I just realized, I did not really answer Matt's question...

We do offer a 9-week computer course for middle schoolers (they take it once as 7th grader and once as an 8th grader). I do introduce students to some of the software tools they have access to, but I am always frustrated when students say to me "hey, this would have been great when we were doing...."

I think part of my job as a technology leader in the building to to support teachers to understand what is available, part of teachers' job is to take the time to learn how to use what is available, and part of administrators' job is to pressure tachers to use what is available.

-- GLA

Greetings all...

Gary Ackerman, tech guy (teacher, network admin, etc.) at the West Rutland (VT) School putting in his 2 cents...

I find most students do not have much experience with creating academic documents with productivity suites, but that their collective experience with technology allows them to quickly develop the skill, once they are (a) given meaningful documents to create, and (b) are given some benchmarks or rubrics to follow.

Their lack of skill comes not from inexperience with technology, but inexperience with creating documents.

I wonder if a style guide would help... I can see it now, the West Rutland School Publication Manual... hey the American Psychological Association can do it, why can't we?

- -GLA

Hi!

I'm Bill Ivey, and I teach Humanities 7, ESL and Rock Band at an all-girls school, grades 7-12.

Matt, I find a wide range of technological skills among my students for the software programs you're asking about, but I also find that, these days, most all my students at least have a strong comfort level with technology. In Humanities, I take the opportunity to ensure they have at least basic skills in Word, PowerPoint, and blogs (used for Readers' Response Journals). I also work with them on doing efficient online searches, evaluating electronic sources, and the like. I'm a pretty strong believer in teaching tech skills in context of a specific course as much as possible, and also a strong believer that a kids are best served when teachers collaborate in support of them (as happens in Karen's school).

Take care,
Bill Ivey
Stoneleigh-Burnham School

Edited by author 10-26-2007 02:48 PM
Matt,

To answer your questions, I have also found that students who think they know how to use computers really only know how to download music, IM, chat and look for movies, etc. on the Internet. They have some basic Word skills and some have basic PowerPoint skills, but that is the extent of their knowledge.

Although we integrated tech ed with the grade level teams this year, I still teach a separate class that covers Word formatting, Internet safety and search skills, PowerPoint and Excel. These topics are also touched on, along with keyboarding in 6th grade Tech Ed classes and expanded upon in 8th grade Tech Ed classes. We try as much as possible to have the assignments used to teach these skills relate to work being done in core subject areas. The core area teachers have been very helpful in explaining their curriculum and offering ideas of ways to do this and are excited about the possibilities.

Edited by author 10-26-2007 02:41 PM
Welcome to the technology integration discussion. I am a 7th grade technology teacher in Plaistow NH and will be the facilitator for this discussion.

 The school I work at is in the process of integrating technology into the core subject areas as much as possible. We are finding that there is a lot if information out there, but not a lot of discussion about what works and what doesn't. The purpose of this discussion is to have a place to share our stories, ideas, and problems and to provide a resource for those of you who are having problems and need help.

 Please feel free to introduce new ideas and to contact me with any issues. I look forward to a meeting a lot of new people and sharing a lot of ideas.

 I was informed about this site and was intrigued by the technology integration post but was a little bummed nothing was started yet so I figured why not start something.
     I am a 7th grade science teacher who incorporates alot of technology into my classroom and have read many articles about how savy students are with technology these days. As I read those articles though and discuss with some of my colleagues we have come to the conclusion that students may be savy with certain programs they enjoy like IMing, myspace type pages, and some blogging, etc. but the majority of students do not really have a handle on how to effectievely use applications like Word, Excel, Powerpoint in their everyday schoolwork.
     So with that being said, I have 2 questions:
     1. Are other teachers finding the same thing?
     2. Does your school have a class that students take to learn the use of these programs and do you find it valuable? Is it a seperate class or is it incorporated through the core subjects they take?

     I was informed about this site and was intrigued by the technology integration post but was a little bummed nothing was started yet so I figured why not start something.
     I am a 7th grade science teacher who incorporates alot of technology into my classroom and have read many articles about how savy students are with technology these days. As I read those articles though and discuss with some of my colleagues we have come to the conclusion that students may be savy with certain programs they enjoy like IMing, myspace type pages, and some blogging, etc. but the majority of students do not really have a handle on how to effectievely use applications like Word, Excel, Powerpoint in their everyday schoolwork.
I was wondering if other teachers are finding ths