First week of My Field Project

This week we started the “Regions of PA” project in fourth grade. It is fun being back in a regular classroom again, even though I’m only there to assist. The kids are enjoying the “Jigsaw” strategy with its home teams and expert groups – but there have been some personality conflicts while working together. Nothing serious, just the usual, “They’re not letting me do anything,” and “______ is being bossy!” stuff. We had to take some time to talk about compromising and taking turns, and using kind words! The kids have used the Palm handhelds before (in third grade) so they only needed a quick review of the basics before they started. They created the shell of their PicoMaps this week and they have started gathering facts about the region to either type in FreeWrite or draw in Sketchy. I hope that they will be ready to begin “linking” the documents to PicoMap by Tuesday. So far, they seem to be grasping what we’re doing. I hope the use PicoMap helps them to make “connections” between what they are learning and what they already know about Pennsylvania!

Reflection on Changes in Patterns of Technology Use

As I reflect on this week’s blog assignment, I find it difficult to really identify specific changes that have occured during this class – mostly because my thoughts, and ideas about technology and its use in schools has been slowly evolving since I entered the Instructional Technology program at Lehigh. I have to admit I used to think I was doing a pretty good job of integrating technology when I was a fourth grade teacher. Looking back now, I realize that although my students were using a lot of technology with me it mostly consisted of “end products” to show what they were learning or had learned. We used the Internet for research, and made a lot of PowerPoint slideshows. As I’ve moved through my courses here at Lehigh, I’ve begun to understand how important it is to use technology to support student learn by helping them to see and make connections, organize ideas, compare and contrast, and eventually to think more critically. Technology is one more tool that an educator can use to scaffold students’ learning so that every student can be sucessful.

This course has given me a better appreciation for the variety of tools that are out there – many of the presentations have been about tools I knew nothing (or little) about. Because of the understanding I gained through Alex’s presentation, I plan to further investigate the use of RSS feeds as a tool for my own use. Actually, I like the whole idea of the “Tools Presentations” and I’ve talked to my principal about doing something similar on a monthly basis so that our teachers can share about the technology tools/resources they have found to be useful and how they are using them. So often teachers feel like “I don’t have time to learn about every new thing out there,” but if they can see how specific technolgy is being used right in our own building they might be more willing to give it a try – especially if they know there is someone close by to walk them through the potential pitfalls!

I finally have a clear picture for my field project. A lot of the ideas I had will not work with the time frame Miss L has for this social studies unit, but we’ve compromised and come up with a plan. In order to facilitate the students’ learning about the five regions of Pennsylvania, we are going to use a “Jigsaw” instructional strategy. The class will be divided into three teams of five students. Each student on the team will select one region, and then meet with the corresponding members from the other teams to form an “expert group” for that region. They will gather, organize, and summarize the information about their region and prepare a concept map using PicoMap on their Palm handhelds. Using the PicoMap, they will then return to the home team to teach their teammates about their region, and learn about the other four regions. The team’s five PicoMaps will then be used to create one big concept map about the “5 Regions of PA.” They’ll use the Internet to gather some pictures to add to the map as well. The expert groups will “reconvene” to develop questions for a PowerPoint Jeopardy game and then input the questions and answers into the game template. this Jeopardy game will be used as a review for the entire class. We will begin this unit next week, and I’m looking forward to working with Miss L and her class!

The butterfly picture is of a female monarch that emerged in my classroom on October 2, 2007.

Field Project Progress – Standards to be Addressed

I have met with Miss L. and we have a pretty clear picture concerning the upcoming project. We will be guiding the class through an integrated project about the 5 geographic regions of Pennsylvania. We will include geographic features of the land, natural resources, use of the land features (for industry, recreation, etc.), and climate. Social Studies that may be addressed include:

7.1.3

A. Identify geographic tools and their uses.

B. Identify and locate places and regions.

7.2.3

A. Identify the physical characteristics of places and regions.

B. Identify the basic physical processes that affect the physical characteristics of places and regions.

7.3.3

A. Identify the human characteristics of places and regions by their population characteristics.

C. Identify the human characteristics of places and regions by their settlement characteristics.

·       Types of settlements (e.g., villages, towns, suburbs, cities, metropolitan areas)

·       Factors that affect where people settle (e.g., water, resources, transportation)

D. Identify the human characteristics of places and regions by their economic activities.

·       Location factors in the spatial distribution of economic activities (e.g., market, transportation, workers, materials)

·       Producers of consumer products and services (e.g., bread, pizza, television, shopping malls)

·       Products of farms and factories at the local and regional level (e.g., mushrooms, milk, snack foods, furniture)

·       Spatial distribution of resources

• Non-renewable resources
• Renewable resources
• Flow resources (e.g., water power, wind power)

E. Identify the human characteristics of places and regions by their political activities.

·       Type of political units (e.g., townships, boroughs, towns, cities, counties, states, countries (nation state))

·       Political units in the local area

Technology Standards that may be addressed include:

1       Basic operations and concepts

·       Students demonstrate a sound understanding of the nature and operation of technology systems.

·       Students are proficient in the use of technology.

2       Social, ethical, and human issues

·       Students practice responsible use of technology systems, information, and software.

·       Students develop positive attitudes toward technology uses that support lifelong learning, collaboration, personal pursuits, and productivity.

3       Technology productivity tools

·       Students use technology tools to enhance learning, increase productivity, and promote creativity.

·       Students use productivity tools to collaborate in constructing technology-enhanced models, prepare publications, and produce other creative works.

4       Technology communications tools

·       Students use a variety of media and formats to communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences.

5       Technology research tools

·       Students use technology to locate, evaluate, and collect information from a variety of sources.

·       Students use technology tools to process data and report results.

·       Students evaluate and select new information resources and technological innovations based on the appropriateness for specific tasks.