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This week I had a sense of accomplishment with my Game Plan. I sent home my first monthly report to my students parents today and got immediate feedback from those I sent via email. Parents said they loved this because sometimes papers that are sent home are lost some where between school and home. Parents also said it was nice to have something sent home that not only dealt with scores, but with their child's behavior, strengths, weaknesses and upcoming events. I am very happy with this part of my Game Plan thus far I just hope that I can keep up with it each and every month. Time is still my enemy!
As far as the other part of my Game Plan I am afraid I am just not getting very far with technology. Many of you have given me amazing feedback as far as what I could do to try to get technology into my classroom. Although my principal does seem very strict with this idea of keeping many sites blocked I have a feeling it is not really in her hands. She is just doing what is being asked of her. My whole county is having issues with getting onto educational sites. It seems that it is more of a county wide issue and not just a school issue. I do love though how they always preach to us teachers that we need to make learning fun and meaningful to students, yet we are still using overhead projectors and have 2 computers in our classroom. How can I make an overhead projector fun for the students to learn? When I am home I do like to search for different ideas on how to incorporate technology into lessons and what technology other teachers are using. In case one day I am blessed with technology in my county!
I am so glad to hear someone else with the same types of issues. We are also encouraged to go outside the box and do hands on activities to reach all learners and make learning fun. However, we also have overhead projectors and chalk boards. I went to Lowes over the summer and had my husband replace my chalk boards with dry erase boards because my allergies couldn't take the dust! Not to mention, we get about $100 at the end of the year to buy supplies with, however since we have to buy our own copy paper, lined paper, pencils and tissue... the majority of the money goes towards those things. There is not much left over for manipulatives or "fun" learning material. Ugh. It is frustrating and difficult, but hopefully things will be turning around in education and we will all get a computer for each student in our room and smart boards :-) (In a perfect world... right?)
ReplyDeleteOne could only hope! It is said to say but I make my students purchase pencils, erasers etc with tickets that they can earn for prizes. Since I have to buy my own supplies as well it is very difficult to see some students going through 2-3 pencils a day because they lost it or broke it. So I tell them at the beginning of the year if they need a pencil it will cost them 5 tickets. This way I am not constantly spending money to purchase new pencils and it teaches them to be more responsible since most of them are trying to save their tickets for a big prize.
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