 |
| Students working with Destiny |
Each year our school district has technology (3 carts of 15 ipads, 2 carts of 18 laptops and more ipods) to share among the schools. To qualify for the technology each school interested has to submit a proposal on what they plan to do with the technology to enhance student learning. As part of our commitment we also agree to share how we are doing in efforts to help others learn from us.
I thought the best way to share would be to write a weekly post. Here is week 1.
April 14-20th
Week 1 with District Laptops
Week #1 - Introduction
 |
| Student working on Novellist k-8 part of our district database |
The district technology,
in our case, laptops, arrived Tuesday, April 7th . Students and staff were eager to get
busy using these portable devices. We spent the first week introducing or re-introducing students
to the safety, protocol and expectations of using the laptops. We used library
class time for this activity so our Gr. 4-6’s each used them for 40 min. /week.
In addition our Gr. 6’s in the 6/7 split used them daily for a second block (40 min) throughout the week for their inquiry
project.
General overview (instructions) of
laptops with students:
·
hold
upright (when using a laptop the more you jiggle it the more likely it is to
become damaged or have a shorter shelf life)· place on a flat, safe surface when using it (table, floor)
· be gentle with the lid/cover and keys (be patient when trying to access a site, it might take a while, don’t pound on the keys thinking it will work more quickly)
 |
| Enjoying learning with laptops |
· check power
· share with your partner (no grabbing, pulling or jockeying for use)
· Eyes up, lids down (when this is said, students pull laptops cover down ½ way if you go much beyond ½ way they will automatically shut off, eyes on speaker)
Students were assigned
laptop partners and laptop #. They will work with that partner and use that #
laptop throughout.
Day one lessons with our 4-7’s
Destiny: http://destiny.sd68.bc.ca (looked at
destiny, students used it to find books, compile lists for projects and see if
books were in the library)
Databases: We reviewed
our district databases and why we use them.
EBSCO – http://search.ebscohost.com (we looked at
various databases within Ebsco such as novelist K-8 and Canadian Point of View)
World Book Online – http://worldbookonline.com (we looked at
World Book online and students were given a scavenger hunt to find different
features)
April 20, 2015 – PLC
We used the district
laptops to work on databases and destiny. Val reviewed the protocol for
students so that teachers could be consistent with protocol in their classrooms.
Val went over the sign out sheet and encouraged classes to sign laptops out for their classrooms. Val offered to collaborate and co-teach units with the laptops.
Teachers worked in grade
groupings to discover articles, databases, searchers that would best meet their
needs. We discussed and worked on Destiny in depth, looking at book lists by
theme, how to search books and the advantages of Destiny over Webcat.
Summary of week
one
·
Students
worked very well on laptops· The flexibility of the laptops allowed a small group of Gr. 6 students (10) to borrow the laptops and work on them independently both in the library and their classroom
· Many students are familiar and comfortable using laptops
· Eyes up, lids down was very successful, students quickly got into a pattern that allowed them to explore then look up then go back to exploring
· Students are really enjoying destiny and it is allowing them to be more independent in the library. Our library computer is so old that it was difficult to log on to anything during the time allotted. The laptops allow quicker and more accessible access to destiny.
· Most classes were comfortable putting laptops back in cart * be sure to assign a few students from each class to monitor and help with return of laptops to the cart (proper plugging in etc.)
Challenges:
·
Two of
the 18 laptops do not have internet connection · Students must save their work to a USB as the work is automatically erased when the laptop is shut down (this we knew from last year but a good reminder)
Our first week with laptops has been a success. Students and staff are comfortable using them, we have a unified protocol that will be consistent among the school and databases will be used to help with future inquiry assignments.
