Reflection Week #13 - Digital Story Service Learning Reflection

Our field work experience was completed at Windsor Elementary. The school is a Title 1 school in a medium to low socioeconomic area and 61% of their students are on free or reduced lunch. There are about 585 students who attend school there ranging from kindergarten to 6th grade. We were put in a fourth grade classroom with Mrs. Tiffani Ericksen. There are 28 students in her class - 15 female, 13 male. 43% of the students are Hispanic English Language Learners and the remaining 57% are Caucasian.

Our relationship with Mrs. Ericksen, our cooperating teacher, was a great one. She said multiple times that she wanted this to be a good experience for us, and she really made it fun. She was very flexible with our crazy schedules, and allowed us to really feel comfortable in the class before we began teaching. She was very open and honest with us, and gave us many resources like websites and books. We learned a lot from her, and know she will be a resource that we can go to in the future.

Mrs. Ericksen’s reaction to our lesson and the technology we used was very positive. After we finished the lesson she made a point to come up to us and let us know her thoughts. She had a couple of suggestions for improvement, but most of those were in regards to classroom management. She really liked how we integrated technology, and said over and over how lucky she felt to have an ELMO in her classroom.

The Digital story piece of our lesson was very well received by the students and our teacher. It was a great introduction to our unit on Native Americans. Mrs. Ericksen also seemed to really like the time we took to show her how we created our digital story. She was a very tech-savy teacher so it didn’t take much time for us to show her how to create it. She had a Mac which has the program we used, iMovie, which made the training session something that was more beneficial to her. She had never used the program before, and our training opened up a new technology tool for her.

I don’t know that Mrs. Ericksen will ever use the skills that we taught her to create a Digital Story. She has been teaching for quite a few years and seems to know what she likes to use. She doesn’t seem like a teacher who will want to spend time outside of contract hours creating something that will only take up a few minutes in class. The time we spent creating our Digital Story was beneficial for us as future teachers. It provided us a way to introduce our unit using technology, and it really got the students engaged. It taught us great technology skills that we can pass onto our students, and is something we will have as a resource. I just don’t feel that it was extremely practical though because the two minutes it took up in class was only a fraction of the time it took to create it. It would be more useful if it was to be used over multiple years.

Overall the service learning experience was a good one. We enjoyed creating the Digital Story, and learned a lot about the technology in the process. The video got the students engaged in our unit, and opened up new teaching possibilities for us and our cooperating teacher. It may not have been extremely practical because of the amount of work it took to create a good video, but I can definitely see the purpose behind the project. I can see myself using this type of technology integration as both an in class video or as an assignment for the students to create. It is a fun way to learn that connects what the students see outside of the classroom to what they are learning in the classroom.

Reflection Week #12 - Field Work 3

Our field work is now complete. It was an amazing experience that provided so many learning opportunities and fun memories. I will never forget the lessons I was able to learn, and will take the resources I have found and continue using them in the future.

This week we were able to teach our cooperating teacher how to create a digital story. She wasn't very keen on actually creating one herself, but I believe she was thankful for our willingness to show her how. As teachers we have to be creative in the approaches we take to learning, and we need to cater to all learning styles and all students individually. Technology is often one of the common ties that all students connect to. Digital stories are one way we can integrate technology, and we were able to give that resource to our cooperating teacher. I know that if she ever wants to create one in the future she will know how, and will also know that she can contact us if she has more questions about how to create them. We were able to develop a great relationship with our teacher, and I know we will be resources for each other in the future.

I had never really had the opportunity to spend a large amount of time in a classroom before, and it was a blast. I loved getting the chance to get to know the students individually, and spend time teaching them. It was great being able to apply what we had been learning all semester at UVU in a real classroom setting. Theory is important to know, but until you have the chance to apply it in a real life situation the learning is not complete. I believe we were able to solidify what we have been learning by using it over the past three weeks. I will take this experience with me into the future and will use it as a foundation for the semesters to come.

Reflection Week #11 - Field Work 2

This week has really been a fun week in our field work. We have gotten the chance to see quite a bit of technology used in the classroom and it has been fun to see the students reactions. We also got the chance to show our digital story and use technology with the students which was a great experience.

One particular lesson that we had the chance to observe was a lesson our cooperating teacher did on arrays in multiplication. She integrated technology by using her ELMO to do a couple examples and have the students write definitions and then she used a website to illustrate what she was talking about. The students seem to pay attention more when she is using technology to teach, and it was fun to watch their excitement as she used the website. It is obvious that the need for technology in the classroom is huge! Technology is such a important part in their lives and when it is used in the classroom it really seems to make them more excited to learn.

This week we started our unit. To introduce our topic we showed the class our digital story. They were very excited to be watching a movie, but were bummed that it wasn't longer. After it was over one of the students,  not used to watching that type of thing in class, said, "well that was weird." It was funny to see their reaction to the video, but overall I think it really go them excited to learn about Utah's Native Americans. We also used the ELMO for our lesson which worked really well! I hope that in the future I will have access to technology because it really enhances the students' experience and helps them to learn. Being in the classroom has really shown me the importance of using various types of instruction so, as teachers, we can reach all of our students.

Reflection Week #10 - Field Work 1

This week my partner and I started our field experience. We are working at Winsor Elementary school in Orem in Mrs. Ericksen's 4th grade class. It is so fun to be able to be in the classroom practicing what we have been learning these past months. It is so exciting to be working with the kids and helping them to learn. We are now in the real world!

The classroom we are in doesn't have a ton of technology, but it has more than most of the classrooms I have been too. There are 4 mac laptops for student use, but as far as I have seen the teacher does not utilize those. One piece of technology that is amazing that Mrs. Ericksen has already used multiple times is an Elmo. It is a camera that projects what is put underneath it. It is seriously one of the coolest pieces of technology I have seen, and the students love it. Our teacher used it to grade a math worksheet with the students and she was able to show them exactly what their pages should have looked like. You could tell that the students really liked it as well. It is something that drew their attention to her. My partner and I are hoping to be able to utilize it during our unit.

When talking to our instructor she stated that she has only had the Elmo for about a year, and that they were really lucky to receive it. I know that funding is always tight in elementary schools, and I hope that when I become a teacher I will have some access to technology. It is such a huge thing in the lives of all students today that it is really important to use!