POST #2: Challenges to Using Iowa AEA Online Resources

I think that currently that one of my biggest challenges in terms implementing the resources in my classroom on the Iowa AEA site is availability of the tools of technology. Even though we have a few small laptop carts and even an iPad cart, we are nowhere near a one to one school district and I see no potential in the future of that happening due to the large size of our school district. So one of the things that continually makes implementing technology into our curriculum is the availability of computers or other tools for using the Iowa AEA online resources. Although the next year we are expected to have more computers in our building, I continue to see this being one of the biggest hurdles that we have to overcome.

My biggest challenge is learning how to use and navigate through the sites and pairing information with units and skills being taught.  I am not all that comfortable or knowledgeable about technology in general.  
Taking this tutorial was a step toward the goal I have of learning how to use digital material in my classroom.  I will be taking this one step at a time.  With Air and Weather being my first science unit in the fall, I will be researching and trying out some of the sites this summer and planning my strategies to use with students. I need to get familiar with using IOWA AEA online before I use it with my students.

This biggest challenge for me would be two-fold, time and student support.  In first grade at the beginning of the year students can tend to be “click” happy and need more supervision to stay on task, as well as read the information on the pages.  For me as a teacher, time is a great factor, to be able to explore and utilize the resources to their fullest extent all while remembering that I teach first graders not college students can be hard.  There are so many cool things to do and access through the AEA that it can be overwhelming and yet exciting and hard to choose just the right ones for the grade level and project.  
My plan of attack to overcome some of these challenges is to get a good volunteer basis for my classroom and utilize school volunteer groups in the middle school and high school for student support.  As for the overwhelming teacher part, I just need to sit down and make my list and stick to it.    

Since I'm a Para educator in the class room  I want to be able to help the Teacher in the classroom with her assignments on the computer as well as helping the students with their research.  In special Education the ability of the students varies greatly in their reading comprehension, reading ability, to understand what they have read. Their computer skills vary greatly also, some can navigate the systems easily others struggle.  By having the different levels of classes, for some of our students, even though we are in High School, would benefit from some of the material from perhaps Middle School levels.   I believe if I can work 1 on 1 with some of the students to help them navigate the sites and maybe do some simple research each day so they can perhaps become more comfortable with the technology.  Showing a tutorial on the site could help some students as some need to visually see how something is done where others are able to follow step by step instructions given at their pace.

The biggest challenge I see in implementing the AEA Online resources is the time factor. I only teach one class of video production and there is so much to cover that finding the right resources to fit the class will be difficult.
One way to overcome the time crunch problem is to introduce the AP images resource and let students spend time discovering what is available to them then working that into a video project.  They can pitch their ideas in an informal brainstorming session or post ideas online.
Another idea is to have students look at the video challenge on the Teen Wellness site. Again, allowing some Genius Time to just peruse the site will likely spark interest in the resource for students.
We can also spend a little more time on Soundzabound to find audio files to bring in to the video projects. Students can start a shared resource file in which they put their favorite audio clips.

My biggest challenge to using AEA Online Resources will be what it always is when using new technology and that is learning to navigate the sites. Not being very tech savy sometimes makes it difficult for me to use all the resources out there available.  I did like the video tutorials that came with many of the sites. There are also so many sites available using them all will require lots of time not always available. My first task will be to make a list of all the sites and our school passwords to use them.  I will need to contact our school media specialist to get her support on using the sites in the classroom. She is very knowledgable and I'm sure will know how to incorporate each site into the classroom curriculums. Then it is just the matter of time it will take for me to rewatch to the tutorials so I will be a good support for my students. They are often better supports then I am. I know there are many sites that come with lesson plans already available and that will make integrating the online sites into our curriculum easier as well.

Currently not having a classroom I feel that my biggest challenge will be learning more hands on with these different resources and figuring out all the ways that I would incorporate them in to my curriculum. I feel limited because I do not have access without use of school input information. However, I have had a chance to see inside them more through the tutorials provided in this training. My next challenge is that of working with such young individuals in the early childhood realm and figuring out how to best utilize these resources with a three or four year old. I felt that many of the resources covered in the training were gear towards the older children and I would like to have adequate time to pick apart the programs for younger children. I think that when I start back teaching I would just need to take one program at a time and focus on learning the ins an outs of that and start incorporating what I can. Then I would start again from there and hope to get at least one program used a year.

The obvious answer here is time.  There are a lot of resources available from the AEA that finding the time to explore them will be a challenge.  Unfortunately, like many schools, or professional development time is used for a variety of different things we are trying to get accomplished.  Each of those is time demanding, so it seems as though a lot of exploration will have to be on my own and when I can find the time to do it.  There is so much that it will take some time to navigate.  My hope is that during some of the PD time a couple of the other teachers that I have talked to about this and I will be able to navigate some of the resources together, picking out the relevant and useful resources for the social studies department.  Kind of dividing up the work.  I am also going to be discussing what resources social studies teachers in the neighboring districts are using.  Again, dividing up some of the research.  All in all I feel that there is great opportunity for many of the resources offered by the AEA (beyond videos) so I am going to make it a priority with some of these groups I am a part of.

