Tag Archives: middle school

07/15/13

Just the facts, ma’am.

Today in class a discussion led to yet another shift in thought that made things harder, not easier, but for the better. As mentioned previously, I’ve been grappling mentally with the closure of all middle schools in our district. The funny part is that when I was first sent to do my practicum in a middle school, I was upset. I was secondary educated, and didn’t understand why I was being sent to a middle school. Middle might have been replaced with a few strategic symbols at that point.

I survived my practicum and went on to have three contracts in a row at that same middle school. Much of that school shaped who I am as a teacher today, some for the better, some for the worse. I left the school for a year to return to the high school that we fed, the high school from which I’d graduated. Heading back to the middle school this year felt different after having been in high school, but it felt good to be back in with that age group.

Throughout the year, the district held consultations regarding the upcoming budget and potential changes. We lacked a school board, having been fired by the provincial government upon refusal to submit a balanced budget. Recent years have been rough in our district, faced with declining numbers and a huge physical area to cover. Some areas of the district lack courses needed for graduation and entry into university, leading to students spending long periods of time on buses.

I made a sarcastic crack one day that the secret plan was to turn our school into a French immersion elementary. Little did I know that I was correct. Public outcry forced the withdrawal of the French immersion plan, but in the end my middle school became an elementary school. While we still taught our kids, dump trucks tore up our field, workmen measured to put in new bathrooms, remove lockers, and change the doorknobs. I helped our librarian sort and pack the library to be shipped off to different locations in order to make room for less shelves, and younger books.

I loved that library. I once had it for a few months while our teacher-librarian was on leave. We remained close, and I would almost daily visit on my prep and talk books and resources. I harboured a not so secret dream of having the library again. That was not meant to be.

Where did all of this get me today? When starting to create my presentation, it was entirely lacking in emotion or connection. It’s rather funny to think about. I’m trying to write about why students should be connected, in an entirely disconnected manner.

I learned that my school was gone through Twitter. I’d like to weave this into my narrative, bring the personal and emotional side into my advocacy. Hopefully it will make it stronger.

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07/2/13

First Day, First Post

1. What policies govern your uses of ICT in your school setting?

With all responses, I’m going to be speaking in past tense.  As of Friday, my district no longer has middle schools, and having worked in a middle school, it is no more.  At  this point, I don’t know where I’ll be in September.

There has been both an increase and decrease in ICT in our school district.  While more workshops are being offered, district Pro-D days have had a tech focus, teachers are being encouraged to use technology more than ever, yet one of our district tech positions was cut, the person who worked directly with teachers.  We still have a district principal of technology, although much of what he does is a mystery to the average teacher.

There really aren’t many policies that govern our use.  From time to time an issue has cropped up, and an email is sent out to the district to enlighten us on how to deal with a problem.  Also at the district level are occasional emails offering workshops, often in relation to Apple products.  Our  district is firmly pushing Apple in all areas.  At the school level, we would sometimes get schoolwide emails that asked us not to use something (Safari) and to use something else (Firefox).  As mentioned in class, we had an incident with a student recording a teacher and publishing it on YouTube, yet we still did not firmly establish any guidelines or policies, and the event remained a mystery to most staff.

2. What digital technological resources do you have available for teaching and learning in your school setting?

We previously had access to two computer labs, both Macs.  There was a possibility of requesting something to be added to the computers (an app), although this wouldn’t necessarily happen.  Our school librarian ran the school website, which contained subject area links, along with links to teacher/class websites.  One of those labs contained a projector for use in display, while in both Remote Desktop no longer worked for sharing screens.  The plan had been to replace one of the labs with a cart of iPads.

Outside of the lab, most classrooms had one or two former library computers, which were little good beyond basic web surfing and word processing.  Every classroom had a projector and document camera.  Most teachers had a school laptop that could be connected to the projector.  With that, we had reasonable access to a range of sites, with some blocked (Facebook, Lego?????).  It did make it problematic at times to access some resources.  Thankfully Twitter was not  blocked.  Smart Boards were in three classrooms.

Through the library, teachers and students could access iPads, digital cameras, and iPods.

We had schoolwide wifi available for all.

3. Please provide an example of an exemplary use of digital technologies for teaching and learning that you have observed or experienced personally.

I struggled with this question.  Adoption of digital technologies has been somewhat slow in our area.  Within our school, teacher age is significantly older, with many nearing retirement and not necessarily willing to try out new technologies.  One class this year was a pilot program using technology, but the closure meant that we didn’t learn much of their experiences.

At another school, I learned much from a fellow teacher who really awoke me to the use of iPads.  He kept copies of assignments on his iPad, student videos, bookmarked useful links, used it to run slideshows for the kids, do attendance and instantly send a copy of student attendance home, and much more.  Much of what I do is based on his practices.  I try and keep my iPad like his magical treasure box, always full, always ready.

4. Please provide an example of a problematic use of digital technologies for teaching and learning that you have observed or experienced personally.

The most problematic use in my experience was a lack of use.  An example would be Chris Hadfield, on Twitter.  During that time I hadn’t taken a contract and was TOCing.  Within our school, not a single class that I visited had been following Chris’ tweets.  Most students didn’t know who he was.  It was such a loss of an educational opportunity.

Related to this would be using it, but not really teaching students how to use it.  An example would be a slideshow we watched on the last day.  A student created it, and it was lovely.  However, it was clear that the student didn’t really know how to use the program.  She knew how to drag in pictures, how to drag in music, but nothing beyond that.  The pictures kept starting and ending in strange places (it used the Ken Burns effect), which detracted from what it tried to do.  She knew the very basics of the program, but didn’t really know how to use it.

5. Please provide a brief history of how you learned to use digital technologies (personally and professionally).

My first computer was a Commodore 64.  I started using the internet as soon as it was available to us in our high school, and created my own website using books for reference (!!!!).  I’ve always been interested and willing to learn.  I’ve done some professional development, such as the CUEBC conference, but much is self taught through trial and error and research.  I’m also open to what I can learn from my peers, and what I can learn from students.

6. How would you rate your digital technological proficiency? 0 = low level of proficiency -> 10 = high level of proficiency? Why did you give yourself this rating?

8-9?  I’m willing to try new things, which usually leads to learning.  I help and teach others, which also helps reinforce my skills.  I’m active on Facebook and Twitter, publish my own videos to YouTube, am considering trying out podcasting, am constantly trying out new ways of using iPads in the classroom, have my own blogs, and use the internet as a main method of communication with peers and friends around the world.  However, with how much technology expands day to day, it’s nigh on impossible to keep up!

7. What do you hope to accomplish in this course?

I’d like to learn more on how to incorporate ICT into a library, and support classroom teachers on the use of ICT.  I believe our schools have lacked any drive in doing so, and the library is a great place to move that forward.

 

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