K-8 Computer Lab Teachers

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Permalink Reply by Ruth Glenboski on April 20, 2008 at 9:09pm

I lived on the south side of Milwaukee and now I'm in Montgomery, AL. I think my good friend was the pastor at your school. Was it Fr. Alan? It's a small world isn't it. I do miss the lake and believe it or not - the snow.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Pal-Freeman on April 7, 2008 at 9:33pm

Greetings everyone,
I am new to teaching technology and may have a full time job lined up for next year and I am trying to get organized now if possible. I have aided in evaluating some items in the school's curriculum as a volunteer, but I need to put a plan together. We are looking at using the K to the 8th Power Program and then infuse it with integrated projects from the the core teachers (hopefully). I also plan on adding a few projects myself. We are a PC lab, although I would like to add a Mac (mini) and a Linux box (a restored PC from exile) to the lab for comparison and allow the kids to see and "feel" the differences.

Where do I start? I would like to at least try to plan out September. I see grades k-8 twice a week for an average of 35 minutes per class. Obviously, the first couple classes will be rules, expectations and assessment. But, after that where do you start? Netsmartz? refresh logging in? Keyboarding?

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Permalink Reply by Peggy Preston on April 8, 2008 at 2:14am

Chris - Welcome. I think you're on the right track. I always start out the year with Internet safety (using "Surf Swell Island" at the go.disney.com site with my first-fourth graders) and keyboarding ("Type to Learn 3" with my third/fourth graders and "Dance Mat Typing" with my first/second graders). The third/fourth graders have 15 minutes of keyboarding practice and the first/second grade have ten minutes each classtime. We use the Internet so much in class that I spend a lesson at the beginning of each quarter review Internet safety in some way. I also give the SRI (Scholastic Reading Inventory) the second or third week of the school year to all of my second through fourth grade students. Next we review word processing, presentations, and spreadsheets so we're ready to do projects throughout the year. I am using my www.teacherpage.com site (www.teacherpage.com/ppreston) as a portal so that my students can login to it and see their assignments for the day. Those who master the login can get started while I help those who need it. My principal often comments about the way the kids come in and get right to work. Of course, I do interrupt them with instructions/questions/direction periodically.

Congratulations on joining our ranks. I know you'll LOVE it! I sure do and this is twelfth year as a full-time computer instructor for grades K-4. I think you'll find that most kids really love working with computers so behavior interruptions are minimized. There are so many great projects and Internet resources out there, too.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Pal-Freeman on April 8, 2008 at 8:52am

Thanks for the welcome and the roadmap, I was leaning in a very similar direction. Do you base your curriculum on NETS? Why did you choose Surf Swell over Netsmartz or Cybersmart? I am still doing some evaluations and have yet to get to Internet safety.

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Permalink Reply by nstrehlow on April 8, 2008 at 7:41am

I agree with Peggy that you are on the right track. Netsmartz is a great site for internet safety and it is best to get some of the basics in up front when they are not too bogged down with testing etc. Please see my first post about a wonderful integrated project for your middle school students. It hits the upper levels of Bloom's revised taxonomy and allows the students to work in small groups yet be accountable with rubrics. I've had kids do this project with topics from Star Wars to ballet, robots to dogs. Last year one group did their project on the Phoenix Suns. Whatever interests them can be worked into math, science, etc. I have uploaded the description Power Point I show the kids first and the evaluation and rubric.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Pal-Freeman on April 8, 2008 at 8:56am

Thanks for the project idea, I am sure I will use it - since it is so flexible!

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Permalink Reply by Ruth Glenboski on April 12, 2008 at 6:31pm

Hi Chris,

I would love to hear from others what they think of K to the 8th power. We've used it at our school this year and I haven't heard one positive comment. The kids hate it. I'm not sure if it was the program or the fact that it was the only program used. We had a full-time computer teacher for many years until she moved away. Then it was the classroom teacher's responsibility to teach computer. This year we are sharing 1 computer between our Elementary, Middle and High School. The administration thought K to the 8th was the answer. It clearly wasn't and I'm making a change from 2nd grade to teaching computer full-time at the Elementary School next year.

I've found the information here to be very helpful and as soon as this school year is over, I'll begin planning for next year. I look forward to having the time to check out all of the great ideas I've found here.

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Tue on May 10, 2008 at 7:00am

Hi,
I just stumbled on this site and felt the need to join.
I had a free trial of K to the 8th power one year. Like most computer assisted programs, there has to be some background built with the students. We can't expect them to learn the computer with a computer and have no teacher. I liked it to reinforce what I taught, but I did not think it was worth the money.
A great resource for computer labs is Tammy Worcester. I have one of her books and have used many of the ideas. Most of them I have adapted from the original idea to what I need in my lab.

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Permalink Reply by Ruth Glenboski on May 11, 2008 at 8:57am

Nancy,
Thanks for your response. I don't think our program was used correctly this year. As I've been telling the kids that I'll be teaching computer next year, I've been asking them what they thought of K to the 8th, and they all said they hated it. They have already been so turned off that I can't even imagine using it for the positive aspects of it.

Thanks also for the info about Tammy Worcester. I'll be checking out her books.

Ruth

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Tue on May 12, 2008 at 5:04pm

What grades will you teach? I remember my first year in the lab. I wanted to be there, but when I walked in and saw 30 computers and no teachers manuals, I wondered what in the world I was going to do. I have to say that a bad day in the computer lab is better than the best day in the regular classroom.

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Permalink Reply by Ruth Glenboski on May 13, 2008 at 11:17am

Nancy,

I'll be teaching K-6th. I've taught 2nd grade for the past 9 years and 3rd grade for three years back before I had my children. I'm getting quite excited about teaching computer. I ordered one of the books from Tamy Worcester. I'm excited to check it out. I love what you said about a bad day in the computer lab is better than the best day in the regular classroom. Thanks for the smiles.

Ruth

Ruth

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Permalink Reply by George Somers on May 13, 2008 at 11:18am

Teacher's manuals. What are those? :) I'd be curious to see how many have a set curriculum/textbooks vs. how many are making up their own teaching resources. Or are we doing a mixture of both? I have an office applications book I used for graded 5-8 but that's it. The rest I create on my own based upon the curriculum guidelines from the Diocese are very much out of date. Basic programming? Who has time for that! :) I see my kids once a week so I have to pick my goals carefully.

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