Hello, my name is Yvonne Rossiter and I currently teach first grade in Putnam City School district in Oklahoma City. I have been teaching for 13 years and finally decided to go back to school to obtain a master’s degree. This is my 3rd class toward reaching that goal. Once I receive my masters, I would like to pursue a position as an instructional coach to provide support for other teachers in elementary education.
This year I have 21 little eager learners with a lot of energy so needless to say my day is very fast paced and never a dull moment. This group of kids love jokes and fun facts. Someone always has a joke or a fun fact to tell in the morning to make us smile. And if they don’t have a good fun fact or joke, I will look one up for them.
A fun learning activity that would be great in the classroom to integrate one ISTE standard using technology is “Bee Bots”. Empowered Learner indicator 1d asks students to understand the fundamental concepts of technology operations, demonstrate the ability to choose, use and troubleshoot current technologies and can transfer their knowledge to explore emerging technologies. Students in First Grade could address Oklahoma State Standard 1.A.1.1 Identify, create, complete, and extend repeating, growing, and shrinking patterns with quantity, numbers, or shapes in a variety of real world and mathematical contexts.
Students would use a floor robot or an app that is similar with a robot or without the robot. The goal of the app is to reach the flower, and the goal with the bee bot is to reach the other side of the mat. The students begin by pushing an arrow to move the bee up, down, right, or left. And then hit enter for the program to remember the code the students have just put into the memory bank. The students will add code to each algorithm, or they have the option to start over with a new code. After each move that they program, using the arrows to send a command into the system, the robot moves those spaces and waits for the next command. It is challenging and fun and the outcome can be different each time the student develops a plan for the bee to reach its goal. This supports the idea of integrating technology and the state standards using patterns, repeating numbers etc. in a variety of real-world mathematical context.
A good way to use technology in the classroom would be to pair up students when they work in an app to ask them to engage in reflective thinking practices. This would keep them on task and meeting their educational goals with their partner (Kolb 2020). Kolb also stated that face to face interactions is better for teaching new concepts. As humans we naturally do better when we are interacting in person and not on a screen. We can read a person better when we are face to face and when new concepts are being taught, it is better to learn from another person rather than a technological platform (Kolb 2020).
Hello Yvonne! I am looking forward to working along side you this semester. I taught 1st grade for several years and I loved it! 1st grade is why I decided to get my degree in the first place, because I wanted to teach children how to read. I was moved to 3rd grade and after several weeks of crying I finally settled in and have been here for 7 years now. I would also enjoy becoming an instructional coach and hope to do that one day.
ReplyDeleteI love your idea about the Bee Bots. I have seen my students use them in STEAM class. Collaborative learning is always fun.
Hello! I love how you have implemented bee bot technology into your first grade classroom. That classroom sounds like such a fun and exciting place. I am very interested in how you handle that much technology in 1st grade classrooms! I hear some many teachers say they are against technology at a young age. How fascinating.
ReplyDeleteHello, I also teach first grade! I think the idea of using robots with an app to incorporate technology into the classroom is a great idea. Using technology to engage students is so helpful within the classroom. I think that students are already being exposed to technology at a young age that we need to teach them to use it correctly and use it to benefit them.
ReplyDelete