POST #2: Challenges to Using Iowa AEA Online Resources

Some of my challenges as a traveling Orchestra and general music instructor are shared spaces, schedule and resources available.

I share spaces at three schools and much of my schedule is filled with setting up and tearing down a new space before I leave the school. This often makes technology a difficult aspect to address in my curriculum. It's often easier to just play and sing music than to put together a lesson where I need to plug my lab top up to the projector (only to tear it back down again when class is over).

My schedule in many building doesn't give me much time to use technology in the classroom as you can imagine and we do not have many technical tools inside the orchestra room in which to aid study online. This years schedule is particularly difficult since I only have middle school orchestra every other school day.

I plan on fitting these area resources into my curriculum gradually over time. I would to begin with using culture grams in general music. My middle school orchestra will use the aea online resources in the comfort of our computer lab as a reward after big concerts. I would like them to see how much classical music and technology can be integrated together.

I plan on defeating

I think my biggest challenge will be in finding time to look through the resources to find all the valuable information that is out there for me. It may  be a challenge to know exactly how to navigate through all the sites.  (until I have 100% familiar with it) it will be difficult to know which site is best to look at for what I need.  I love that they have tutorials that I can use to refresh my mind and I feel that I can possible use it for my students that struggle a little bit with technology.  Most of my students will catch on quite quickly but others that struggle can use that as a resource.  For the sites, that I plan to use in my classroom, I am going to use my smart board to help students as a whole group to see how it works.  I will then give students some time to investigate on their own and share with each other what they have found.  I will need to spend a little time using the resources first then pass it on to my students.

I agree with the others who posted regarding the overwhelming amount of resources.  I think that is why I didn't use the resources more when I was teaching.  It takes time to get comfortable with the various modes of digital information.  As others have stated I think the best plan is to try a couple and get familiar with a few at a time.  I would first try out the Book Flex and True Flex with my students.  This particular resource seemed to be especially user friendly for English language learners.  I would also find that the clip art and photo resources would be a valuable tool to use more often.  Language learners often need the visual component to understand a concept and this resource would offer resources that are appropriate for classroom use.  In addition, I think that another option would be to use the Britannica School research tool.  I appreciate the fact that students can save articles that they are using in their own account and that it has a feature which allows  students to read articles adapted to different reading levels.  This is especially useful for all students but often necessary for English language learners.  As the Common Core is requiring all students to research based on their own inquiry, the Britannica School would make the process of doing research accessible to elementary students.  This allows for differentiation based on interest as well.  

There are so many different resources to use and to become familiar with in the classroom. I think the time element is a challenge and seeking the easiest resource to use. Also as a substitute I may be working in many different grade levels so choosing the appropriate resource for the grade level is also a challenge.  I Think I will become familiar with one resource at a time.  The Britannica School resource sounds like a good research source to start with.  I can become more familiar with this resource when I'm not subbing at school so that I will be better prepared to help my students.  It will be a good fit for all grade levels.  Students can create their own account and as a teacher, I will have access to lesson plans and I can create my own account and save materials that I will need for different subjects.  I am excited to see how my students will utilize this resource in the classroom.

there are so many wonderful resources, I think finding the time to find the best ones to use in class may be the most challenging.
 I know there are an abundance of resources, so I will need to pick and choose what will best fit the needs of my students. Looking through all of those possibilities will take a considerable period of time.
There is so much to choose from on the AEA online source. It would take a year of PD to properly search through everything and find the stuff that you want to use, just because there is so much. Also finding the time to learn how to properly search and use all of the material will be a challenge but taking this class is a good start. I think that the best way to start is just to pick one thing and watch the video for example and when you are ready use it in class and see how it goes. If it works well then save it and move on to the next thing you want to try and after that school year you will have a good start. For example I may try and find a video that explains geometry proofs and show it to my class, just so they are hearing the same things from someone else in a different way and I think that will help increase their learning.

I HAVE BEEN TEACHING AND COUCHING FOR OVER MANY YEARS AGO, I HAVE BEEN WORKING AT WRITING SOME OF MATERIALS AND TEXT BOOK FOR MANY AVAILABLE SCHOOLS AS INTERMEDIATE AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS  SO WHEN WE USE IOWA ON LINE RESOURCES AEA THE CHALLENGE TO USING THAT TO LET THE STUDENT TO BE FAMILIAR WITH A LOT OF MATERIALS AND AVAILABLE KNOWLEDGE WHICH BE ABLE TO LED THEM TO MORE IMPROVEMENT AND PROGRESS FORWARDS FOR MOST VARIOUS INFORMATION WHICH WILL BE MORE PRIORITY TO THEM AS A STORAGE OF KNOWLEDGE TO LET THEM HAVE A HUGE STORAGE OF KNOWLEDGE IN A MODERN CIVILIZED METHOD FOR DIFFERENT PARTS OF FIELD OF SCIENCE,AND TECHNOLOGY AND MOST ON DEMAND OF MATERIALS THAT SHOULD BE MOST CONVENIENCE TO THEM FOR LIFE AND TO BE USED AS A SCIENTIFIC USEFUL BACKGROUND IF THEY DECIDE TO BE ADVANCE ON THEIR STUDY PROGRAM FOR THEIR LIVES, SPECIALLY TO BE USED AS REFERENCES TO BUILD UP THEIR KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION FOR VARIOUS OPPORTUNITY.

