At the beginning of this assignment I struggled because I did not know where or how to start. I did the reading; printed the articles Dr. Schroeder gave us links to; highlighted the things I thought were important. However, I continued to have difficulty with understanding the assignment. Then, I finally had a friend sit me down and explain it to me. It was like a light bulb went off and I couldn’t stop!
My presentation was created with Haiku Deck. This app was easy to use, but I prefer PowerPoint (PP) because of the customization features. I had trouble with the picture editor, nothing major, just a nuisance to me. I understand the reasoning behind my class using Haiku Deck. Inserting too much data on a PP slide is something I have witnessed many times. Nevertheless, in my opinion, PP is more user-friendly.
Since August 13th, I have been working a long-term substitute position at Cedar Ridge Middle School (CRMS). Considering my past experiences with teaching computer/technology classes, I am familiar with the digital divide/digital inequality. I just never knew there was a clinical name for what I knew!
What I have discovered while being at CRMS, is that the students have an inability to navigate the Internet. My teaching experience has been mostly high school students; so by the time they reach me this has not been an issue. Being in the middle school classroom has been an eye-opener in the fact that I have had to back track and start fresh with them. When I receive my next full-time teaching position I plan to begin the school year with basic technology skills. I have discovered I can not take ANYTHING for granted when it comes to the educating my students.
I wrote about the three main issues I have been witnessing while I have been working at CRMS. Follow this link and have a look at my presentation.
I would love to hear your feedback!
Jaci Prance: EDTECH Learning Log 
Hi Jaci,
I, too, felt the pinch of Haiku Deck. I think the guidelines pushed me to make my presentation too simple. Your presentation is well planned and executed.
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You nailed it when with that part about students not knowing how to bookmark an important page. I said a similar thing in my presentation. Students can text, post images to social networks, and tweet but cannot do the basics when it comes to productivity or learning. Well done with the presentation. A couple of those images are pretty badly pixelated though. Maybe find a bigger version or something that looks better.
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Great presentation. You made great points. I love using technology, but when the connection is not reliable, your classroom instruction comes to a screeching halt. Sometimes it isn’t that you don’t have a connection, but there is not enough bandwidth. When that happens, you stare at the “beach ball of death” because the Internet is “slow.” Also, I think teaching the students how to navigate the Internet is essential. Many schools are still teaching a semester of keyboarding. I think spending time on the points you brought up about computer literacy would have a huge impact on the students.
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Great points Jaci! I know my 6th graders have used computers pretty regularly throughout elementary school, but there are so many basic skills they are missing. It really is a whole separate curriculum I need to teach alongside my content.
Sometimes I wonder about the thinking of “higher-ups” in regards to technology. If you have an infrastructure that can’t support the net use of the teachers, why give netbooks to every student? It is like sticking a small, but really cool and expensive, band-aid on a gushing wound.
Our internet is pretty reliable for normal use, but during testing times (one of our state assessments is an online test) only the classrooms testing can be online. And only a certain number of those because we don’t have the infrastructure to support more. This puts a damper on the rest of the school- for about six or seven weeks out of the year.
It’s great that you are using this teaching assignment to help prepare you for the next one. All experiences help us become better teachers!
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