Week Two

During the second week of our mentoring relationship, Nicole and I didn't text or email as much as we did the first week.  We mainly communicated via email this week, whereas we mostly texted and talked on the phone last week.  This shift in communication was because Nicole was very busy going back to work after being off track a month.  Also, she told me that she was working a lot on her DE experience.  She emailed me a lot of questions about her DE project this week, and I was able to easily respond because we work at the same school and always have our work email account open.  After meeting last week, Nicole had a clear plan for her DE experience and this week she was working on creating the project.

Nicole and I met in person for about an hour during a non-student day.  The focus for today's meeting was to discuss and research Web resources and apps Nicole can use with her kindergartners once they begin Bring Your Own Device.  The reason for this focus is because in two weeks, I will be presenting to all of the kindergarten parents at her school.  I will be explaining how their children will use their own mobile devices to learn during the school day.  At this meeting, I will also be suggesting apps to download and Web-based resources for their children to use.  I am holding this meeting so the student devices will already be set up for the kindergartners to use in class.  

I began our session by asking Nicole her confidence level on a scale of 1-10 in knowing which resources her students can use on their devices.  She said her confidence level is a four because she is aware of some resources and has suggested some to her students, but wants to be sure she is using the best resources for her students.

To start our lesson, I explained the difference between Web-based resources and apps.  I showed Nicole Brainpop.com and Starfall.com to explain that Web-based resources are accessible on any device that connects to the Internet.  I explained the benefits of using Web-based resources, one of which being that they are accessible to all students in her classroom, even those without mobile devices.  Then I pulled out my Smartphone and showed her educational apps that I had downloaded.  This live demonstration helped to clearly show Nicole the difference between Web-based resources and apps.

Nicole then took out her iPad.  We first searched for more Web-based resources that her students can use.  After searching for about ten minutes, Nicole decided to just start with one Web-based resource, Starfall.  She felt that Starfall included much of what her students need and didn't want to overwhelm her kindergartners with too many resources.  I agreed with this decision and could tell that Nicole was really taking into account her students' ability levels.  We then moved onto looking for free educational apps that will align with what her students are learning.  Nicole had already sent home a paper with suggested apps for her students to use while they were on their month-long vacation.  We used this list as our starting point.  I recorded the additional apps that Nicole found and liked so I can discuss them with the rest of the kindergarten team.  Nicole liked the whiteboard app as a multi-purpose tool used in all subjects.  For reading skills, she liked Build A Word, Read on Sight, PBS Kids, Rocket Speller, and Alphabet Car.  For math skills, Nicole liked Hungry Fish, Count Sort Match, Butterfly Math, and Park Math.

As we went through the apps, Nicole and I discussed the pros and cons about each app.  I used what I had learned in evaluating software to guide Nicole in looking at many different aspects of the apps.  We looked at learner control, ease of use, gender biases, and how the content in the apps aligned with what she's teaching.  We also talked about implications for using the apps with her students, discussing when she could see students using the apps.  To start, Nicole will be having students use their devices in small groups during center time.  Students without devices will use the desktop computers and will begin with Starfall.  She will implement more Web-based resources in a month or so once her students are familiar with Starfall.

Nicole and me exploring educational apps for her kindergartners

Nicole told me that today's session was very helpful and that she understood the different types of resources she can recommend to her students.  I asked Nicole her confidence level on a scale of 1-10 in knowing which Web resources and apps to use with her students, and she said that now it's a nine.  She said she'll feel completely confident once she starts actually using the resources with her students and sees them in action.  I asked Nicole what the top three resources she wants to start using immediately with her kindergartners.  She said she would like to use Starfall.com, a whiteboard app, and sight reading apps ("Read on Sight" for iOS and "Sight Words for Reading" on Android devices).  When I asked Nicole how I can continue to support her, she said she would like to schedule me to help teach small groups of students how to use these resources for learning.  She would like to have centers.  Students with devices will of course use their own tools and I will help them in navigating the apps.  Students without devices will use the desktop computers and I will assist them in using the Web-based resources.  Her request is perfect because it is exactly what I am planning on assisting all of the kindergarten teachers with once BYOD begins in a few weeks.  Nicole's principals wants me to support the kindergarten teachers a lot during this first month of BYOD to ensure success.  I can see Nicole becoming more comfortable with using various forms of technology with her students.  She is really excited to do this, but I can tell it's overwhelming.  It helps that we can talk about educational technology, especially because she is getting her EdTech Masters degree right now and I know what phase of the program she is in.  I can offer suggestions that will align nicely with her studies so it makes her work with me more meaningful.