Aside from the fact that I'm not currently employed in Iowa, I think the biggest challenge is to not let the vast amount of resources overwhelm me.  Iowa teachers are very lucky to have all of this at their fingertips.  I have to be comfortable navigating a database before I can guide students through it.  This takes time which is the biggest challenge all teachers face.  Also, students need a certain amount of instruction to achieve a comfort level that allows them to be successful using it as a means to an end.  This is all time well spent, but still challenging.

To overcome these challenges, I would focus on just one or two resources that really caught my interest-TeachingBooks.net and Culture Grams.  Our tech coordinator could be called on for class lessons and practice.  I would designate an hour or two a week to prep myself.

I am the only Guided Study teacher at my school, so most of my time is spent reading tests to students and assisting them with homework. I do help my students prepare assignments and research papers for other classes, so I utilize EBSCO to find research articles from which my students can get quotes. (I guide them through it, so they can search for articles themselves.) I feel that is my biggest challenge to implementing the AEA resources in my classroom—I don’t really ‘teach’ a class. I help students with study skills and organization, but mostly I assist them with things for other teachers. If other teachers are using, or are requiring student usage of, AEA resources, I have heard no mention of it. Since their time in my room is supposed to be used to complete assignments and tests, and they already have to complete a weekly planner for me, it wouldn’t be fair of me to require students to explore the AEA online resources. Something I can do, though, is ask the teachers with whom I work which AEA resources they expect the students to use, and which ones they use themselves. I also can get a ‘heads up’ on upcoming projects with which students may need my help, so I can be ready to make suggestions about which AEA resources may be useful to them. I think I will also make a simple page of explanations/examples of the AEA resources that not only my Guided Study students can use, but my speech students, as well.

I am looking at using AEA resources in our school by promoting the use of these resources in all our classrooms, K-12.  I believe the biggest challenge will be the multitude of resources available and how I will assist our teachers in understanding what is available to them.  

I am currently writing a curriculum for our high school students on "Resiliency and Grit".  As I continue to put this curriculum together I will utilize a variety of the resources that are available on the AEA website to add dimension to the curriculum.  Then, at our weekly teacher meetings I will review the coming week's lesson plans and highlight the area of the AEA website that is showcased in the coming week.  I will bring the section up on the interactive board and expound on the features of that area so that teachers have a better idea of what is available.

For our K-8 teachers, I will also meet with them, but this time to show them how certain areas can add to their science and social studies curriculum; a section at a time.  I think that in order for them to utilize the various areas on the website, teachers will need to become comfortable with the areas one at a time.

And then finally, I will need to go back to specific areas once a month and review.

I believe I have two challenges to conquer. They both are "time" related.  First, I need to spend more time practicing and reviewing processes within the resources I want to utilize, as well, as the resources I want my students to use.  As stated in the previous post, I am not very tech savvy and am very hesitant in using technology.  I am an "old school" teacher!!  Secondly,  I need to find time to teach my students the processes.

To teach my students, I can sign up for extra time in our computer lab.  I just need to decide what else "not" to do.  I could also use the computer and ipads in my room to teach how to use some the resources during guided reading (smaller groups), as a learning extension to the book being used.  As for building my knowledge, I need to prioritize my list of things to accomplish before and after school and put AEA online resources closer to the top!

I am a substitute teacher and therein lies my biggest challenge in implementing any consistent use of these resources.  I have been asked (through substitute plans) to go online and use these websites and the results, though short-term, have been positive.  I think that social studies and language arts teachers would be the most likely candidates. The most popular instances have been the video libraries.

I would feel comfortable discussing these AEA resources with several teachers with whom I've shared teaching philosophies. I think that almost all would be open to several options from the vast resources.  The Learn 360, Gale, and iClipArt could be used for Middle Schoolers.  The SIRS Researcher and Teen Health and Wellness could be ideal for "outside" classroom issues tailored especially for High Schoolers.

I've found that it's always a good idea to have "filler material" for those classes which don't have the best sub plans or enough instruction for a regular class period.  If I were to become proficient enough with some of these AEA online resources I could have at least parts of certain classes access the online material and get some good education.  This could be better than the usual extra worksheet or trivia questions I've used in the past.

