Joy on their faces

Today I was able to let 4 additional students, one per class period, work on a chromebook instead of a laptop.  I enjoyed their faces when I told them the news - it was probably just about as good as their faces at Christmas!  Over the last month, students have been asking from time to time if and when THEY get to use a chromebook.  As the teacher, I hope others will get to use a chromebook too.  The amazingly fast start-up speed is wonderful!  It makes the laptops seem even slower than before.  The combination of speedy start up plus Google Docs packets with links direct to the sites they need has been great.

Select and Speak

On Thursday night, our school had its open house where all students and parents could meet the teachers. To each group of students and parents I shared who I was, a little about our class, and some of the housekeeping things that they would want to know. It was energizing to see students in the building again, and it was nice to meet with their parents as well.
I got a chance to speak with one student who shared that he/she had some difficulties with reading. The student expressed the desire to work through the learning disability when possible. Still, the student was a little worried about the accommodations for online testing and reading with the Chromebooks. At that point, I remembered that I had bookmarked a Chrome extension that might help. With the student and parent, I added the Select and Speak extension to my Chrome browser. It was really cool. The extension allows the user to select text from any website, click on the Select and Speak icon, and the text is read aloud. Hopefully, it eased the student's apprehension a little. I think we'll include it on our list of pre-installed extensions.      

We're In!

With school starting on Monday, we now have all of our Chromebooks ready to roll! To obtain our own domain (Thanks, LunarPages), begin a Google Apps account through that domain, customize our own GApps settings, get Google Enterprise support, transfer the technical contact for our order, create 350 email accounts, obtain "Google Apps for Education" status through our sfmemorial.com domain, redirect our domain's email MX records to point to Google, reprovision our Chromebooks to our GApps domain, add 350 new GApps user accounts, and enroll 60 Chromebooks was a ginormous undertaking. Phew! The Google team (Emma, Michael, Andrew, and Tom) worked so well with our state's domain administrator (Thanks, James!) to make things happen for us. We did do things the hard way (having to switch the domain to our own), but now we will have great access to manage these devices and our learners' experience with them.

Student Reactions to Chromebooks

After about one and a half months of Chromebooks in students' hands, I asked for their reactions to this new technology.  I received mixed results.  Some students loved the Chromebook.  Here's what a few students said:

"I liked going on the websites without waiting for a computer to load. I liked it because instead of a thick stack of papers in my binder, there was a chromebook with the science packets."
"I liked that I didn't have to carry around a packet and that everything was in one place so I could never lose it. It also made it a lot easier to get onto ediscio and prezi when I needed to."
"One thing I liked about the chromebook, was that it was fast. I could type things faster than writing them, and the internet was fast."
"There were good and bad but more good, then bad. For example I write a lot more on the pages from the chromebook then what I would write in my actual physical packet."
"I like that it was fast, like when we needed something online I had it right here.  I didn't have to go get a ipod, ipad, or a laptop."

Other students weren't as excited to use the Chromebooks.  I learned from their feedback that I will need to make more of an effort this next year with teaching the basics of using the trackpad and keyboard shortcuts.  Taking time at the beginning of this next year to learn keyboard tips and tricks will be a worthwhile investment of time to help students adjust to a slightly different technology than they are used to.  After hearing the idea from a Lowell teacher, I made a simple adjustment in my room before the school year was over by offering some mice to plug in since some students couldn't get used to the trackpad.  Other comments written included:

"It was kind of hard to type instead of writing. I think writing would have been much faster and you couldn't really draw anything."
"I didn't like having to find my spot after I got lost in the packet (even though I could scroll up) and it's easier for me to just write the things down."
"Sometimes it would be slow and mouse would react slowly."
"I didn't really like that I couldn't take the packet with me. If I just wanted to look at something quick at home, I would have to go on my computer and log in. With a paper packet, you don't need to do that."

After our short implementation this last spring, the benefits already outweigh the challenges.  Students have quick personal access to our variety of online resources, stay organized with online Google docs packets that won't get lost, and have opportunities to easily access online creating tools to share student learning.  I will keep their concerns in mind as I think towards our next school year, making adjustments to support students and their learning when feasible.  I'm looking forward to teaching with Chromebooks again this fall!
-Nikki

So Far

Here's a quick explanation of how we've used the Chromebooks so far. We have enough Chromebooks for half of our students to use them. Other students use iPods, iPads, and occasionally laptops (when available) to access what they need, whether it is a vodcast, blog, presentation tool, or online research. Those that have use of Chromebooks use the same one every day. They log in with their profile, and are instantly signed into their Google Docs account and other personalized settings that they've set up (some have gotten creative with their own Google Chrome theme - I've noticed that there are a few Justin Bieber fans among our 8th grade students). Those without Chromebooks still use the paper unit packets. Those with the Chromebooks use online packets that we've uploaded, converted, and modified on Google Docs. Here's an example - Meteorology 3.

• Getting the Google Doc: Each Chromebooker opens the Google Doc packet from a link on our blog, and then "makes a copy" in order to modify their own. The students drag this new packet to a Docs "Collection" that is shared with the science teacher. That way the teacher can view the student work and leave comments/feedback at any time. 
• Using the Google Doc: There are highlighted places where students should write. Every task has a bookmark to remove the need for scrolling. It's nice to have everything hyperlinked as well. Where do I find ______?" Just click on the link. There are occasions when students need to draw. To solve this problem (you can't just draw on the Google Doc), students download the Webpage Screenshot and take a picture of what they want to draw on. That shot is sent to a place where it can be cropped and annotated. Then learners save the edited photo, and upload it into their Google Doc. It's there and it's cool. There is a learning curve for the students, but they've caught on quickly so far. A few students were emotionally connected to the paper, but most now enjoy the ease of having learning packets on Google Docs.

Our Class

We've begun to use the Chromebooks. They're quite awesome. As advertised, really - the fast start-up gives our students as much work time as possible. Here's a really short explanation of what our classes are like:
We have a self-paced (kind of) Mastery Learning classroom. There are days when we all are doing the same lab or activity, which we've termed as "All-Aboard" days. We also have days in which students progress through activities at their own pace. As soon as a students has demonstrated "mastery" on a certain concept, he/she moves on to the next objective. Learning activities are grouped in organized packets that students work from. Direct instruction comes in the form of vodcasts that have been pre-casted. This frees us up to work with individual students and naturally-formed groups on a daily basis, and we are able to facilitate some of the learning that takes place. This year is the first that we've had students learning at different paces. There, of course, have been highs and lows along the way with this new (at least to us) style.

It's a Chromebook

What is that thing? A little computer? A tablet? Well, not really. In the short time I've had to use one, I would best describe it as an "Internet machine". Whatever it is, we got 30 of them to use in our 8th grade science classrooms through an Innovation Grant in our Sioux Falls school district. Our students will be using these Google Chromebooks to access and create web-based content. This blog will include reflections about how we are implementing the student use of these "internet machines". Before this first post ends, here is a Slide Rocket (a Chrome app for presentations) that profiles our classrooms and the Chromebook.