When I taught first grade we used to go on a hunt around the school for things that we were studying. For example, if our focus in math was right angles, we would grab our clipboards, papers and pencils and walk around the halls, library, cafeteria, office, playground and where ever in the school twenty buzzing with excitement students could fit. We would sketch what we found, and then write a sentence. These pages would then be bound together as a class book and put in our book nook for all who wandered into our classroom to enjoy.

Five years ago, I used to say: if only we had digital cameras then… (Did I just date myself?) Then we could have made quick, authentic, non-fiction books using a word processing program….

Time to jump to today’s innovations. I now say: if only we had iPod Touches back then…

Recently, a third grade class started using Touches to check out trash barrels in our school as a part of a grant. The goal: to see how we could improve and promote our UpCycle program. Would we find trash or treasure in these barrels? This week, these third graders are going to present their initial findings in the form of a slideshow at an all school assembly. From there, we will develop short movies or public service announcements to target the areas of environmental awareness need.

The power of the Touches is how each student can be so independent and involved in the process of completing this project. Each Touch has been given a free Gmail account. The classroom teacher’s email has been added into Contacts. Therefore, when a student snaps a picture, s/he can email it to the teacher with a tap. A note, thought or reflection may be typed into the email’s body. (For example: Look at all the paper in here!) The teacher can evaluate the child’s work from her inbox.

If the objective is to combine the images from the different devices, the teacher may put them in a shared folder for a slideshow in iPhoto. Or the students may select the images on the Touches to go into a free Dropbox app on the Touch. Now, these images will be accessible on a designated computer or from any of the other Touches through this Dropbox app. Using Photos or  iMovie right on the Touch,  students also can create their own slideshows or movies using each other’s images. These can be shared via email to the teacher again. (Or put in the Dropbox.) Soon they will be posted to a class blog or wiki for viewing by an audience beyond the classroom walls.

Putting the power in students’ hands… love it! And how great is it, that we’re saving paper and toner while teaching people to be green?!

Does anyone else want to give this tool a try? Or please share how you’re utilizing the camera and/or sharing features of the Touches!

So much preparation, energy and enthusiasm goes into projects. Teachers identify a curriculum need. They plan and collaborate with the technology specialist. Lab times and equipment use are scheduled and coordinated. Thoughtful mini-lessons are executed. Students work hard to learn and demonstrate their core curriculum knowledge via a new tool, method or medium. AND THEN TIME RUNS OUT… and it’s onto the next item that needs to be covered before the end of the school year.

It would be wonderful if we had an unlimited amount of time to let learning come full circle. I believe that is where the true reflection happens and deeper learning transpires. Often, I feel like we just make a project, and it’s put it “out there”. But then what happens? Was the purpose met, and could there be more to it?

As the school year draws to a close, I’m thinking about the great projects that I have assisted over the past ten months, and wondering how could I help build in this important part of the process. Perhaps, this is an authentic use of our fixed block time when students come to the computer lab without their teachers every three weeks. Having the opportunity to explore and share each other’s work, to leave/answer comments or to reflect (with the aid of a guided sheet) would be completing the circle.

Something that we need to do more.

Something to think about this summer.

As I stood in my kitchen on this snow day, I observed a flourishing new behavior in my 19 month old son: mimicking. I do not have school today, but this morning, I tried to steal work moments at my laptop set up on a counter. My husband was working from home due to the storm and had set up shop with his laptop on the livingroom couch. During this time, our son traveled from room to room with various toys “curiously” checking in with both of us. At one point, my son pushed over a stool next to me and “asked” if he could come up to join me. Once he was in his seat, I handed him his toy laptop, and without any direction or prompting, he began to tap away on the buttons. I went back to typing an email and checking my Twitter PLN, but snuck glances at him. He continued to tap away and even stopped several times to wave at his refection in the “screen”. After about five minutes, he “asked” to get down. Initially, he put the toy laptop on the kitchen floor and started to scamper away ; however, he then turned around, picked up the laptop and placed it on the edge of the table. Satisfied with its placement, he  ran to his new adventure.

This whole sequence of events got me thinking about a Facebook post that a friend wrote over the weekend. She was looking for thoughts about whether or not she should let her nine year old have a FB account. Probably about 75% of the people were commenting “No” to her question, citing that it was too easy for kids to get into adult topics or dangerous. The people who responded “Yes” or were in favor of kids having Facebook accounts gave advice on privacy settings and making rules for the child. My response was that I’m always in favor of an opportunity to teach the appropriate and responsible way to do things.

In this blog, I have recommended and explained many tools and services that are at our fingertips. These tools can be used for good or evil. They can help us to solve problems or create issues. A steak knife can help us eat food, but it also can be a weapon. A swimming pool is a lot of fun; however, it’s very dangerous if you don’t know how to swim.

Seeing my son “play” with the laptop today showed me what I’ve already taught him about laptops. They are communication tools (his typing and then waving at the screen as if he was in a Skype call which BTW he does each night with Grandma). His gesture of going back to pick up his laptop and placing it on the table instead of leaving it in the debris of his discarded toys demonstrated that he’s been paying attention to what we do with our tools when we are done: Always putting them in a safe place. He knows that we value these tools.

Of course, a little while later, he did take his “laptop” down and step on it on purpose. After a reminder that we don’t use feet on laptops, he did pick it up and place it back on the table. Just because he’s growing up digital doesn’t mean my little monkey doesn’t need some guidance! That’s what I’m trying to impart here. Parental/Teacher modeling and “conversations” about the technology and the world will have the greatest impact about how it’s used. We shouldn’t make it a forbidden fruit.

I’m looking forward to helping my son (and my students) become careful, responsible members of our connected society.