Hello Class!
I have passed out a lot of corrected work this week. Please do not just recycle your hard work- take a look at it and then pass it on to your parents. By checking my comments and marks you can get an idea of how you are doing in class and at home. While many of you have made a great effort so far, I know we can still do better. I know the work can be confusing sometimes- reread directions, ask a friend, or try paying a little more attention in class. Let's keep working as hard as we can. Ask me if you have any questions.
Mr. Robinson
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Sunday, August 26, 2007
The school year is underway!
Hello students!
I think the year is off to a great start. While I can see that you have learned a lot in 4th grade, I have noticed a few things we need to work on in order to get ready to use more technology. I want us to work on our typing skills. Faster typing will help a lot of your computer become easier. I think games would be the most fun way to practice, but we will also be typing up some of our writing too. I am also putting up a poll- that is a type of survey where you can answer a question and everyone can see what others answered too. Do not worry- I do not know which answer you picked! Thanks for reading the blog. If you would like to leave a comment, please do!
I think the year is off to a great start. While I can see that you have learned a lot in 4th grade, I have noticed a few things we need to work on in order to get ready to use more technology. I want us to work on our typing skills. Faster typing will help a lot of your computer become easier. I think games would be the most fun way to practice, but we will also be typing up some of our writing too. I am also putting up a poll- that is a type of survey where you can answer a question and everyone can see what others answered too. Do not worry- I do not know which answer you picked! Thanks for reading the blog. If you would like to leave a comment, please do!
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Welcome New Students!
Back to school! Just the sound of those words means big changes. Whether you are a returning student, parent, or just a visitor to this blog, I am glad you found it. For students, your first day of school will be testing, PE, and some games. It is not really a true first day, as the normal routines of our class won't begin until Friday. I'll probably be pretty nice, and I won't enforce tough rules unless I need to. So, act like a 5th grader should, and we'll have an awesome first few days.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Repeat: 3 Lessons, 3 Results
Yeah, this is the same blog post I put on the Global Learners main page.
I know it has been several days since school ended, but I wanted to relate the results of three technology-oriented lessons I taught during the last three days of school. To a degree they illustrate the great benefits and unexpected pitfalls of the pioneering lessons we are trying. I did sort of tack these lessons on, but I really wanted to put some of what we are learning into practice. So, starting with the most successful first...
The last lesson I did with my students was a year-end final quiz using the Clickers student-response system. Everything about this activity, well, clicked. I finally figured out how to configure my laptop so it worked with the projector, and the 20 questions were clearly displayed. The students worked in groups of three, sharing a remote, so that they could discuss and cooperate on answers. They were engaged, everything worked, and my final day with this fifth grade class was mighty fine.
The next-to-last lesson involved the hidden text feature we Global Learners discovered was part of Microsoft Word. I distributed laptops to each student and they were able to log on to the internet, where I had planned on showing them how to download the document from the Global Learners Enhancing Education Through Technology website. However, for some inexplicable reason, the students working on wireless laptops could not load the page. We tried typing in the exact address, but a blank screen persisted. Other websites worked just fine. Then I tried typing in the address of the page with the document on it, and that would load, so we were able to download the document. Yet the hiccups were not finished. I did demonstrate how to use and write with the hidden text, but my students had a lot of formatting issues. They spent more time trying to get their text correctly set then they did thinking about the content of the assignment. For example, when a student would backspace to fix a mistake, Word would automatically convert the font into hidden text, hiding their work. Bit of a headache, but everyone managed to finish.
Which brings me to the first lesson I tried, which was a mild disaster. I intended for my students to use an activBook lesson that taught them how to use Excel to calculate Chicken McNugget prices. Perhaps I should have paid more attention in my class, but I could not figure out how to help the students log into the activBook site to view the lesson. Instead, I had to show it on the projector, but it did not hold their attention (it their defense, it was a Friday afternoon, with two days of school left). All the students got from the lesson was some exposure to Excel, which I am now sure they are dying to use again.
All in all, I was glad I did the lessons, and I learned the importance of making sure the technology would work before I had the students sitting with their laptops before them. I can't wait to implement some more lessons in the fall. Right on.
I know it has been several days since school ended, but I wanted to relate the results of three technology-oriented lessons I taught during the last three days of school. To a degree they illustrate the great benefits and unexpected pitfalls of the pioneering lessons we are trying. I did sort of tack these lessons on, but I really wanted to put some of what we are learning into practice. So, starting with the most successful first...
The last lesson I did with my students was a year-end final quiz using the Clickers student-response system. Everything about this activity, well, clicked. I finally figured out how to configure my laptop so it worked with the projector, and the 20 questions were clearly displayed. The students worked in groups of three, sharing a remote, so that they could discuss and cooperate on answers. They were engaged, everything worked, and my final day with this fifth grade class was mighty fine.
The next-to-last lesson involved the hidden text feature we Global Learners discovered was part of Microsoft Word. I distributed laptops to each student and they were able to log on to the internet, where I had planned on showing them how to download the document from the Global Learners Enhancing Education Through Technology website. However, for some inexplicable reason, the students working on wireless laptops could not load the page. We tried typing in the exact address, but a blank screen persisted. Other websites worked just fine. Then I tried typing in the address of the page with the document on it, and that would load, so we were able to download the document. Yet the hiccups were not finished. I did demonstrate how to use and write with the hidden text, but my students had a lot of formatting issues. They spent more time trying to get their text correctly set then they did thinking about the content of the assignment. For example, when a student would backspace to fix a mistake, Word would automatically convert the font into hidden text, hiding their work. Bit of a headache, but everyone managed to finish.
Which brings me to the first lesson I tried, which was a mild disaster. I intended for my students to use an activBook lesson that taught them how to use Excel to calculate Chicken McNugget prices. Perhaps I should have paid more attention in my class, but I could not figure out how to help the students log into the activBook site to view the lesson. Instead, I had to show it on the projector, but it did not hold their attention (it their defense, it was a Friday afternoon, with two days of school left). All the students got from the lesson was some exposure to Excel, which I am now sure they are dying to use again.
All in all, I was glad I did the lessons, and I learned the importance of making sure the technology would work before I had the students sitting with their laptops before them. I can't wait to implement some more lessons in the fall. Right on.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
