Today I worked in the middle school library in the afternoon. I had two homeroom classes come in, primarily to check in, renew, and check out books. Some students also use the computers in the library and to do homework. I helped a couple students find materials in the library and also shelved books after I checked them in. There also were students in the library who take a reading class on a wiki to discuss books they have read. The experience went well and I am getting a lot more comfortable using Alexandria.
middle school hours today: 2
middle school hours to date: 15.5
High school hours to date: 4
Secondary hours to date: 19.5
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Day 2
Today I worked with the 8th grade language arts classes on website evaluation. I created a lesson and taught it to two classes at the same time, about 55 students each hour. We met in the computer lab which has a large meeting area with a computer hooked up to a large projection LCD player and then two labs for students to use on each side. I started out the lesson with a large group discussion about what students already know about good websites. Some of the most common answers were checking for an author and seeing what was at the end of the web address like .gov, .edu, .org, etc. Next I passed out a handout about the 5 W's of website evaluation and we read through it together. Then I showed them 3 questionable websites on the LCD player and had them look for red lights on them. The three sites I picked came from a site created by Kathy Schrock, (along with the 5 W's handout) and were about he history of Fisher Price Airplanes, a google technology post from an April Fool's Day, and the Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide (H2O) page. Then I passed out an "Evaluating Websites" worksheet that I created with a little help from Kathy Schrock. The students are working on a persuasive essay and needed to find a website related to their topic and evaluate it. The worksheet had a series of yes/no questions about the site and then at the end it asked the students to give it a ranking from 1-10 and then explain why they would or wouldn't recommend it for use with their project. The last part of class everyone came back to the main room and I showed them an excellent site that the district provides for them, SIRS. I walked through a couple searches with them on the site and how they have information on both sides of an issue.
Overall I thought it went well. There were a few hiccups along the way. Initially first hour I couldn't figure out how to get my computer image projected on the screen through the LCD player. Help did come fairly quickly and showed me what I was missing. Then, during sixth hour, the screen was showing just a blank blue screen at the start of class so I had to skip the questionable website portion, but I was able to get it up again, just in time for the fire drill that we had toward the end of the hour. Then seventh hour the screen went out again towards the end and I wasn't able to go over the SIRS with them. Other than the couple technological glitches and the fire drill, everything went well and I think the students got a lot out of today. They will be working in the computer lab tomorrow as well and I hope a lot of the students will put to work what they learned today.
middle school hours today: 7.5
middle school hours total: 13.5
high school hours total: 4
secondary hours total: 17.5
Overall I thought it went well. There were a few hiccups along the way. Initially first hour I couldn't figure out how to get my computer image projected on the screen through the LCD player. Help did come fairly quickly and showed me what I was missing. Then, during sixth hour, the screen was showing just a blank blue screen at the start of class so I had to skip the questionable website portion, but I was able to get it up again, just in time for the fire drill that we had toward the end of the hour. Then seventh hour the screen went out again towards the end and I wasn't able to go over the SIRS with them. Other than the couple technological glitches and the fire drill, everything went well and I think the students got a lot out of today. They will be working in the computer lab tomorrow as well and I hope a lot of the students will put to work what they learned today.
middle school hours today: 7.5
middle school hours total: 13.5
high school hours total: 4
secondary hours total: 17.5
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Yesterday at the end of the day and after school I was able to meet with the 8th grade language arts teacher who's classes I will be working with next Monday. We planned the lesson that I'm going to do on evaluating websites and using the middle school's online resources to help with their upcoming persuasive essay. They will primarily be using the SIRS site which the district has a contract with. They will choose a website on their own and evaluate it with the checklist I created for them. I also will be distributing copies of Kathy Scrhock's 5 W's of website evaluation. I'm looking forward to working with these students as something other than a substitute teacher. I'm curious to see if their behavior will be any different.
middle school hours today: 2
total middle school hours to date: 6
total high school hours to date: 4
total secondary hours to date: 10
middle school hours today: 2
total middle school hours to date: 6
total high school hours to date: 4
total secondary hours to date: 10
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Day 1
I started out my day in the high school library. After my tour I was given a tutorial on Alexandria and checked in and out some books, videos, and dvd's and then re-shelved them. I also learned how to and created my own account in the school's circulation system. I checked in new magazines and put them into the current shelf. I then put the older versions of the magazine into circulation. I learned how to find students and look up their schedules and other information on Powerschool. I assisted with some computer issues that a class was having in one of the computer labs and I checked out and in Macbooks for students. I also helped re-arrange the library tables for a class that was coming into the library to test their rocket launchers, (there's a high ceiling in the library so they can shoot them straight up into the air).
In the afternoon I spent my time over in the middle school. The high school and middle school are combined so it's easy to travel back and forth between the two. I got thrown into the fire right away in the middle school library because sixth grade homeroom was starting and it can be pretty chaotic in there. A lot of students come in to check out, return, and renew books and also to use some of the computers during their homeroom time. I worked on the computer the entire 30 minute homeroom checking in and out materials for students. There was a constant flow of patrons. I then re-shelved all the fiction books that I checked in during homeroom and learned how to delete a damaged book from Alexandria. I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring and discussing ideas with Deb, my supervising LMS, for the teen tech week that is coming up the second week in march. We are thinking about doing a scavenger hunt in both the middle and high schools with a gift card to Barnes & Noble as a prize. It's still a work in progress though. I also set up a lesson that I'm going to do in collaboration with one of the 8th grade Language Arts teachers in a couple weeks on finding reliable sources for a persuasive essay.
In all, it was a very enjoyable day and I learned a ton!
High School hours: 4
Middle School hours: 4
Total secondary practicum hours to date: 8
In the afternoon I spent my time over in the middle school. The high school and middle school are combined so it's easy to travel back and forth between the two. I got thrown into the fire right away in the middle school library because sixth grade homeroom was starting and it can be pretty chaotic in there. A lot of students come in to check out, return, and renew books and also to use some of the computers during their homeroom time. I worked on the computer the entire 30 minute homeroom checking in and out materials for students. There was a constant flow of patrons. I then re-shelved all the fiction books that I checked in during homeroom and learned how to delete a damaged book from Alexandria. I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring and discussing ideas with Deb, my supervising LMS, for the teen tech week that is coming up the second week in march. We are thinking about doing a scavenger hunt in both the middle and high schools with a gift card to Barnes & Noble as a prize. It's still a work in progress though. I also set up a lesson that I'm going to do in collaboration with one of the 8th grade Language Arts teachers in a couple weeks on finding reliable sources for a persuasive essay.
In all, it was a very enjoyable day and I learned a ton!
High School hours: 4
Middle School hours: 4
Total secondary practicum hours to date: 8
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