An English Summary of Learning

My guest blogger is a teacher who is in the basement of our school (yes I know that does sound bad but she's OK, the chains don't hurt her;)  When I talked to Mandy she told me she did not have a lot of positive things to say but I said good, lets tell the truth, and be honest.  So here it is.  I'm proud of how she keeps on trying technology.

My experience with technology has not been so great. My first experience with technology included video taping students acting out their character skits. The camera battery died. Students then suggested I use my Iphone to record these skits. That part worked out well. Initially I was quite disappointed because I really wanted to video tape my students and they were looking forward to watching themselves. 

I have used the document reader several times. However, setting it up can be time consuming because I have to move the desks in order to connect my laptop (cords not long enough and not enough space on the trolly that the document reader sits on). I am hesitant to bring the Ipads downstairs to the basement for two major reasons. First reason being that it is too time consuming and a hassle bringing them down. I have to go through 2 floors with separate elevators. Secondly, the wifi connection is very weak down here. So I would hate to go through the hassle of getting the ipads down here and then the internet not working. Students in the past have brought their own laptops or have tried to use their ipods; and have constantly complained about the wifi connection. Myself I have my laptop plugged into the direct internet connection. I am also making good use of Facebook to update students on homework, assignments or announcements I may have. Students have been responding well to this idea. I am finding that students are responding well. They are using this venue as a place to ask questions--and if I am unable to answer questions, students are answering questions for each other. Students are able to use Facebook to engage in discussion and collaborate with each other on certain projects/assignments :)