Math Strategies Primary

I played Math Strategies Primary trying to see it through the eyes of a grade one student. The squirrel who led me through the activities was cute and very animated; his voice was engaging and not as annoying as the monotone animations in some of the other games I explored.

I was provided with immediate feedback when I completed tasks; I was either praised or encouraged to try again. When I was unable to figure out the correct answer after a few attempts the squirrel provided me with a clue to guide me to the correct answer; this would certainly be beneficial for students who struggle with math.

Some of the games had me choosing between multiple written answers e.g. All the same, Only two the same, All different, the words were read aloud to me when I placed the cursor on top of them - this was another plus of the program. I think if I was in grade one I would find the activities to be fun and somewhat challenging. I like the fact that there is an option of skipping the demonstrations so that if I was visiting the game for a second or third time I could go ahead and play without spending time watching the demos.

From an educators perspective I see this game as being beneficial to students. There are a plethora of well developed activities within this game incorporating a variety of useful strategies including the ten frames, number lines and computer graphic manipulatives. I certainly wouldn't use this program as a substitution for classroom instruction but I think it could be used by students during free time to build on skills being taught in the classroom. There are expectations from number sense and numeration strand in the Ontario math curriculum that are met through the various activities found on Math Strategies Primary.

I was unable to locate an online review for Math Strategies Primary.

SMART Goals

SMART Goal #1: By February 4, 2009 review literacy education based software appropriate for use with grade one students.

Prescribed actions met by goal #1:
* start testing potential ed. tech applications to ensure appropriateness
* start to select education-specific resources to meet specific objectives

SMART Goal #2: Create technology-based lesson plans for grade one students by February 18, 2009 that ensure needs of both struggling and exceptional students' are met.

Prescribed actions met by goal #2:
* select education-specific resources to meet specific objectives
* design inclusive tech-based learning experiences
* prepare a set of engaging, motivating learner-centred technology-based lessons
* implement tech-based opportunities for exceptional students

SMART Goal #3: Incorporate the use of the SMARTBoard for at least one lesson in my final practicum; plan the lesson by the end of this course.

Prescribed actions met by goal #3:
* select education-specific resources to meet specific objectives
* design inclusive tech-based learning experiences
* start to select education-specific resources to meet specific objectives
* observe and actively respond to student progress while using technology
* start testing potential ed. tech applications to ensure appropriateness

Tech Skills Inventory Reflection

Completing the technology skills survey was not the easiest task; I found that some of the questions were unclear and therefore difficult to answer. That being said I do believe my technology skills inventory gave a pretty accurate summary of my strengths and areas where I could use some improvement when it comes to accessing technology. I have chosen to comment on each section of the inventory separately to make it easier for you to follow my train of thought.

Technology operations and concepts
I think this area of the summary describes me accurately. I access tech based resources regularly to meet many of my professional and personal needs and I am comfortable doing so. Most of the issues I encounter while working with technology I am able to fumble my way through successfully. My previous career entailed daily exposure to a variety of technical devices used by a young woman who is visually impaired; the responsibility for troubleshooting any issues – which there were many of – landed on my shoulders. I am grateful for this experience because it has certainly helped me become more confident when it comes to using technology.

Assessment and evaluation
I am a little confused with the comments under general preparation here. I access technology 98% of the time when seeking information and I do access a variety of sources, yet the summary suggests I should increase my use of technology for locating, evaluating and collecting information from sources.

I would definitely like to explore how to assess and evaluate students’ work that has been prepared using technology as the summary suggests. I would also like to learn more about technology-based assessment and evaluating strategies. I hope we discuss these issues in class; it would be great to see some samples of students work and the tools teachers use for assessment of technology related assignments.

Learning to assess the validity and reliability of information found online is something else I hope to be exposed to during this course; I think I am a fairly good judge of reliable information but I am not confident enough to teach my students this skill.

Productivity and professional practice
I really like the idea of using technology to facilitate communication with parents/guardians as well as with my colleagues once I am teaching. I am aware of the potential problems relating to electronic communication but while exploring online I have found some really great blogs/websites created by teachers. While I would not give out my personal email address I think it would be great to have a page set-up online where parents could go to find the class calendar, reminders etc. How often do students respond to their parents by grunting “I dunno” when asked what they did in school today? A class blog would allow parents to see for themselves what is going on in their child's classroom.

Social, ethical, legal and human issues
I am very aware of how I need to improve in this area. The summary suggests I aim to identify potential legal and ethical issues while also considering equitable access; the reality is I am quite aware of the issues that exist. Although I may slip on occasion when it comes to my personal use of technology, I understand one hundred percent that it is my job as an educator to model safe and responsible use of technology for my students.

Planning and designing learning environments AND Teaching, learning and the curriculum
While I have no real issues in the General Preparation areas of these two skill sets I definitely need to work on the skills mentioned in the Professional Preparation and Student Teaching columns. I’ve combined these two sets because of the fact that the ‘aim to’ lists have very similar suggestions. My hope is to work on the following prescribed actions during the duration of this course:

• select education-specific resources to meet specific objectives
• design inclusive tech-based learning experiences
• prepare a set of engaging, motivating learner-centred technology-based lessons
  
• start to select education-specific resources to meet specific objectives
• implement tech-based opportunities for exceptional students
• observe and actively respond to student progress while using technology
• start testing potential ed. tech applications to ensure appropriateness

Although at first glance it may appear as if I’m taking on a lot, all of the above can be achieved while completing the assignments for this course. I want to make an honest attempt at incorporating technology into my teaching during my final practicum therefore I intend to use this course as an opportunity to complete my brainstorming and lesson planning.

Of Course!

According to Stephen Downes' article Ten Things You Really Need to Learn, what is taught in schools is basically useless information. He suggests that what useful bits students do manage to learn are not intentionally taught by educators.

I do agree with Stephen's list of things students need to know, but I also believe that most teachers do incorporate the teaching of these concepts/skills in their lessons. Teachers may not teach them explicitly but through the teaching of the supposed "useless facts" and through their interactions educators guide students to learn the importance of creativity, empathy, communication, self-value, empathy etc.

Access? More Like Lack Of

I'm working in a grade one class right now and the students have little access to technology. There is one computer in the class which I have yet to see a student touch.

The kids do have access to the 18 computers found in the school library (there are 25 students in the class) once a week for forty minutes - barely enough time to complete anything meaningful. I don't want to sound negative but the reality is that I have not yet seen any exemplary lessons involving the computer lab, as a matter of fact I have barely seen ANY lessons using the computers. I'm guessing this would not be the case if teachers had more opportunity to expose their students to the technology.

There is one SMART Board in our school which is connected to the grade six class; the board is available for use by other teachers during specific periods each day but it never leaves the classroom in which it is housed. I think the fact that the board is linked to a particular teacher and because the availability of it is so limited, teachers are afraid to play with it; if their lesson runs long or they want to return to it later in the day it is not that simple.

I hope to integrate technology into the grade one class while teaching during my next block. The teacher is open to learning new things and I'm hoping that by exposing her to some lessons using technology she might be more open to trying something similar in the future.

Feelings About Blogging

Setting up my blog was a painless process; Blogger's prompts simplified what could have been a frustrating experience.

I have been thinking about creating a personal blog to keep track of the many useful educational resources that I have come across so I'm happy to be doing just that with the bonus of receiving a mark for it.