Moving Along...

As the 2nd week of school comes to a close, I'm hopeful. None of the computers have been broken... well, by the kids, at least. The student logins are working properly... well, the ones I can find, anyhow. The network hasn't gone down in the middle of our work... yet. :)

The kids have set up their Online Math Journals and created their "First Post." That was the title: "My First Post." Not the most creative, but I really wanted anyone that reads them to know it really was their first post!

They have also been using Excel to keep track of their daily Warm-Up scores. Much to my surprise and delight, a few students have even commented on their progress throughout the week while looking at their spreadsheets! ("Look, Ms. M! I started with a 74 on Monday and look! I've gone up each day!" Come ON! Does it get much better than that?! Wait'll we create graphs of that progress!)

Having the Internet at their fingertips has been great! Yesterday, I mentioned to one of the kids that his homework was as beautiful to me as the Mona Lisa. When I heard, "What is the Money Lisa?" from the other side of the room, I literally jumped up and down with excitement as I shouted, "GOOGLE IT!!!" We learned the Mona Lisa is a famous painting, housed in the Louvre in Paris, France. A little social studies in math? Heck, yeah! :) (Incidentally, the kids agreed. His homework was just as beautiful... just "in a different way!")

I think the biggest plus so far to having laptops and wireless access in my room is the fact that I was able to schedule MAP testing for my kids for when it was convenient for us, not when it fit in the schedule. We'll be taking it tomorrow and I think being in the familiar, comfortable surroundings of our classroom will do wonders for their anxiety levels, and in turn, their scores. We shall see, right?

The First Week...

Here I am, half-way through the first week. I've discovered a few things in the few short days that school has been in session.

First, those Boy Scouts know what they're talking about! However, their piece of advice: "Be prepared," should really have an asterisk. The truth is, one can only be somewhat prepared, especially when you are only one of 100 in a building and thousands in a district! As someone once told me, the world does not, in fact, revolve around me. (No matter how much I'd like to think it does!) No matter how prepared you think you are, something will always come up that you were not anticipating! Which, by the way, leads to my next discovery...

Flexibility is key. If you planned to work on Internet skills using your Online Classroom as an example website and find that it's blocked for students, even though you requested it be unblocked (only to discover it was unblocked... for teachers), make sure you have a back-up site!

Finally, know right from the beginning, you'll be in for some really late nights! Registering your students for their e-mail and blog accounts, creating Tech Cards (cards with all of their login and password information on them) for each student, planning for the next day, and planning a back-up option for the next day all takes time. A lot of it. I suggest an investment in a great coffee maker and go heavy on the grounds!

With all of that said, I can tell you this: when you see how excited your kids get the first time they power up that laptop and how their attention is focused on every syllable that comes out of your mouth (because you've already warned them, if they can't follow the rules and pay attention, they'd be working from a math book instead of a laptop), it'll all be worth it. This is going to be a great year! I can just feel it! :)

The Adventure Begins...

A month before school begins, I sit here with a million ideas swirling around in my head. My district invested A LOT of money in me and my classroom; I need to seriously be on-point from the second school starts!

I have some worries: Will my wireless access be up and running when I need it to be (meaning, Day 1)? Will the other teachers in my school be as upset that they aren't introducing a "model classroom" as I'm afraid they will be? Will I really affect change around here, which is my ultimate goal? How can I conduct a real study and not leave some of my students out? The list goes on...

To keep some small amount of sanity, I'll follow two pieces of advice. The first comes from one of the instructors I had during my Master's program: "Just take it step by step." The other comes from the Boy Scouts: "Be prepared."

My first step, which I'm working on now, is to create my curriculum map and gather my technology resources for each unit. I have 1001 ideas that now need to be organized - I'm glad I have a month for this!

Let the adventure begin...