MENTORING TIME LOG

Marie Miles

EDU 535

DATE / TIME / ACTIVITY AND RESPONSE
10/24/11
Carrie Stolp
Sarah Jastorff / 3:10 – 4:05 / -I showed Carrie and Sarah the K12 21st Century Learner video and we discussed the importance of teaching/using technology in education today. They agreed that the message in this video is powerful and very true.
-We looked at and explored tools on my web 2.0 scavenger hunt. We looked at Glogster, Wallwisher, Wikispaces, Present.me, AnswerGarden, Linkable, and Kidblog.
- We discussed what these web 2.0 tools are and how they could be used in the classroom.
11/21/11
Carrie Stolp / 3:00 – 4:10 / - I explained the benefits of using Linkable and/or Portaportal for yourself, coworkers, and students. I showed Carrie how to set up her own account.
- We explored the tools and websites from my content scavenger hunt and my top ten powerpoint, including Voicethread, LittleBirdTales, Bubbl.us, Mr. Nussbaum’s website, and Fur.ly.
11/30/11
Carrie Stolp
Sarah Jastorff / 3:15 – 4:50 / - We looked at and discussed the national technology standards. They agreed that most teachers don’t even know tech standards exist.
- set up our classes on Kidblog.com and discussed how/when/why we should have students blog, and how we can do that safely
- discussed the district technology meeting I attended about teacher computer options – we three are in favor of teachers receiving laptops
- explored Youngzine.com
- I showed them how to sign up for Google Reader – they got subscribed to TeachPaperless and Free Technology for Teachers
- I shared my Jing; they found it to be very helpful because they can refer back to the tutorials if they need to and it also provides clear, visual instructions of what to do.
Reflection / Mentoring turned out to be a very positive experience for my coworkers and myself. We challenged each other in new ways and enjoyed collaborating about technology.
Sarah is very comfortable with technology; she just needed to be shown some web 2.0 tools. She was not aware that so many tools were freely available online. She especially enjoyed Glogster because, not only is it simply a fun tool to use, she understands how important it is to allow students time to create and she thought Glogster would engage her students really well. I’m not sure if she has integrated Glogster into her lesson plans yet or if she’s put any of the other web 2.0 tools to use with her students. She has not shared that with me, but I will continue to check in with her and encourage her to at least try and use the technology I introduced her to.
Carrie is very willing to learn new technology, yet is hesitant and not as comfortable. She knows the value of integrating technology for our 21st century learners, but she feels unsure of what to do and is afraid of something going wrong. I keep encouraging her to just keep things small and do what she is comfortable with and can handle. I also remind her that I am right next door and always willing to help her any way I can. She taught kindergarten for several years, 2nd grade last year, and now is teaching 5th grade for the first time. So although she feels overwhelmed by everything new, she is still eager to learn and reach every one of her students, even if that means getting out of her comfort zone a little bit and integrating more technology. She loved the idea of having a Linkable site or Portaportal. Often times she finds herself wishing she had a site for her students to access. I suggested to her using Portaportal for her students and Linkable for herself. Carrie also enjoyed exploring Wallwisher and AnswerGarden, and we both plan on using Kidblog in our classrooms in the near future.
I found that sometimes it was difficult to explain the technology in a way that was clear, simple, and direct. I did the best I could, though, and my team always had a great response. Each of them truly do understand the advantages and purpose of giving students opportunities to use technology during their learning. They just needed someone to sit down with them and, not only tell them the steps to do, but demonstrate and discuss what they could try and why.
I hope my team is willing to continue collaborating about ways to use technology in our classrooms, even though we won’t have any planned meeting times. This mentoring experience was a positive one and I look forward to our future planning and sharing of ideas.