Probably the biggest challenge to using the AEA Online Resources is just the vast amount of information that is contained within the resources.  As an AEA we have been providing professional development training on the databases for over a decade and after each training we hear how useful the training was, but that they would like more indepth training on a specific database.  But due to the fact that the school districts professional development calendar is already full, it could be months before there would be an opening for more PD training.

Another concern or challenge that the AEA's face is the ability to financially continue to provide the databases to all schools (public and private), all teachers and all students across the state of Iowa.  Also there is the on going conversation about what is the best use of AEA media resource dollars... provide supplementary instructional resources for all curriculum areas or to focus only a few areas such as reading, math or science.  

I am fortunate in that the students in our building already use a majority of the resources from the Iowa AEA Online.  Many of the resources are used in our Digital Literacy classes as well as other curricular areas.  I think the biggest challenge in using these in my own classroom (I supervise In School Suspension so do not have a dedicated curricular area) is becoming more comfortable with them myself.  Many students immediately jump to Google when doing research in my room and now that I am more familiar with the resources offered by the AEA I will be better equipped to guide them to doing their research through the Online site.  I will overcome this challenge by doing some additional navigation on the site to become more comfortable myself.

I think the biggest challenge is finding the time that the teacher and I can get together when we are not working with students in the classroom or going out with students.  I have shared some information on a few of the sites. The several students were working on a project that they had been given in their gen-ed World Studies class and I was able to share the CultureGram site with the other Teacher and the other Associate in the class and we were able to help 4 different kids at different levels do their project.

I am a media specialist aide and I feel my biggest challenge in using Iowa AEA online resources is becoming familiar with all the resources you offer. There are so many it's overwhelming.  I'm very glad your offer step by step  directions to help me.  After taking this class I will able to suggest the different resources AEA online offers to teachers and students.  It's great you have so many resources that can be used at school and at home.  I feel I will be able to overcome my challenges the more I use the resources you offer and maybe focusing on one or two at a time.

The biggest challenges that I will face implementing Area Education Resources into the classrooms will be that new technologies will mean new learning for me! In other words, I will need to learn how to teach old stuff in new ways. Some steps that I will take to overcome this challenge will be to access the Area Education Agency.

I know how to do this because of this class. They will provide the support needed in my classrooms. The lesson plans provided through the use of the AEA will also be a huge benefit as well as help my navigation of on-line experiences. Whenever possible my plan is to use technology as a resource for students. Other steps that I plan to take when dealing with glitches will be to be prepared for class as much as possible. I plan to forget my ego and ask for help when I have an issue to solve. My students may even have the answer needed. By working together when faced with new challenges my lessons will be high-tech savvy and allow for the greatest learning experiences for all students.

I feel the biggest challenge for me in using Iowa AEA Online Resources was my own fear in technology. This is not my biggest asset as working as an associate. I had little knowledge of all the resources the AEA provides for students and teachers. After taking this course I sure had an eye-opening experience. But then my next challenge was can I do this on my own? I was surprised how user friendly this was. I was able to independently do this. The next challenge was I wanted to use it all on all the kids I work with and not use anything else. Love, love, love BookFlix and TrueFlix! So, now my challenge is to find time to research what books would best work into curriculum.

The main challenge of using many of the AEA online resources is TIME.  First it takes time to learn myself how to use the resources, and then also time to teach my students how to use them, and lastly time in using them to work on projects.  

Our curriculum is so crunched right now in the manner of the Iowa Core to put one more thing on my plate, but I also realize the motivation and the learning involved in adding more online projects to our curriculum.  We would do the same projects, with tweaking it a bit to add richness.  When we add these resources, it is difficult to stop the kiddos from going overboard and wanting to add more, and more, and more!!  They are like sponges and want to keep adding more information, because of the fun involved in the use of the computers and new programs.  

With the many resources where do I start.  That is a good question.  I currently use youtube and some things with bookflix, but it would be nice to incorporate the resources for reports.  One other obstacle is the reading level on some web sites is way too above my students' reading levels, which makes researching difficult.

My biggest challenges are fitting the extra resources into our small bit of time, and that my preschoolers are only 3, so I would be limited to how much I could do with them.  I only have the kiddos in the morning, and with assessments and all, it makes it hard to incorporate these some things.  I do think I could work some of the resources into our centers time, and hope to get hold of one of the "padded" I-pads to use for them.  

    The biggest challenge for me when it comes to implementing these resources in my classroom has to do with where my classroom is.  My students are male offenders at the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility.  Offenders are not allowed any internet access.  Because of this, their computers cannot access Iowa AEA Online.  The only way that I can use these resources with my students is to first use the resources myself and then share appropriate information with my classes.  With all the resources available, I am sure I will be using Iowa AEA Online with the men that I teach.