cc1@CS.UCLA.EDU (04/07/88)
Hi! (First posting in this newsgroup, so I thought I'd say hi first...) I'm currently working part-time (12:30 - 2:30 every day) at an elementary school near UCLA as one of two "computer teachers" or whatever... Here's the setup: o Each classroom has one Apple //c, a monitor, and sometimes a printer; a few classrooms have more o There's a signup sheet for teachers to sign up for either me or the other computer assistant, in blocks of one hour each, so conceivably I could go to a different classroom each time o The grades are first through six o The common routine is for the teacher to choose two or three students to "work" at the computer for that day (this can vary in different classes) o Mostly, the kids use the computer to play Math Blaster o For the most part, the teachers are computer-illiterate Okay, here's the dilemna: what should I do? Usually the teachers leave it up to me to decide what to do, since with most of them, their extent of computer knowledge is putting in a disk drive and turning on the machine. So should I sit back and watch the kids play Math Blaster? (Which is what the other "computer assistant" does basically <a POLY SCI major...>) Should I try to teach them BASIC or LOGO? (One class was trying LOGO but they had a hard time drawing intelligible pictures, so I wrote a short program to allow them to draw better looking pictures) Should I try to teach things to the whole class at once, or stick to the small (2-3 kids) groups method that seems to be common at this school? Should I teach them how to use application software and such? (In one class we just finished writing a "newspaper" using News Room or whatever the name of it was...) Plus any software reccommendations would be appreciated; also responses and suggestions should state the appropriate ages (i.e. "First graders should learn how to program in Pascal, third graders in C, fifth in assembly, sixth in BASIC", or whatever...) Any advice that you could offer would be appreciated! --Ken
patth@dasys1.UUCP (Patt Haring) (04/11/88)
In article <11012@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU>, cc1@CS.UCLA.EDU writes: > > o Mostly, the kids use the computer to play Math Blaster > > o For the most part, the teachers are computer-illiterate > > Okay, here's the dilemna: what should I do? Usually the teachers leave > it up to me to decide what to do, since with most of them, their extent > of computer knowledge is putting in a disk drive and turning on the > machine. So should I sit back and watch the kids play Math Blaster? > (Which is what the other "computer assistant" does basically <a POLY > SCI major...>) Should I try to teach them BASIC or LOGO? (One class > was trying LOGO but they had a hard time drawing intelligible pictures, > so I wrote a short program to allow them to draw better looking pictures) > Should I try to teach things to the whole class at once, or stick to the > small (2-3 kids) groups method that seems to be common at this school? > Should I teach them how to use application software and such? (In one > class we just finished writing a "newspaper" using News Room or whatever > the name of it was...) Plus any software reccommendations would be > appreciated; also responses and suggestions should state the appropriate > ages (i.e. "First graders should learn how to program in Pascal, third > graders in C, fifth in assembly, sixth in BASIC", or whatever...) > > Any advice that you could offer would be appreciated! Good start with the NEWSROOM program, Ken! Having the students work on a project *together* and particularly if they can get a hard copy (printout) of the finished product is rewarding for them and will motivate them to pursue further activities that will utilize the computer. You might want to call some of the software companies (Sunburst in Pleasantville, NY comes to mind) about software review policies so that you could get the software to use/try FREE for 30 days before you decide if it's age/class appropriate. I'm sure the students would love Where in the World/USA/Europe is Carmen San Diego? and States and Traits and Oregon Trail. There's also the Voyage of the Mimi software together with videos that will make the science/ecology classes more interesting for them. One last tip: try anything you can to get the teachers started using computers. You could try AppleWorks - there's a Teachers Ideas & Information Exchange group that send out disks full of templates that will work with AppleWorks for seating plans, letters home, attendance, gradebooks, test creating, and in this way if the teachers saw how much time and paperwork the computer could save them, perhaps they would be more interested in learning more about furthering their own education with respect to the use of higher technology as an aid to learning. I don't envy you the position you're in and I encourage you to encourage the teachers as well as the students to utilitze the computers in the classroom; teacher attitudes are communicated to students - what might the students be thinking of their teachers who have this ho-hum attitude about the computers in their classrooms? I'd also think about teaching the children word processing - you could use FrEdwriter, which is a very easy program for children to use; there's also a KIDMAIL program available that will simulate a Bulletin Board System that will allow the kids to write messages to/from each other without the use of a telephone or a modem. These disks can then be exchanged with other classes/schools or just utilitized for the children/teachers at a certain grade level. There's also FrEDsender which will enable the students to communicate via modem with children in other schools; they'll be able to send messages, stories, articles they write with FrEdwriter. Please contact me by email and I'll give you more information about these programs. Good luck! Apple ][ forever! -- Patt Haring {sun!hoptoad,cmcl2!phri}!dasys1!patth Big Electric Cat Public Access Unix (212) 879-9031 - System Operator Three aspects of wisdom: intelligence, justice & kindness.
mtbb34@ms.uky.edu (Becky McEllistrem) (04/15/88)
In article <11012@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> cc1@CS.UCLA.EDU (Ken Bartlett) writes: >Any advice that you could offer would be appreciated! Really? How long do you have... I'm helping some teachers out here on a bulletin board and would be happy to give you their addresses. What we're tryin to do is set up a statewide communicatons system for the teachers of computers. The ideas are so numerous and each teacher handles their class so differently that I'd rather write you in person and if I get enough requests for help, I'll begin posting publicly. Let me know and mail to me... This is what I'd like my career to be (consulting with teachers in computer labs/classrooms) and no you SHOULDN'T let kids play games ALL the time. They have their place too. Becky -- -- "I ALways push the doors marked pull!"- (I don't know who said that.) -- Becky McEllistrem (Tadger) -- mtbb34@ms.uky.edu, mtbb34@ukma.bitnet, {rutgers,uunet,cbosgd}!ukma!mtbb34 -- University of Kentucky in Lexington Kentucky, USA