Sigh of Relief

Whew! It is such a relief to have my TIP lesson behind me now. Not only that, it was such a great learning experience to have undergone this semester. It was an absolute hit and I have so much to reflect upon.

The morning was rather smooth and relatively easy for me. I showed up early (because you should always be prepared if something goes wrong with the technology, but also give yourself enough time to set it up if it is working) and Mrs. W (the science teacher in 5th grade at GE) was setting up the Smart Board with her projector, the laptop and the speakers and let me help. There was lots of excitement and energy in the air as Ms. M came in as well and we made sure everything was in order. I got to orient the Smart Board and make sure that there were enough logs for each captain - or student.

The kids in the 5th grade I have come to be really familiar with and many of them recognized me from seeing me around GE as well as substitute teaching - which made things simple. They were all pretty tired and sleepy and Ms. W told me that usually her first block is pretty easy because they aren't yet alert enough to cut up - haha. Both she and Ms. M had talked about the expectations for the day - working with me and following directions and rules the day before, and the stage was set for me to teach.

The flow of the lesson was smooth, I thought. I introduced myself and the topic, talked about the objectives we were working towards, modeled the use of the quest and log for them to see what was required, let them choose partners and get going on their laptops and then they did the rest of the work. Afterwards I pulled the class together for a few minutes at the end to wrap up - and everything was done.

Of course, there had to be a snafu - one of the videos that the students were directed to and needed to watch to answer a question on their log was not working, and it was the one I clicked on and tried to use as a model before the students got started. It was not a major disaster, other than a bit embarassing and confusing, but I learned right away taht flexibility is key in situations like that. Mrs. W immediately exclaimed, "No problem. If that happens we'll just skip it and then tomorrow watch it as a class and fill in the answer." I was amazed at how relaxed she was - as I was quite confused as to why this was taking place. When the students got a chance to pull up the video on their laptops - some could see the video and others could not. When DP (my technology professor who was observing the lesson) was able to fiddle with things we realized that if the video was opened in a different browser (Firefox and not Safari) that everything was fine - and we informed the kids of how to take care of it.

In terms of the Smart Board, I still need a lot of practice using it - now that I know how. I am completely aware of what it can do and how to make it happen, but just the sensitivity of the touch, scrolling, closing windows and things like that weren't instantaneously working and I found myself going to the laptop on the cart and using the mouse instead. It's hard to break habits and when we are using something new not to resort to an easier way. It's much more beneficial for the students to see you up at the front using your finger to indicate certain things on the SmartBoard, instead of leaning over the computer trying to indicate where things are. I am going to try to get a little bit more use under my belt.

I do have to say that the students were well behaved. I didn't have any conflict between partners or any acting out or being off task, really. Mrs. W informed me that letting them pick their own partners was a good idea and I went with it. Apparently when you assign partners, some students feel like it's a punishment instead of just a setup for interaction, and partners are made to feel bad or can be left out of certain situations. This way, in letting them have choice, I am letting them know that there is trust I have given them in being responsible on their own (they are 5th graders) and they choose to keep it.

Along with their great behavior and cooperation, the students were excited. The excitement probably was what kept them from cutting up, and it really rang true on Thursday that engagement is effective. These students didn't care to do anything else because they were interested in the topic, they had work to get done, it was appropriate for their learning levels and styles and they were being supported by three teachers at a time. My favorite moment of the entire day was most definitely when I heard a pair of students reading the directions for the quest in pirate voices to each other. : )

With three teacher circulating the room, we had plenty of adults that were there for assistance and clarification. While I thought that the instructions and directions to navigate each site were written out in very clear plain language there were still students who needed help finding answers, or not sure where exactly to click. I saw myself being a bit of a control freak and wanting to just do it for them, put my finger on the laptop and click the mouse or move it where it needed to be, instead of orally telling them where to go and click. I need to watch that - if I'm not careful I won't be enabling my students and I will be taking the attention away from them and their need to find the information. Modeling is great, but you have to allow students a chance to practice it too.

