My participation in the Mitten program, for the second time around, has been a most rewarding experience for me, my Mitten student teacher and most of all…my students!  I feel so empowered and confident about my technology skills! After 15 years of teaching, I can honestly say that my batteries have been recharged!  I have acquired many fresh and exciting ideas and skills to use with my students! I am more motivated and determined than ever to implement technology into our curriculum.  I’m so proud of the work that we have created in this project!

The use of technology has helped my students to learn this subject matter (Electricity) in a way that is more effective than or would not be possible otherwise. Here are some highlights of how it has been more effective:

• Using an LCD Projector/technology to model lessons or to present information to students is a much more effective tool than the traditional means.

• Most of the time, we were able to help students understand abstract concepts and give the students more concrete ideas to work with.

• Students who did not participate frequently in class, special education students or students who had poor penmanship were visibly more involved, interacting with others in a variety of ways and were more apt to produce quality work than the “traditional” pencil and paper format!

• Students were obviously more engaged and focused.  This enabled students to grasp the concepts more quickly than the traditional classroom techniques.

• We also discovered that technology assisted students in retaining information longer which eventually lead to higher test scores!

I am happy to say that many things worked well for us!  Since this is the second time that my class and myself are involved in the MITTEN program, things went a lot smoother than the first time!  Here are some highlights:

• The students had more experience with technology.  Since students worked on numerous technology projects/software in the past, we have some Salina experts of our own!

• We used the “trainer of the trainer” model where we trained a small group of students, usually after school, and then…those students, help train or assist other students who are having difficulties.   This not only empowered students, but…it made life a lot easier for us!

• We also had access to the school’s computer lab virtually any time we needed it.

• Using the LCD projector and a classroom computer to model proper use, software and expectations before we went down to the lab was extremely helpful…less time wasted and students were more productive!

• The mini-computer lab (five computers) that I had set-up in my classroom helped in giving students more opportunities and experiences to work on projects in the classroom.  This also enabled us to work with small groups of students.

As in everything, there were a few challenges and something that didn’t work the way we had hoped.  Some of the issues we faced were:

•  I still need to plan better for the next unit!  The implementation did not always correspond with the planning.  I need to delve into our curriculum/objectives and adjust the lessons so that I am truly integrating technology into our curriculum instead of creating additional work!

• Students having problems logging into the lab computers

• Retrieving student work/documents from lab computers.

•  Some computers were not networked to my classroom computers or to the printers.

•  I had to deal with the Mac Platform since most of our school computers were Apples!  I am and always will be a PC user!  I can do so much more with a Windows environment, but…needless to say, I am learning the Mac platform for school use as well!

• Also, we had a problem locating the technology equipment in our school.  Teachers throughout our school are using technology on a regular basis, which is a good thing, but…the accountability for returning the equipment is still lacking!  This led me to purchase a lot of technology equipment from my own monies!

Some of the things that I would change or improve upon in the future are:

• I still need to plan better for the next unit!  The implementation did not always correspond with the planning.  I need to delve into our curriculum/objectives and adjust the lessons so that I am truly integrating technology into our curriculum instead of creating additional work!

• I definitely need to become more efficient /knowledgeable in using the Mac platform since most school computers are Macs.  I am very confident/ knowledgeable in using the Windows platform.  I need to attend more training or to practice using Apples/Macs.  I will definitely take my e-Mac classroom computer home over the summer so that I can “Play around with it!”

• I will utilize our district techs more frequently.   I will plan ahead so that our techs can come and inspect our lab computers beforehand since we had numerous problems with students logging in, networking issues and printing problems!

Teaching this unit has definitely changed the way I think about integrating technology into the classroom. Here are some highlights worth mentioning:

• First and foremost, technology should not be a "stand-alone subject"!  To truly integrate technology into and across the curriculum is the way of the future!  We should really plan well and examine the objectives we plan to teach and see how we can use technology to enhance the curriculum…not to burden ourselves and create additional work!

• Technology is a tool that can make classroom learning more dynamic! You can help change difficult, abstract concepts into more concrete, understandable concepts/ideas.

• Technology helps educators teach to multiple intelligences and differentiate instruction to ability level.

• I think that with careful planning, knowledge and more experience with technology…hardware and software, technology integration can help with time management, classroom structure, student data, student records, organization and much more!

• It forced me to sit down, analyze and really take note of all the technology tools available at our school. We’ve always complained that we don’t have this or we don’t have that…but, in reality, we discovered that we had a wealth of tools to work with!

• After teaching the lesson, it has helped me become more creative in the delivery of my instruction! I have so many ways to teach each concept…the hard part is deciding what??

I think that as a result of this experience, I still need much more formal professional development and informal self-teaching in order for me to continue my professional growth.  Some specifics are:

• I need to attend more professional training and practice using a Mac platform.  I am very knowledgeable in using any Windows platform, but…I feel limited in a Mac environment.  Since most of the computers at school are Macs, I definitely need to become more familiar with Macs!

• I need to attend more training sessions on digital video editing.  I am becoming more knowledgeable in using the Pinnacle Software and we did make/edit several movies, but…I still need more self-teaching /practice to make those flashy, creative movies I have in mind!  We are currently working on a movie about “Character Education.”  It’s a play and we’re having a lot of fun making it!

 Conclusion:  My students have embraced the “Technology Time” with open arms!        They are so excited and motivated to use any kind of technology equipment!  They really enjoyed PowerPoint, Kidspiration and making the movie!  Surprisingly…I have learned a great deal from my students as well!  I hope that I have inspired my students as much as they have inspired me!  I am confident that my students will take a wealth of new information and experiences with them into the next grade and become technology leaders in the school and in the future!

Finally, I would like to thank my current MITTEN student teacher, Mr. Michael Nemeth, for all his help, expertise, and his endless support to the children of Salina Intermediate School and to me!  He’s been my right-hand man and helped me learn and resolve many technical issues.  Thank you for coming early and staying late to get the job done!  Without Mr. Nemeth, there wouldn’t be a MITTEN project!

Abraham	Munasser	Falah	Ali H.	Adam

Go to Top