K-8 Computer Lab Teachers

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Permalink Reply by Ruth Glenboski on May 13, 2008 at 11:29am

George

Which Diocese do you work for? I'm in the Archdiocese of Mobile in Alabama. In years past we had a great computer teacher and she created quite a file of wonderful lesson plans. When she moved out of town just a week or two before school started, the classroom teachers were left on their own to teach computer. Some of us were fine - but others were totally lost. Then last year we went to the K to the 8th and shared 1 computer teacher for three campuses. He suffered a heart attack in January and had complications after that and will not be returning. Fortunately our new president saw the need for a full-time computer teacher at the Elementary campus and that's going to be me. I have a lot of great ideas - I'm just a little concerned about implementing them. Oh well, that's what summer is for - right?

Ruth

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Permalink Reply by George Somers on May 13, 2008 at 12:22pm

Diocese of Fresno, CA. Our diocese of spread out geographically. Sharing teachers in near impossible. Budgets are tight and teacher positions may be cut due to a decrease in enrollment for this year. At this point, I have no reason to believe that I WON'T have a job next year but I have to keep my options open. Luckily, the principal is very supportive and realizes that getting rid of "the tech guy" would be like shooting themselves in the foot.

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Permalink Reply by Vicky S on April 8, 2008 at 9:15am

Hello all! I teach computers in a small K-8 private school in California. I see each grade twice a week. K-3 come for 25 minutes at a time, 4th & 5th have one 45 minute class and one 25 minute class, and 6th-8th have two 45 minute classes. I started the job this year and have been working on trying to figure out what works and what doesn't - both with the computers in our lab (6-7 year old Windows XP computers) and with the classes. My goal for next year is to try to integrate what we do in the computer lab more with the curriculum in the classroom if possible. I tried to do some of that this year but want to do more next year.

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Permalink Reply by Chrissy on April 14, 2008 at 6:54am

Welcome Vicky. I am in a similiar situation as you. I teach PreK-8 in a private school in IL.

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Permalink Reply by George Somers on April 14, 2008 at 10:11am

I would LOVE to see my K-8 kids (also in a K-8 Catholic School in California) twice a week. I only see them once a week. *sigh* It's just not enough. I have the 5-8 graders 45 min. each week with many interruptions in the schedule due to special events (we have a LOT of them). All other classes are 30 minutes.

On the subject on integration, I used to send the teachers a survey each month asking them what they were going to be working on that month. The teacher's appreciated that. Now, all our teachers have blogs, so I use those to find out what they are working on and, if I have questions, I ask them directly. The blogs have been such a benefit in unexpected ways.

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Permalink Reply by Linda Fitts on April 23, 2008 at 5:54am

Welcome Vicky, I teach as you do in a small private school. This is my 8th year and we have a finished curriculum guide with extended units. It has been a long process, particularly the Integration part. What ended up happening was me approaching teachers to suggest ways I could collaborate between what they do in the classroom and in my lab. One helpful way was to ensure I received a copy of all class newsletters,homework lists, calendars etc. Now that these are posted on our web site I just go in and plan from there. Some teachers embrace the collaboration and others think it is "too much" on top of their regular duties But inch by inch they see how it is such a positive outcome for the students.

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Permalink Reply by Vicky S on April 24, 2008 at 10:48am

Good idea on class newsletters and homeworks lists. I'll ask the teachers to give me these. I don't want to give the teachers more to do but would definitely like to get "into the loop" on what they're doing so I can try to integrate more.

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Permalink Reply by Linda Fitts on April 15, 2008 at 5:44pm

Hello all, I too am a K-8 Computer teacher. I work in a great small independent school. We have 2 labs that serve K-12. We are currently on the cycle to update computers in my lab. The question is... stay with Windows XP or go to Vista! Anyone using Vista? I would love to hear about the transition, network issues or differences in using Office, Type to Learn and other educational software. What works what does not?

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Permalink Reply by Chris Pal-Freeman on April 15, 2008 at 9:33pm

Greetings Linda,
I know that we are avoiding Vista and for as long as possible. There seems to still be to many quirks to support for our taste. We are and will continue to run XP Pro, Office 2003 and Server 2003. We have over 75 computers and 4 servers at this point, should we be forced to make a move, I will push for a transition to Mac unless a successor to Vista is in place. Especially with it's ability to run both operating systems.

However, if you are buying new equipment, Vista maybe your the only stock option. Check with your vendor for an XP option.

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Permalink Reply by Linda Fitts on April 16, 2008 at 8:14am

Chris,
thanks, your answer is in line with all others I have queried. Looks like we will purchase new PC's with XP pro and maybe have tha Vista license included. The switch to mac may be in our future....too!

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Permalink Reply by Ruth Glenboski on April 23, 2008 at 3:48am

Is anyone from this group attending NECC in San Antonio?

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Tue on May 10, 2008 at 6:54am

I just found this group and yes I will be attending the NECC in San Antonio. My family and I will make a vacation out of it.

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