Netbooks+and+Me!

HOW I'M USING TECHNOLOGY! Grade Level - 11 & 12 Class Sections - include component="comments" page="Netbooks and Me!" limit="20" =DIARY=
 * One section - ELD12
 * One section - IB11
 * Three sections - Eng11

9.4.12 - Took my seniors to the library to have Jan Parker lead them through setting up their GoogleDrive accounts provided by the district. It took twice as long as I was anticipating. Although the kids use computers on a regular basis they did not know common terms, got easily lost in the directions (all 5 of them). It ws frustrating but I'm still hopeful this will help overcome aversion to editing in our language learners.

9.13.12 - Seniors could get on the netbooks beginning today if they had completed a graphic organizer. I am thinking I would like to have the organizer online next time too. Only about half are done and on computers. I put the sharing directions up on my board and they had no trouble sharing (except for those that spelled my name incorrectly). One girl said she preferred to write it out long-hand. But we had a discussion about the advantages - specifically the ease of editing. She likes to edit on a piece of paper so I agreed to print out what she had when she had reached a full draft point.

9.17.12 - This is day 3 that the seniors have the netbooks. I am really liking the automatic saving. Everyone has shared with me now. So I am spending some time making strengths and questions comments on each. I like that Google Drive shows me which I've made comments on and which I haven't. Tomorrow the kids will be getting peer feedback and taking a look at my questions to start the editing process.

9.18.12 - Kids looked at my feedback. There was a slight issue with my comments not saving on about three essays. Don't know why that happened. Kids responded well to my comments. It was really nice for them to have an easy way to revise without re-writing. YouTube is becoming a problem as they all want to listen to music and spend time finding that perfect song. Tomorrow they are getting feedback from actual college admissions people. This could be very cool. Problem - How to get the essays to the library. May have to wheel the whole cart down there. Kind of a pain...

9.18.12 - Again - to think about: how can I incorporate the netbook use into the juniors upcoming persuasive project. Research element? Create GoogleDoc presentation online? EDIT: Have asked Jan Parker to help me sign up my Reg11 classes to use GoogleDrive Presentations. I'm apprehensive, but hopeful this will be a good experience. Something to think about - The kids will have to be signing in and out of GoogleDrive to pull up their project. Time problems on presentations days?

9.20.12 - 6 of my netbooks are not connecting to the internet. Support in the building is a problem and 6 is a lot to be without. This is definitely one frustrating aspect. I have been thinking about the presentation my regular 11s will be creating. I think that I will still have them sketch out their slides before they "earn" a netbook. If they don't have a plan I'm afraid that they'll just be wasting time because they're not sure what to do. We'll see how that goes.

9.25.12 - I got those 6 netbooks figured out. Just in time because today Jan Parker came to my class and helped all my Reg11s access their Google Accounts. It went fairly smoothly! The kids will be using the presentation feature for an oral presentation.The thing I am looking forward to is being able to monitor whether they are working, monitoring progress, and being able to make comments. Honestly, the ability to make comments has been the most exciting part of using the Google Docs. It's nice to not have to stop their work in order to look at it and being suggestions. And it's great to be able to give feedback without taking a single piece of paper home!