Jan+Bengtson

Jan Bengtson Fall River Elementary

__Project history:__ Many of these catalysts occurred at different places and at different times.

Catalyst #1-I was inspired and swept away by the Smartboard technology I'd seen dangled before my nose at not one, but two T.I.E. conferences.

Catalyst #2-Last year was one of those years in terms of unmotivated and reluctant learner classroom populations.
 * __The Daily 5__ by Boushey and Moser- whole group instruction, followed by small group instruction, ending with independent reading.
 * Appropriate learning looks like: a.) pick a spot and stay in that spot until the task is completed, b.) students have a job and the teacher has a job, c.) read the whole time, d.) student options are to read to self, read to a buddy, use the listening center.
 * "Kool Kids" program - designed for autistic learners so that they are fully aware of appropriate learning behaviors and can be supported in monitoring their own learning. Example: LISTENING looks like: look directly at the speaker, hands and feet are quiet, provide feedback to the teacher so that she knows you are listening. Conversely, listening does not look like. ..
 * 92% proficient on 3rd grade reading CSAP scores in May 2008

Catalyst #3-So, what do I need to do to change classroom interaction to engage my learners fully, day after day? I was still the one putting forth the energy to entertain/engage the kids each day. Student buy-in wasn't complete.

Catalyst #4-Classroom data, particularly our math computation performance failed to meet our school goals for 07-08. Voila! This became my focus. [|Fasttmath.com]
 * Professional Learning Community (PLC) so our essential learnings have been clearly outlined. This class population struggled mightily with fluency with basic math facts even at the end of the year.

__Purpose__ Using the Ten-Minute Investigations math format and lesson focus,my project is based upon teaching and learning support around the "big math idea" of using combinations of ten for computation fluency and automaticity. Toward that end, I have accumulated several resources to facilitate student learning using the Smartboard interactively.[| Marilyn Burns Do the Math.com] (page 9 of the Research Foundation paper)

__Already accomplished__ I have located several outstanding websites and math activities which will help me fulfill the research portion of my goal. I am attending CyberCamp to further my use of technology in my classroom. I have received my laptop to facilitate Smartboard learning activity research and tutorials. I have read the textbook __Reinventing Project-based Learning__ by Boss and Krauss. I have created a Delicious account to use as a catalogue and warehousing device as I find resources to bookmark.

__Future Tasks__ I will be a participant in the Fall River PST to further my understanding of Promethean Smartboard operating instructions. My goal here is to teach the teacher, so that I may teach my students to use this technology. After my Smartboard is installed at Fall River, I'll spend some time working with it until school starts. Now that I have a laptop, I'll spend time researching and utilizing web-based learning.
 * I have an idea for a science project based upon an experience I had while in Mexico the week before CyberCamp began. I met a marine conservationist whose job it was to harvest turtle eggs and remove them to a safe site for maturation and hatching. We exchanged email addresses in hopes that I will be able to use the data from the Mexican conservation site in my classroom. Additionally, the community theme is one that is near and dear to my heart, appropriate for this grade level, and interdisciplinary. In my mind, I began to create a project-based learning activity that would help my third graders become more knowledgeable about our local community and safely engage our global community through turtle conservation. Next steps: download the digital pictures we took of "planting" the eggs; create an attractive blog site, set up a classroom twitter account, structure the online learning activities, teach the students how to use the technology required for the project.

Resources [|National Library of Virtual Manipulatives] [|Promethean Planet]

[|Marilyn Burns Do the Math]