Time & Benefit

So, throughout this school year I have been trying to keep a Wiki afloat, keeping on top of curriculum while attempting to incorporate my professional goals into my lesson plans and classroom environment. I feel I should also mention: raising a one-year-old! I began the year with much optimism. I was excited and "on top" of learning and incorporating technology into my first grade classroom. With help, I created a Wiki that I thought would best compliment my teaching style, classroom and benefit my students. In addition to a page for each subject, I created a page for each of my students in hopes that they would post their accomplishments throughout the year. I figured the affluent parents to the majority of my students would better be able to see the accomplishments of their first graders. It'd also look really good (and by good I mean progressive) to parents looking in on Thoreau with skepticism. Man, I had high hopes! As the year progressed...okay, honestly it was as the fall progressed, I realized that this was a lot more work than I initially realized. It isn't that I didn't want to put in the time. It's that there simply wasn't (isn't!) enough of it. Time that is. So, after posting my weekly classroom newsletter as well as numerous pictures, explanations of ways we now solve math problems, science videos and field trip voicethreads throughout the fall, I barely found time to post just my newsletter. And even that has tapered off.

What happened? I wasn't sure at first. I did a little reflecting and then quickly shunned my thoughts, chalked it up to pessimism and told myself to change my attitude. I needed to be optimistic but allowed myself to check my idealism at the proverbial door and get in touch with reality. So, I entered our technology course this past spring with optimism while being cognisant of my reality; as an educator, mother and all-around evolving professional.

Time is our biggest enemy as educators. We have a finite amount of time to teach to standards determined by many post-educators whom have been out of the classroom for far too long. These standards are based on developmental benchmarks of "normally" developing children, whose families value education, in a classroom filled with these idealistic learners.
This is bullshit but merely part of the problem. Back to the time issue.
I explain my job to my professional husband, family members and friends as giving a five and a half hour presentation, that changes, everyday while getting only 60 minutes each day to prepare for the ever-evolving presentation. Not only do my presentations (we call them mini-lessons) have to be planned and engaging, they also have to be differentiated (basically for each student) but I also need to prepare for the learning activities that accompany my mini-lessons. That means copying, tracing, cutting, preparing an example for the students to see/from which to work and often times creating an original document! I'm not even going to touch assessments, communication with colleagues, parents, or discipline problems!!
I kind of skimmed over the amount of time we are given. Did you catch it? A whopping 60 minutes!--in which time we are expected to prepare, differentiate and reflect. Yeah, right.
So, when am I supposed to incorporate technology? And even more importantly: WHO DOES IT BENEFIT, REALLY? At the first grade level, in a classroom with one computer, whose students get a whole 30 minutes a week in the school computer lab, loaded with computers that take 5+ minutes to boot up...I could go on. I realized that my Wiki was really benefiting the few (very few!) parents of my students and not the students themselves. There are several reasons for this. One being that my students don't have access to computers enough to post onto the Wiki, even if those computers were fast and their teacher was tech savvy. And, as a parent, I understand the importance of communication and interaction (albeit virtual/electrical) but what's more important? That I spend my 60 minutes each day preparing for my students? Or uploading, downloading, voicethreading, glogstering, and wiki-ing so that parents can stay in touch? I have an opinion about that, too...
This is not a black and white issue by any stretch of the imagination. Technology in this district is a double-edge sword. And, it's worth noting that as students' abilities (reading and writing, especially) increase, the presence of technology becomes ever more important. But, we teachers need training. And, if we aren't given the guidance and time, we will resort to pen and paper. The "old-school" methods are tried and true. There are no glitches! We don't have to wait for the pen to boot up, warm up, upload, download, reboot or put in a work order that is attended to once a week. That kind of security, in a profession where time is so valuable, is quite a big hurdle to overcome. I see the value of incorporating technology, I want to learn and become efficient with the technology to which I am given access. The world is there already and we need to catch up! But I need to be given the guidance (which I got this year--thank you, Lauren!) and most importantly the time.

Taking It All In

Even though I've been working within a wiki this academic year, I still considered myself a novice and tonight's class reminded me that I still have a lot to learn! As I created, added and embedded onto my wiki I still felt like I was on an island. I have always been aware of the other educational wikis that exist out there but still somehow I felt alone. Seeing other elementary classroom teachers and school districts using wikis, moodles, discussion boards and blogs; many of whom have Smartboards in their classrooms has made me realize how much our school district likes to talk about being progressive when in fact, we are barely on the verge.

I am thrilled to see that 21 of my closest (at least in proximity) colleagues are taking on the task of creating some sort of web-based communication platform. I am excited to discuss the endless possibilities as well as the trials and tribulations of moving forward with technology in our classrooms as well as on a district level.

Lori and I are hoping to use Earth Day as a unit from which to start. We intend to set up a wiki for our team and have students create Glogs, a sort of virtual poster, via glogster. I also hope to use voicethread, a tool that I have plenty of experience but with which Lori has no experience.
I haven't yet embedded video onto my wiki so I'd like to try my hand at that this spring. I'd like to find more ways that my students can interact with technology-- as independently as possible! With one very slow-working computer in my classroom this might be tough...