Mrs. Grant-Shynkaruk’s SMART Journey

Grade 2 has been buzzing thanks to one little word…. blog!! I hear it in the classroom, in the hallway, the gym and even on the playground! A common question “Have you done your blog today?” has really become a neat way for the kids to communicate their thoughts with me! We have only begun to tap into the potential of a blog but the kids can already see how their thoughts and opinions matter! A few times a week I will post a question on our classroom blog that focuses on how we are using technology in our classroom. It may also look at how that technology is changing their world and most importantly how it makes the students feel. I make sure to mediate each comment before it can be posted to avoid any inappropriate language. At first we had a set time to blog for each new question but now the kids are capable of doing it on their own time. I have also stressed the importance of proper grammar and spelling and every few days we pull up the comments and review them for any errors! The kids love picking out things to edit and I have found that they are becoming peer editors for each other and they usually ask someone to read over their comment before they post it! They are also VERY excited to see that people beyond our classroom are begining to read their posts which they are now sending from both school AND home! If you have a second check out what’s on their mind and drop us a reply! We are sure to read it AND check it for spelling!

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Well, we are halfway done the year. I can honestly say that the smartboard is not only making my students more interested in learning but myself also!! I have been spending time looking for websites with interactive activites to meet the needs of our curriculum objectives. Why reinvent the wheel I guess? I have book marked many of those sites and now find anything I need in a matter of seconds just by browsing through them. I have created a Delicious account (Delicious is a website that you can use to organize your favorite sites and access them at both home and school) which I use to manage all of them. I did a lunch and learn for my staff two weeks where I shared my top… 12 websites!!! They were pretty excited to see all of the ready made stuff just waiting to be used!

Also, I had a wish granted just before Christmas when our school decided to try something very new! We are continuing to introduce new technology by purchasing a school set of Senteo’s (see last post)!!! I had the opportunity to share this wonderful new teaching tool with a few people before Christmas and word spread quickly in our school about how useful this item would be to have at our disposal everyday! At a staff meeting it was brought up for discussion by additional staff members who had only seen the teaching tool in practice. They were so excited that THEY requested we purchase a set for our school!!! I WAS ELATED!!! Its great to share something like the Senteo’s with someone…. but even a greater reward when they want to use it for themselves! With parent counsels assistance we were able to purchase a set and are expecting them sometime this month!!

Oh, and did I mention that since Christmas I have been asked at least a dozen times or so “When do we get to take a test with the Senteo’s again?”….. ok… how often would you hear kids asking for a test!!!  But, the reality is our kids are recognizing the importance of technology in the every day things we as teachers do for them including our assessment practices….. we are all getting smarter by the minute!

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Went in to the grade 7/8 classroom last week and along with the classroom intern, used the Senteo’s to administer a test on the human body. (I must say that it was a heck of a lot easier to get those kids on the Senteo’s than it was my grade 2’s!). From the moment the Senteo’s were out of the box and straight through to the end of the test, the kids were hooked! You could not hear a peep in the room!  One thing I noticed from the back of the class was how almost impossible it was for them to see each others responses! (Perhaps a positive for keeping the student assessment tool honest?) Also each time you create a quiz, you have the option to show the students if they answered correctly or not after each question, at the end of the quiz or not at all. The intern gave the students a chance to decide if they wanted the immediate feedback or not. They ALL wanted to see the results after each question. What does this mean you ask? Well at the end of the test we discussed what are some of the pro’s and cons of using this type of tool. The students all felt that they tried harder on the test because they saw right away if they were doing well or not. If they missed a question, they thought about the next one longer. If they got it right, they wanted to continue to do well and focus on getting the next question correct too! It was a very rewarding dicussion. I am hoping to have a video sample posted soon!   

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So, I decided to give it a shot using a new technology based tool called Senteo’s. These are hand held devices that look a lot like a remote control you would see for your T.V. The idea is to use these
“remotes” to answer questions you have prepared for the class. (Best explanation I can give you without a hands on demo!) As part of the Sask. Curriculum I created a pre-test based on students recogniton of number words from 1-20. They had to identify a number word and punch the coresponding number into the Senteo. (Basicaly a numbers test, with a technology twist!)

Alright, I am sure to be asked whats the difference between putting something like this together and a written assessment? Truth be told, results were the same wether the questions were given in pencil paper format or on the Sentio’s. HOWEVER the big difference was the “stress” factor. Even in grade two some kids get anxiety and feel pressure while participating in any kind of assessment. Using the Senteo’s made this activity fun and rewarding for the kids. It provides immediate feedback for each individual student as well as visual charts to show how the kids did on each question! It was a great springboard for discussion as to which math words we really needed to focusl our learning on! All that I can say is GET YOUR HANDS ON SOME SENTEO’S!!! Your kids will thank you!

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I find that the most natural way for me to use the SMARTboard began with Math. There are so many great websites that are interactive and fun for the kids. I didn’t realize the impact these sites would have until I was able to see the kids as a group in action. One of the most successful lessons I have ever had was just the other day.  I was teaching my grade 2’s how to use a 100’s chart. The goal of the lesson was to show the kids a 100’s chart on paper and explain that they can use this for counting and exploring number patterns.  Once this was done I let them use the chart to help them play as a class the following interactive game.

http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/DogBone/gamebone.html

After the very first round, the kids were using language such as “That number is 4 less than 100″, “That number has to be in that column because it has a 6 in it.” I was so excited that they were discovering the many ways this chart can be used. We played as a class then I sent the kids back to their desks to complete a written assignment with the promise that those who finish early will have a chance to play the game on their own. Let me say that those kids (including my pokey pants ) were at their desks, pencils out and starting the assingment even before I could give the instructions! YAY SMARTboard! Plus those that finished, wanted to play with a partner so one could read the paper chart and give the instructions and the other could find the number on the smartboard! 

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Began the year with a great lesson to introduce the SMART board as way to manage our classrooms morning activites! This template is great for encorporating math and calendar activites each day.
You must register and become a member of the Teacher Exchange in order to access the template. Its FREE and worth it! There are a TON of teacher created, classroom tested materials on it!

http://exchange.smarttech.com/files/folders/back_to_school_lesson_activity_contest/entry2050.aspx

The kids had a great time exploring the SMART board… although we had a few “accidents” as the kids were learning to work around the cords and laptop that were out in at the front of the class. Memo to self… set a procedure of how to approach the cords on the floor as well as walking AROUND the mobile cart with the lap top!

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“I want to create students of tomorrow.”

Sometimes the question has been asked ”How and why are primary students utilizing technology in the classrooms of today?”. From parents to principals, teachers to students there can be a misconception that primary classrooms are not ready to access the hardware and programs available in our 21st century classrooms.  I think rather, those questions should be focused on how are we preparing even the youngest of students for what the world will be expecting of them as they grow?

I was so pleased to be involved in this AMAZING opportunity not only for my students but also to share with my colleagues and other primary teachers how easy and rewarding it is to  include technology (such as the SMARTboard) into our everyday schedules!

With this blog I hope to share my successes and obviously challenges that I face using the SMARTboard and other types of technology in my grade 2 classroom! Please don’t forget to leave your comments and suggestions! ENJOY!

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