Professional Learning Plan
Burris Elementary School
Initial Thoughts
I think that throughout the rest of the semester my partner and I need to work on ways to help the teachers in these ways:
· Find them a quality key boarding site other than dance mat typing
· Look into classroom management apps
· Learn how to make a podcast (QuickTime)
· Multiplication and division review apps for 4th grade
· Beneficial games for the students to work on
· Teach them about different presentation options for students
· Show how to use iBook versus paper books
· Find ways that work best for them to get in contact with parents (Twitter, Facebook, Blogs)
Narrative
Examples:
Math Multiplication & Division apps
Multiplication & division app
4th Grade Math Concepts app
Multiplication app
Creating Podcasts
Sites that we looked at to get in contact with parents
Keyboarding Websites That I Found
http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/keyboarding_games.html
This site has typing and educational games available.
This is a basic keyboarding website that will allow you to work on different basic skills.
http://powertyping.com/qwerty/lessonsq.html
This allows you to take short tests in order to measure your words per minute. What is also nice about this website is that it gives you a grade based on your efforts on the test. You have the ability to re-test and improve your grade. Also at the bottom of the page there is a metronome you can use to help you establish a rhythm while you type.
http://www.freetypinggame.net/play.asp
Seven different cool games to help you become better at typing.
Additional Web Resources That We Reviewed Throughout The Semester :
Zoo Burst
Digital Storytelling website with 3D videos
VoiceThread
Students work together to create visual presentations with video, images, and audio
Wikis
All users can create content, upload files, and discuss/edit pages and ideas
Prezi
Allows multiple users to edit the presentation
Padlet
Allows teachers create a website that others can add virtual sticky notes to informs of text, images, or video
Building Language for Literacy:
http://teachers.scholastic.com/activities/bll/index.htm
Interactive games for students where they can name words, identify letters, and identify rhyming words when reading aloud to them
Kideo Player:
Kid-friendly way to view videos, watch the video by pressing the space bar and skip through videos with one click
What I learned about the complexity of technology integration
Throughout the semester I found that integrating technology in the classroom can be a lot more difficult than I thought. For example The teachers that I worked with were very hesitant about having a class or parent twitter account or Facebook account. They did not feel that it was school appropriate. I can understand why they took into account how these types of social medias could make them look as a teacher because you hear about a lot of negative stories involving social media.
There was also an issue with time and battery life. The teachers often did not have enough time to install and look up all the apps that they wanted or needed for their students. I think that sometimes we forget how much time teacher invest and at the end of the day they do not want to sit and download the same app on 22 different iPads.
Battery life can be another problem when trying to integrate technology into the lesson. Students often show up to class with little to no battery life left on their iPads. This can definitely put a kink in your lesson plans for the day. Having back up lesson plans is also another consuming time factor that teachers now days have to consider.
Overall, the teachers that I worked with knew a lot about technology and were more than willing to put in the extra time if needed. These are very dedicated teachers who knew what would and wouldn't work for them and their students and weren't. After a semester of talking about integrating technology and providing them with as many resources as I could I feel that they are supplied with more knowledgeable about different aspects of technology integration.