In terms of the partners, I saw how well it worked and I also saw some of the flaws as well. I thought that students picking their own partners was great because the ESL students wanted to work together (they spend so much time together) and the higher and lower students were matched almost at the same level as their peer. However, some of the partners weren't waiting for the other person. In a few examples, one of the partners found all of the answers and the other partner just copied off of his log - and in this case I was trying to get the one partner to slow down and the two to work together to make sure that they were reading the whole website, talking to each other and trying to make it a search, not just a meaningless copying worksheet. I think that it would be really different if you gave each person their own laptop and log and had them find the information on their own. You'd lose the interaction aspect, but at the same time you'd have each person really taking ownership of their own information and experience. Just a thought...

The beauty of the webquest (or one of the many beauties) is the relaxed pace. These students knew they were on a mission to learn and find out about something, but those that didn't finish could finish it the next day and had as much time as they needed to do a thorough job. The ones who wizzed through it and were speedy readers and writers were also given extensions to take care of. There were bonus websites at the end of the quest for them to explore on their own. None of the students got that far while I was there, but a few pairs did finish the entire quest in the time allotted. I am curious to hear how Mrs. W set up class the next day for some students to finish the quest and still have to manage the students who were already done.

It was really exciting to be doing something different with these kids, and you can tell that the school thought so too! The Principal and Vice Principal popped in to see how the lesson was going (I'm assuming they heard about it) and were walking around the room talking to kids and peeking over their shoulders at the webquest on the screen - what an honor! One of the teachers next door to Mrs. W's room was asking all about the quest - quite jealous that we didn't do one in his social studies class. The Technology support teacher at the school later in the afternoon asked about the quest and wanted a copy of it for her own records - so exciting! It was great to have so many adults and for these students to know how special that day in science was. They could tell that they were part of something very special and took it very seriously.

I didn't realize how experienced Mrs. W is with Technology - she used to teach the Smart Board class in a northern Virginia school district and uses the Smart Board every day in her science classroom. She was such a trooper to let me invade her classroom, and I would love to use her as a resource in the future.

The lesson was great because I didn't just hand these students and assignment, but I tried to make it really relevant and accessible by teaching the whole group both before and after the Quest. Before they got started I felt like it was important to know what they were getting into, and for them to be familiar with me. I used the objectives to let them know their goals so that they could be aware of their own learning and keep track of their progress. Afterwards I tried to wrap up the lesson by coming back to these. I had them hold up their pencil for any of the objectives I read aloud that they worked on or worked towards - and I think it made them feel good to kind of "check" them off. I also had them raise their hands and share one thing they learned about oceans. The responses were really diverse and really amazing to see. It reminded me and reminded them that they worked hard and had something to walk away with. I felt a little bit cheesy, but I think that the whole group was important to have in front of the Smart Board. I am excited to see the vast differences (Hopefully!) between their pre and post tests and think they are going to be impressed as well.

One of the main reasons I wanted to do the objectives for the group (something that I don't think they had seen before) was to support the ESOL learners in the room, the other focus of my project. It was interesting to combine my ESL practicum and technology TIP project because there were so many different priorities going on. I think that the ESOL students thrived just as much as their peers during the quest. Often times ESOL teaching strategies can really benefit an English-speaking student - visuals, videos, copying from a model, talking things out loud with a partner to understand and clarify in explanation, and key vocabulary words. Mrs. W made a comment about using the objectives and how she doesn't always do so before and after a lesson, but I have seen Ms. M do it time and time again and know that her ESOL students preferred the routine procedure before diving right into an assignment. I am still trying to figure out a way to incorporate this into the flow of teaching a lesson without it seeming like the teacher is reading off of the board, and liked having a chance to try it during the TIP lesson.

All in all, smooth sailing (no pun intended!) for the Oceans Webquest - and the only thing between me and finishing up this placement is my digital story!