What do I do all day? Sometimes I am asked if I have a job description and I don't actually have one. This is a job that varies day-to-day and keeps changing over the months. Here's a snapshot of today:
7:45 - Elmo demonstration in the Lab - Teachers who have had this document camera in their rooms came and showed the possible uses for it to teachers who are interested in using the new ones we recently purchased. Lots of excitement for sharing and teaching from Math journals, writing samples and more.
8:15 - Moved the Elmo to a 2nd grade classroom and set it up for use during the first class of the day.
Hallway conversation about Photo Booth for recording reading fluency with the Literacy Specialist who is new to Macs this year. We agreed to meet later in the day for me to show her how to video the student.
8:30 - A 2nd grade class used laptops in their room with the goal of writing an idiom, its meaning and adding an illustration. We are hanging on to using AppleWorks for this as it is the only program that allows students to add an illustration on the same page with text. The class had used Clicker Paint, but this was their first time on AppleWorks paint tools. They had a very easy time transferring their drawing experience to new program and the class of 20 students were able to finish and print in about a half an hour.
9:15 - 3rd grade classes are in the midst of a Biography unit and the students in the Lab today were looking for Internet photos that they added to a Pages document and wrote captions. These will be cut out and pasted on the characters they have been creating. The Lab printer is waiting for a part so due to printing issues we planned for the class to come back at 11:40 to finish.
10:00 - The 4th grade class across the hall had a sub so I helped her move the laptop cart and prepare for a Google Doc writing assignment of continuing their fiction stories.
10:15 - A 4th grade class came in to work on their fiction stories in their Google Docs and the teacher met with individual students for editing. I was able to check on the printer issue and fix it.
10:30 - A teacher came in with a question about Google Calendar and how to use the new Resource options to sign up for the Lab and the Carts.
11:00 - Went to Rowe School to help the School Counselor install NoteShare as she had been working with colleagues who were using it to keep notes on student interactions in an organized way. While I was there I dropped off some plastic bins I had bought at Target that we agreed to use to organize the Flipcams and their various parts.
11:40 - The 3rd grade class returned to finish their Internet photos and captions. Students who had finished were to pick a choice activity. I took note of their choices: Clicker Paint drawings, Timez Attack to practice multiplication facts ("This is surprisingly fun."), or Google Earth ("Are we allowed to do that?")
11:50 - Spent 10 minutes showing the Literacy Specialist how to use Photo Booth to record reading fluency.
12:00 - Went to a classroom to help a teacher with Gmail questions about "Undo" and adding a signature.
12:30 - Lunch and email check. Phone call from a teacher whose computer crashed - I setup a loaner, took it to her and packed hers for repair.
Email catchup. Wrote a Resource Calendar How To Sheet and sent an email about it.
Went to see the YES secretary about using the new Resource Calendar for the YES Conference Room.
1:30 - 2nd grade class used the videos and games I had set up online for a self-directed lesson on ideas in the Force & Motion unit they are doing.
The Literacy Specialist stopped in to tell me that Photo Booth had worked just as she had hoped with the student.
2:15 - 4th grade class came in for their second session on the program Scratch. I encouraged them to move to work with partners or share computers to work together. Ideas flowed and the kids worked through ideas and possibilities. For the last ten minutes they viewed each others projects. Many students have reported downloading the Scratch software at home.
3:15 - Met with two teachers about a grade level website that we have been working on all year as a place for descriptions of common experiences for students in 2nd grade.
I had an appointment so I left school at 3:45. Work at home tonight will include the Flat Classroom Certified Teacher Class online conversation for an hour, editing a biography interview for a 3rd grade class, some reading, and, and... While there isn't any job description, I treasure the opportunities, the connections and the learning that occur every day.
Hi, I really enjoyed reading about your day. It gave me some good ideas of things to try.
ReplyDeleteI don't seem to be able to get an RSS feed for your blog. What am I doing wrong? All that comes up is Reader in the address line and that only show a chat not a way for me to send to my Google Reader.
Thanks
Heather
Also , I love to see the books you are reading as I am also reading many of them. :)
ReplyDeleteHeather