Word Walls 2.0

I tried a new way of doing word walls with this unit. I used the application Cmaps. This allows students to create word walls on their own, incorporate the essential questions of the lesson and unit, and construct a meaningful graphic organizer using vocabulary. Here's an example.
Why use Cmaps and not Inspiration or PowerPoint? Because Cmaps allows multiple students to work on a Cmaps all at a time in real time. I can have a group of four students all working on the same one, and each student can see in real time where the other is moving a word or what they are typing in.

There are some troubles with this however. It is (apparently) a bit more difficult for students to grasp. First, it takes some experience just to get to the Cmaps for my class, making it difficult for the non-computer-savvy students to get started. Second, students tend to rush through things instead of reading the instructions carefully, making them miss significant details and require teacher troubleshooting.

I believe once we get used to it as a class, the students will actually get behind it, especially when we can actually link each word wall to every other one, and create a course-long hyperlinked Cmap that organizes all of the vocabulary and essential questions for the entire course. Either way, it sure beats using a wall and just throwing them up there.

Lab Reports - the old-ish way

Yesterday students conducted lab where they had to figure out how long it would take each of them to walk to Clipper Magazine Stadium from PVHS. They could use the internet to come up with a hypothesis, but they had to actually measure their speed (or other essential data) to calculate their individual time. Inquiry labs are great and I think they worked really well and were engaged. Then came lab report time.

Lab reports are always difficult because you have students in a group who are trying to write one report as a group together, but they can only use one computer at a time. This is indeed frustrating, given that as of now they have no way to send the text to each other and they all have to crowd around one screen for the most part. This can also leave some students (non-leaders) hanging out distracted in the background, not contributing.

Hopefully, using Google Docs, which allows all students in the group to work on a shared document online all at the same time, will work out better. Also, once we have a gmail account for each student, they will have a better line of communication between them. I'll also be more able to assist and formatively assess their work. Here's hoping google starts soon.

1st HW Assignment

First homework assignment was to find a unit that had an odd name, such as the smoot. Students did pretty well with this and I got some really neat answers. The success rate of doing this homework was much much higher than in previous years because of the fact that all students had laptops.

Searching for Answers

I gave the freshmen a worksheet that had 15 different unit-related terms (meter, density, etc.) with 15 definitions for them to match up to. First person done (with all answers correct) wins. They were given the option to use their laptops as well. It was very interesting to see how they did this. Here are some of my observations:

• The student who won actually used the computer for each and every question. She stood out, I believe, because she could type fast and seemed to know how to search.
• Another student, who came in second place, did what I would have done. He tried matching the terms with the definitions first WITHOUT the laptop, and then used the laptop for the terms he couldn't figure out.
• Some students got lost or were way behind because they automatically went the computer, assuming it would make the task easier. Instead, they couldn't search well, type well, or process information quickly enough to make the computer advantageous to them.
  

Lesson learned? Next time I'll have the students try the worksheet for 5 minutes or so without the use of the laptop, and THEN let them use it, making them think a little bit more with their brain, instead of the computer. Also, students need to learn when to use the computer vs. their brain. I think this lesson might be learned as they get more experience, but I'll continue to process this with them. This was a very interesting activating strategy, especially since I learned so much about how the students think.

Tech Frustrations

Here's looking forward to the new MacBooks for the freshmen...
Despite all the best efforts, there were some complications regarding the use of the Windows laptop carts this first week of school before the freshmen get their MacBooks, including:

• About 1 in 10 laptops simply would not allow students to sign on, wasting time by forcing them to shut down and then start up a new laptop.
• Many students "forgot" their Edline username and/or password, and thus slowed down in getting things done because their information had to be reset. Funny thing...some students claimed they had "never been on Edline in the four years [I've] been here." hmph.
• Some general lack of knowledge of how to use computers, but that's what I'm here to teach.
• How to have all of my information for my classes in one spot, simplifying how students and parents access vital class info.
• Coordinating the use of laptop carts among teachers.
  

All in all, I'm looking forward to having MacBooks for the freshmen, thus hopefully providing them some consistency with hardware, software, and usernames/passwords.

Of course, I can't write the negative aspects of these carts without expressing also the overall positive impact they have had on engaging students, and all the hard work the Tech Dept. has put into getting these laptops moving and rolling out. Thanks Tech Guys and Gals! Keep being awesome!

Planning and Prep

So how do I go about making 1-1 computing work in my classroom and be able to show how much it improves student learning? Here are SOME of my thoughts (a lot of them are on sticky notes around my desk and rattling around in my brain):
1. What should I use as an avenue for student work, communication, etc.?
I'm going to try using Google - It seems to have everything I need (wikis, blogs, forms, email, Earth, scholar, etc.) and since students are getting gmail accounts through the school, setting this up should work really well. The students would also be able to bring this account with them to other classes, to the next grade, and even into their life after school.
2. I plan on having more authentic, project-based assessments
3. More to come later...it's midnight