at an urban school in Denver.  It is amazing all these job titles can fit into one 6.75 hour school day, but I better get plugged in.  After nine years in an ever-changing job, I have come to learn and accept that you just cannot get everything done in one school day, in one calendar year, in one lifetime of teaching.  The reason is simple: change. 

I am embarking on change in my professional life as I have just started a second master's program, where I am hoping to gain the knowledge to push me further in my career with so many job titles.  I hope this two year experience will prepare me for what change is to come in the world of education.  I have hope that my students will benefit directly from what I am learning, and that we can grow and change together this school year in the world of online education.  This year I am teaching first grade technology as one of my sections and it will be the focus of this blog.  I want to broaden my knowledge of primary educational technology and bring what I have learned to others.  This is my first blog entry and I am hoping I begin to feel plugged in. 

“Technology offers us a unique opportunity, though rarely welcome, to practice patience.”
― Allan Lokos, Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living