While spending time in my technology practicum working with the technology teacher at my elementary school, I had the opportunity to assist a lesson of fourth graders who use the internet to track hurricanes. The lesson is really neat--the research the chosen hurricane, and once they have written an article on it (the end project is to create the front page of the newspaper from the day after it hit), they use GoogleImage to find pictures of the destruction. It is, as the tech teacher put it, "the carrot at the end of the stick".

While I was there, the class was transitioning from research to writing their "article", and some students even made it to the point where they searched for images. The teacher mentioned to me at the end of the lesson the differences in the level of students--not only was there an apparent difference between kids who could easily construct a paragraph and those that had trouble just forming a sentence, but also a difference between those that were familiar with computers and those that were not. And the kids who had trouble both typing and writing...their disadvantage compared to the rest of their peers was overwhelming.

The experience underscored for me the need to have technology integrated as much as possible. Students should learn how to print, write cursive, and type. And if we were only to teach two of those, I'd say cursive should be out first. Just as we're changing our definition of literacy, we need to rethink what we're asking when we want someone who can write. Because, more often than not, it will be more important to type information than it will be to print information.

I had to fill out a bunch of worksheets for a children's lit project I have for a methods course... and even after very little writing my hand really began to ache. Writing is hard work...and I'm out of practice--because I type everything. And typing should be considered an alternate form of recording. For a lot of kids, typing is a skill that could maximize their rapidity at recording information, which would help them to boost their academic performance.

Unfortunately, though, typing isn't taught in my elementary school at all--the technology teacher aligns all of his lessons with what the grades are doing from the SOLs. And, each class only sees him once every seven school days--not a lot at all. But not even one class period can remain untouched by the SOLs. And I'm not saying that kids should spend hours upon hours of doing typing drills--I certainly hated it. But at least the opportunity to learn should be available. Because otherwise, how are the kids who are behind going to catch up? Frustration with the tool (because they cannot type adequately) is certainly not going to encourage students to use technology more--and would probably discourage it.

I am posting an original recipie for an apple cake, because I love cooking, and while I love teaching, it's often refreshing to take off the teaching hat. It's a good season for apples so I think it's only appropriate, and with finals approaching, it's an even better season for stress eating. At least this has some fruit in it.
;o)

Did I mention that after teaching, I'd like to be a food critic? Mmmm. (I'm not gonna lie, I'm really looking forward to tasting all the food in Ecuador...)

Apple-Ricotta Kuchen
This cake has three layers: a hearty cake base, a cheese middle, and a layer of sliced apples on top.

Cake base:
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 c. plus 2 tbsp sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c. all-purpose flour (or for a gluten-free version, I recommend Bob's Red Mill millet flour)
1/2 c. almond meal (can be purchased at Trader Joe's, or made by processing almonds in a food processor until the texture of soft sand; but, can be substituted with flour if necessary)

Preheat oven to 375. Beat butter and sugar until light, add eggs one at a time and beat after each. Beat until fluffy. Add vanilla and and fold in flour and almond meal. Spoon into buttered and floured pan (I used a 9-inch cake pan lined with parchment instead of flour and butter, because that's what we have in our dorm room, and it worked perfectly). Set aside.

Cheese Mixture:
1 1/4 c. skim ricotta cheese
1 egg
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch salt

Combine all ingredients. Spoon on top of cake batter carefully to keep layers separate.

Apples: Peel and slice 2 apples. Arrange apple slices on top of cheese mixture. (Optional: soak or sprinkle the apple slices with apple juice before placing them onto the cake for extra flavor or moistness). Sprinkle liberally with cinnamon.

Bake cake in the oven about 45 minutes, or until the center of the cheese mixture has set. Allow to cool sufficiently and enjoy.

Bon apetit!

I just have to say it... I adore my classmates. I don't think I could be any luckier to have such intelligent and committed people to work with every day. It's so funny reading everyone's blogs because I can hear them saying it--I hear Rachel reading her blog with her softly southern voice that packs a punch when it needs to; Brittany when she hesitates before her face lights up in a smile; Meg when she talks about her kids. It's funny how clearly your voices come through. It's probably easier because we spend so much time together...but I take reassurance that even when we're all in our separate classrooms there's still hope that we can stay together by blogging.

I had the fortune to watch several of my classmates' implementation projects. It's been so interesting to see the ways in which they have chosen to use technology in their classrooms--a couple have gone to the lab and conducted the lesson there; and others have used laptops within their regular classrooms. The experiences have varied--while I would say that hands-down, every lesson was a success--most of us (except for Emily) walked away feeling like it was just a failure. It is really hard teaching a class, one class, a lesson with technology--essentially it means that it is up to us to establish procedure for technology (none of our teachers really had that in place) while asserting ourselves as their teacher (our capacity has mostly been to observe). It was no small challenge.

What I think I learned from this, though, is that the best use of technology is consistent and sustained. The logistical challenges to getting our lessons done were huge. And yet... if we were in our own classroom, we would probably spend at least a whole class period rehearsing procedures for technology. So this implementation project asked us to do a lot, and in doing so, I think, helped us to grasp the ideal situation with technology and why it is that ideal--make use of technology regular so that it is integrated into the children's classroom experience.

What was really remarkable, though, was the excitement of all of our students to be using technology. To have students that excited about anything was awesome. It caught me off-guard, actually--they just loved using laptops or the lab. It feels almost gimicky to use the technology to engage the students...but...engagement leads to better learning...I'll take whatever gimmick I can get.

In Scholastic's magazine for November/December, they promoted Imbee as a free and safe site for parents, teachers, and students to connect and blog. I felt so ahead of the game as Professor Nussbaum-Beach has already gotten us on that bandwagon.

I've decided that instead of going straight to the elementary classroom, and instead of getting a masters', I'm going to spend 10 or 11 months in Ecuador teaching English and becoming fluent in Spanish. The more I think about the idea, the more excited I become. I love being fluent in a language (French), but it will be so much better when I'm fluent in a language that more people use! And, for the classroom, well, it would just be fantastic.

I hope that I will have access to computers and to internet at my teaching site in Ecuador. There are so many resources online that make language teaching not only easier, but more meaningful. It'd be great to partner with an American class to have an exchange through blogging. Or even Skype, as Malini pointed out in her post about Chris Craft's blog.

And then... the possibility of being fluent (at least functionally fluent) in Spanish just has my mind reeling with so many great teaching opportunities. I would love to work with Hispanic communities--what a difference it could make for these families to be able to talk to their child's teacher in Spanish! Even just to be able to incorporate some Spanish into the every-day routine, or be able to offer a center on Spanish (Spanish AND French!!!). Gee wiz, I just love teaching elementary students and I just love foreign languages. It's too bad that they don't intersect often enough.