I think the biggest challenge to using the AEA on-line resources is choosing a few to start with. I know the obvious couple for me to start using would be BookFlix and the online Britannica. Teaching 2nd I do a lot of reading each day and when I am doing small group reading, BookFlix is one more resource my students could be reading for independent reading on an iPad, or I may even incorporate it during small group reading time as we'll. I also have my class do a lot of research on a variety of topics throughout the school year ranging from bats, Mayflower, space, and inventors. The on-line Britannica would be an excellent additional resource for my students to use during computer time or with iPads.

There are a few different obstacles I will face in putting the AEA resources to use.  One of them will be the lack of technology within my classroom.  I do not have a quality sound system nor a projector of any sort, so most of the sharing I would be able to do would need to come through my own resources.  This will definitely limit what I can and cannot use with my students.

Another factor I will find limiting is time.  As the only director in our district, I will travel 12 miles between two buildings daily and will be responsible for all band lessons, extra activities, pep bands, etc.  Because of this, I am expecting to find myself (at least initially) quite busy in the day to day activities of my job, leaving me little time to explore the many, many resources that are offered.

I am hoping to make use for sure of the Soundzabound resource.  As a musician, I am excited to be able to share this with my students!  I will probably purchase some speakers so that I can share audio clips with my students and have them be exposed to quality recordings.  As for the time factor, it is just going to take time!  I am hoping that by Christmas I will feel comfortable enough that I might have more time to exploring the available resources.

In vocal music, we don’t often have students write research papers (never). I have never stepped down off the podium in order to take the choir to the library to do research. If any research needed to be done, I was the one to do it in my “spare” time.  With our school going 1:1 with ChromeBooks next year, I can see opportunities arising that we’ve never had before. It might be possible to give a quick “go find this bit of info” assignment to a section I’m not rehearsing with at the moment. For example, if we are rehearsing a song from a different country, they could go fish for something interesting, or even a map of the area. Find something interesting about their culture – food, dress, dance or music, and quickly share with the class. Quick searches for the composer or time period would also be very appropriate. Speaking of appropriate, the challenge for me would be to keep them focused on the task at hand rather than playing games or something. I would find it impossible to monitor them, as I am still on the podium rehearsing.

My new job that I will be starting in a month from now will not include much direct instruction from me.  I will be helping my IEP students with their other classes and working on their IEP goals with them.  I feel that it may be tough to have enough time with them to implement some of these new ideas.  My students may only see me once a day and will be requiring help in their other classes and goal monitoring probes.  Some of the exciting programs that the website has to offer seems like they would be more fit for a classroom teacher.  However, I don't want to waste what I have found in the AEA website. I feel that I could use some of the tools from the website to aid in the probes that I have for their IEP goals.  If I can assess their goals in a more interesting way and in a way that is new to them, they may show some improvement.  Also, if the students show me that they are learning better from some of the more interactive and technological options from the website, I could show their classroom teachers and ask that it be an option worked into the curriculum.  It could even change some of the goal areas written in the student's IEP.  For the most part, students love incorporating technology into learning.  If they can access images, sounds, books, and research from the AEA website, they may be more interested in learning.  
Since there are so many different resources to choose from, it will take some time to feel confident accessing them.  I agree with some of the other's when they say that this class is a good start.  

The biggest challenge for me is the fact that because I teach in a Correctional Facility, I am unable to use the internet with my students.  There are several good choices that I can download resources from and then use them.  Another challenge is the time it takes to locate info because of the vast amount of material available.  I will need to give myself a time limit and make my searches as specific as possible.  There is so much to choose from, but this is a great problem to have!

Now that I've been shown the multiple fantastic resources through AEA online PD, it's going to be a struggle to decide on which resource to use first. i would like to incorporate even more of the AEA resources this school year, so I need to take a deep breath, make a plan, and delve in.  Which resources would be the most beneficial for my students?  What do I envision the students doing/learning?  Am I going to have enough time to thoroughly search the resources I want to use so that the students will receive the best experience?

I'm leaning more towards the Brittanica Encyclopedia as I've not attempted anything in that area.  Using the online encyclopedia will align with my standards/benchmarks and will give the students even more 21st century skills.  

I see a challenge in the time of showing the particulars of these many resources.  However, I plan to overcome that by not tackling it all at once but by using small "assignments" in which they use the various resources to look something up.  By making it a part of daily assignments, the use of them for projects will be that much easier for them and myself.

So, at the beginning of the year as I introduce American History to my freshman and what and why the past, present and future are all connected, I intend to have them find examples of a historical event that interests them using Britannica as opposed to Wikipedia.  In a following class, I will use the resource CultureGram to have them look up information about the US now and then expand on the assignment from there.

