Gamplan for Teaching with a Learning Center
This post will be completed when I meet with my seven teachers later this morning. I am going to ask them to do three things:
- Use my message board to brainstorm teaching with technology concerns
- Use my message board to brainstorm solutions to those concerns
- Use this blog to create a Gameplan of ideas from teachers – not just from me
- I will use the comment section of my blog to formulate the gameplan – the teachers can then link to it as a guide or print it out.
To be continued…..
I am an Educational Computing Strategist (ECS). I figure out ways to IMPROVE education with technology. 
My Web site
August 2nd, 2007 at 12:03 pm
These are the solutions offered by my workshop participants: (I compiled these from my message board)Navigate: you set up the computer and then take baby steps to release that task to the students
let the techy buff teach the others (or just get them there at first)
From: anonymous Aug 1, 07 11:58
I was thinking of a stick with numbers sort of system ( I dunno).. somthing that as a space opens on the computer, the next person goes…have to think it through.. then no one gets done “early.. all working on a collection of “stuff”
From: anonymous Aug 1, 07 12:00
The teacher’s center could offer a “continuing my teacher pages” course in each catalog that would give us 3-6 hours every few months to allow us to work on our website, get new links, use the info so we don’t forget it ,keep us and our pages updated. A “refresher” course of this one!!
From: anonymous Aug 1, 07 12:00
ask them to help others; have the next or another assignment for them to begin; allow them “free” time (online activity/game or reading silently)
keyboarding skills requires practice, practice, practice! they do not need to have the keys memorized, just be able to recognize the letters first & work into faster more precise typing skills
sometimes students know more than we do when it comes to computers/technology so if you get stuck, ask a student who might be able to help
From: anonymous Aug 1, 07 12:01
I have many of these same concerns and am unsure of how to reply anymore…
From: anonymous Aug 1, 07 12:01
Giving a “taste” of some of the activities as a group lesson should encourage students to want to go home and pull up the activities on their own time.
From: anonymous Aug 1, 07 12:02
Make a poster to send home to parents that shows them what is on your site and how to access it.
Use the “reliable” lab computers to do instruction and use the classroom computers as a learning center – let the kids choose
If a computer freezes, teach the kids to do an “off computer” activity – a different center
In the lab, there will be a support person – teach the lesson with the support person watching – practice makes perfect. If something freezes, make sure that person tells you what they did to fix the issue
Give Chris or Michelle a lesson objective and have them design it for you – that is part of their job description – don’t feel like you are putting them out.
Talk to Melanie about setting up staff development days – per grade level – where we can explore sites in depth to include in our curriculum.
To see if everyone is doing the same thing in a grade level – get Chris or Michelle to attend monthly grade level meetings to discuss technology.
Resolve: you will never catch up to technology. Take on a specific thing at at time – creating a learning center is a good first step. Do you know how to cook Italian, Greek, Mexican, Polish, Japanese, Chinese…. There is too much to know and much of it is not necessary.
From: anonymous Aug 1, 07 12:02
I understand the concern for using Sup. Atten. days as curriculum time however, don’t we have a Curr. Cord. to do that too?
WE NEED MORE DAYS TO LEARN ABOUT TECH. or more teacher center courses.
The district need to stop looking at the primary school as just “babies” and realize THIS IS WHERE ALL THEIR LEARNING BEGINS. We need updated equipment not just the hand me downs from other schools.
From: anonymous Aug 1, 07 12:03
If students finish the computer work before others I would suggest using your typical independent follow-up activity choices. It does not have to be on the computer–just use your traditional ones.
To check student understanding from the computer you can create quizzes or simply hold a class discussion and do an informal evaluation.
It would be great if you could have more than one computer in your classroom or you can try to schedule computer lab time for some of your classes. Also the students can be assigned homework on the computer, but yes, it is difficult when not all children have a computer in their home yet.
Finding time to set up lessons and be ready to teach using the computer is always a difficult challenge for me too. But maybe we can set up a Staff Dev. day where our grade levels can work together to develop lessons and activities using the computer so they are ready to use. This way we will be given the time to achieve what we never have the time to do on our own.
From: anonymous Aug 1, 07 12:03
If a student gets finished early have them read a book or work on the seat work they haven’t finished. Have more computers in class or try to find time in the lab. Borrow lessons from other teachers’ sites. We need more tech instruction during Staff development days and Teacher center courses (but then only a few attend).