A New Direction

Last year was one of my most challenging years as a computer in my school district.  Due to these difficulties, my mission for last year had to be put off, and will become my mission for this year.  That mission was to get my students more fluent with using Web 2.0 tools.  That was impossible to do last year, but I'm excited to say that it will happen this year.

Two years ago, I can't see that my school received blazing fast internet speeds, but I was able to work with it.  It was fast enough for me to go ahead with my plans for the following year.  Then, last year, the district started upgrading all of the lines to fiber optic lines with a T1 connection.  During the upgrade, the old equipment that some of the school were still receiving internet from died, so they had to have consolidate all of the schools who hadn't been upgraded yet to the last remaining outdated system.  It was at this point that our internet speeds dropped off almost completely.  Without exaggerating, I'd have to say that it was most likely comparable to around mid to late 1990s internet speed; pretty much unusable with the graphics and script currently used on webpages.  Around June of last year, we were moved onto the new T1 lines.  Wow, the difference was instant.  I would now consider the speeds to be blazing fast.

With this, I very much look forward to my 3-5th graders participating in weekly discussions on the Blackboard web platform we use.  I will also teach the teachers along with the librarian how to use Wikis.  This can be used to have groups of students work on a research project, then build a Wiki to show their research.  Another possibility is to have the language arts teacher use them to have the class as a whole log in to correct a paper and explain their corrections.  I also need to get my students more proficient with sharing resources between each other electronically.  With Web 2.0 tools, I don't see any reason for any research to be printed out until the final product is complete.

I've already started meeting with my classes this year, and I've started getting them excited about using these tools.  They forced me to tell them the first discussion topic, but they won't be able to post anything until next week.  I told them to look at this torment as a chance for them to really think about what they want to write before they post it.  This will be a very exciting and refreshing year for us all.  On a side note, while typing this blog, I thought about a 2nd grader's question about why I want them to be able type without looking at the keys.  I currently don't have power due to a storm and have my laptop tethered through my phone for internet.  It's dark, and I can't see the keys.  I will have to give them that reason when I see them tomorrow.