The last stop on my Field Experience journey is Brooklet Elementary School. As a K-5 teacher myself I was excited to end my circuit here where I can observe the ins and outs of an environment that I am familiar with from a different perspective. These 5 days I did many things to extend, apply and enhance the skills I have acquired in this program. Day 1 | As with any new professional environment, it is important to adjust to your surroundings to get a firm grasp of the workflow and staff. Without this ease-in period it is difficult to be a force of change or assistance. The instructional specialist took me through the library's systems, policies, school procedures with Covid-19 as well as rotational check-in and out system. Mrs.Odom also graduated from GSU with a instructional technology masters and it was interesting to compare the shifting and growing expectations from then and now. Because of the high level of distance learners, providing chromebook assistance, online & in-person, to families was a high priority of the days tasks. Determined to understand the full scope of the schools technology potential, the instructional specialist provided an in depth tour to all the infrastructure pieces that was available to instructional staff. Day 2 | Upon arriving an assisting in the days start up duties I inquired after the 3-D printer station introduced the other day. More specifically I was curious about the cost benefit analysis and practical ownership of such a high-tech device. The conclusion was, that though these devices were awesome to have in the learning Commons repertoire, it was in practical for class use due to the length of time it takes to create a single creation. I was also made known that the staff had not been trained on how to use the 3-D printer modeling software or web applications to integrate into their lessons. The only way that this would be practical was if they had access to an entire class worth of these devices. It was also suggested that it could be used with live video as the students could view from home while it created their creations. Another area I devoted my time to exploring was the donated maker space and Lego station. A group of special education students stopped by to help me with this exploration. In this particular application I noticed that the students loved the tactile nature of exploring mathematics with these pieces of technology. As the season was Halloween, I did a read aloud about a witch and her friends. To company this read aloud are used Quizlet meteor Mode for the students to match keywords to its corresponding picture on the chrome book. I would provide a reference to the in-text book when the student was unsure if the origin of the word. Day 3 | After completing the morning activities and setting up the Promethean board for digital reader loud for the second graders I prepared for a few meetings I had lined up. First I met with the STEM teacher for the collaborating digital citizenship unit. As my unit was based in an application called Flipgrid I needed to provide some training to ensure success upon implementation. We made sure the Chromebooks are set up for guided work and use of google classroom for accessibility with the one to one infrastructure. He additionally requested an incorporation of current STEM unit to the Deep Fake Unit for a possibility of a deep fake video creation to engage students. Meeting with 5th grade teacher next, I confirmed with her familiar and comparable technology for the grade level to give me a better idea of learning curve for my unit. Here I tested my ability to access and manage systems with in the district technology infrastructure and ran into some issues. This led up to my meeting with the Technology Liaison. Brought up my concerns with accessing certain applications from my side as well as the student side due to firewalls. The meeting was inconclusive. I then experimented circumventing this problem with the instructional technology specialist and found a solution for flawless integration that I could control as co-operator. Day 4 | In the morning I provided assistance in class with digital promethean board read aloud as well as the check in / check out assistance and recommendations. Finishing up with these beginning tasks I Met with STEM collaborating teacher for Flipgrid training and resource introduction. He requested extra materials student task clarification to be utilized with the Promethean board. I also proceeded to add the STEM teacher as copilot to my virtual learning environment. Returning to the Learning commons I was confronted with a bit of chaos. There was a scheduled virtual experience that was suppose to happen but many technical issues arose preventing the execution. I proceeded to troubleshoot and host this volunteer read aloud high schooler for the second grade utilizing Google hangout. I was able to fix the hardware issue the tech Lesion could not solve, tuned Promethean board as a peripheral to instructional specialists laptop, as well as adjusted video and audio settings for ideal video and sound delivery. To conclude my day I met with the special education teacher to discuss the pros and cons of assessable technology. She expressed a frustration on some adaptive technologies that on the surface seem helpful but are actually the opposite. The most visceral example she provided what's the use of text to computer audio readings. It seems very hopeful on the surface but the children that they use this tool on for standardized testing cannot focus on the stagnated Digital Voice. The lack of inflection and emphasis distract the students making this assessable tool virtually useless. Day 5| For the final day, I assisted in conducting software training for kids on renaissance quest. The sessions were tied in with teacher integration of resources to writing and reading goals. This application allowed students to navigate the library materials for helpful resources. It also assist in finding relevant book to ones there are already reading or have checked out. In addition to this I took my professional development training and collaborating Digital citizenship unit and demoed the lessons in instructional videos to test for proper functioning on the Promethean boards.As this is my last day, I asked if there's anything that I could help make it better. I have a particular affinity for technology hardware and software so I always enjoy a good challenge. With this open invitation I was given the task to troubleshoot some library tech tools for proper functioning and programed template and shortcuts for ease of use by staff members. I was very happy that I can make these changes help the daily workflow of the staff members. A series of donated books came in during the day and I process them through the system and prepared each title to be transitioned to the circulation. At the end of the day I got to observe social media Live video tools being utilized bye other schools to communicate with Brooklyn elementary staff and students. This is also broadcasted to any parent to accommodate social distancing county regulations.
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AuthorHi! I'm Annastasshia Ames. Connect with me through the social media links below! Archives
December 2020
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