I will continue this process throughout the beginning of the year, and then as we do projects or larger assignments, make it a requirement that a set number of sources must be obtain through various AEA Online Resources sites.

Largely, I think the biggest challenge – and maybe this only because I’m moving fresh out of the starting gate with this – will be winnowing the material down to what will be most beneficial for my students. And that’s a time-crunch.

I’ve been trying to establish the best approach in using aspects of the video and sound files, for example, early on in the school year to have them develop a small, personal project. But to do that means first becoming relatively adept at it myself. Although most students, given proper motivation, will problem-solve on just about any task put to them, there will always be a handful who will need time and much more specific instruction.

Perhaps the best thing to do would be to set up a particular assignment, and then go through the required steps as a class, modeling methods of idea-development and then lead them through the means of acquiring digital images from the AEA Digital Library and sound files from Soundzabound. Essentially, work first as an entire class to do a single assignment, demonstrating the methods on the SmartBoard, having students come up and engage and search as well, or even shout-out suggestions to me from their desks.

The biggest challenge I will have to overcome is time, time and more time.  I will have difficulty finding time to explore the resources available. Difficulty finding time to teach students with disabilities to independently access and use the resources. Difficulty finding time to be proficient in using the resources, and new ones as they appear, to further mine and my students knowledge base.  

So as I reiterate a concurring theme from my colleagues in this course and my colleagues in the district, I realize that I work in one of the greatest professions ever, because we all find a way!  Every single one of us is overtaxed, under paid, and have lives outside of our jobs.  That being said, we also continue everyday to make a difference in the lives of others. Every post I read reinforced my belief as I perused the comments and plans put forth.  My plan is simple, I set aside one day a week in which I explore one of the AEA Online resources.
Thus far my favorite is BookFlix so it will be first. Plus I have an 11 year old who can maneuver it quickly an is willing to help me out. :) That being said, Learning 360 will probably serve me better as that I am learning how to use the LAMP communication program with a student.  So..... I am going to make a list and dedicate myself to 1 resource once a day for approximately 45 minutes( I get antsy and distracted) for a minimum of 2weeks.

My biggest challenge to using the Iowa AEA Online resources is that I do not have just one classroom.  I am an instructional coach who will be working with many teachers, in many grade levels, in many subject areas.  The amount of information and the potential for its use in classrooms is enormous!  It will be very challenging to get comfortable with all the different resources and how they might be utilized in each classroom.
I often use the saying "You can't eat an elephant in one bite".  I need to remember this philosophy as I begin working with these resources during the school year.  I already have some ideas how some of our teachers could use the resources and how I might help them work them into their classrooms.  I will only be going into classrooms when I am invited and teachers will decide the areas/lessons where I will be assisting.  For this reason, I'm not sure which resources I will be using.  I will start be spending time and "playing" on the resources where I feel most comfortable. At this point, I feel most comfortable with CultureGrams, Learn 360, and Discovery Education. As I get more confident, I will expand my knowledge and experience by playing with other resources.  As I work with individual teachers and determine the resources that are most appropriate for each situation, I will focus my learning by spending more time on the specific resource and working with teachers to integrate the resource into the daily lesson plans.

     In Kindergarten, my biggest challenge will be allowing students to become independent when using these resources.  We have 6 IPADS (minis) in each of our Kindergarten classrooms for most of the day, so I would like to utilize many of these resources (Science, Reading, Math, Spelling).  
   Last year, after Christmas vacation, a friend and I figured out how to SAVE PASSWORDS on our IPADS so our five and six year old students didn't have to type in the 4 numbers & 6 letters for the USERNAME and 3 letters & 3 numbers each time they wanted to LOGIN to BOOKFLIX!!!!!    This may seem very silly to those of you who teach upper grades, but it is a headache to those of us who try to use technology with little ones.   I literally couldn't sit down with my reading group long enough to work with students because kids with the IPADS had their hands up needing help.  Once I could train a few capable students to type the username and password with ease (using a model) then I released that responsibility to helpful students.  I must admit that it was my co-worker's niece (9 year old) who showed us how to save the passwords!  
   As I reread this post, I can hardly believe I'm going POST this, but it's TRUE!   And this is how the frustration begins with technology in the classroom with five year olds.  GREAT resources are available to use, but it takes a lot of teacher time and preparation to utilize.  Through this online, self-paced course, I was able to brainstorm ways for students to experience SCIENCE & STORIES and supplement MATH & SPELLING practice.   I plan to use the IPADS for more than just a literacy center from now on!  I am hopeful that I can convince my Kindergarten team to use more of the AEA ONLINE resources too!

When going through the training modules I was surprised to see so many resources available on the
AEA online resources databases.  I was literally overwhelmed and as I worked through each one I found myself reflecting on how I could use this technology in my art class room.  I believe that in itself would be the biggest challenge-what resource best serves my lesson plan and curriculum?
I will have to set aside time each week to find which of those resources will best serve my students and allow the integration of technology in my class room.