Dakota Writing Project

A glimpse into a year in the life of a fifth-grade teacher teaching science

by Lindsay Sorben, Ellis Middle School , Austin, Minnesota (formerly at Bennett County in South Dakota); DWP Regional Liaison

“Miss Sorben, what button do I push?” —Internet Explorer.
“Miss Sorben, my computer doesn’t work” —I’ll be right there!
“Miss Sorben, my computer just locked up.” —You’ll need to force-quit.
“My password won’t work!” –It’s case-sensitive. You need to type everything exactly.
“What’s case-sensitive mean?” —Grrrr!
“Where’s the internet?” —On the task bar on the bottom. The “E” or the compass icons.
“What’s an icon?” —A little picture.
“Miss Sorben, I need your help!” –I’ll be right there!
“How do I force-quit?” —Open Apple Q.
“Huh?” —These two buttons.
“Miss Sorben, a new student just came in! Does he get a password, too?”

Meanwhile ( back at the ranch), your fellow teachers stand in front of their classes, smiling and enjoying the great lesson they have planned for their classes. Your scream, though only heard in the magical subconscious of every teacher in your building, produces unseen smiles as they thank the goddess of teaching that they are not in that computer lab with you.

Taking risks is often a scary thing. It holds the uncertainty of success and the inevitable mistakes made along the way. Onlookers watch in awe the forerunner traveling to defeat and, possibly, wonder if they should be taking that leap themselves. But for the pioneer, the walk is sometimes painful as he visualizes his goal, sees the obstacles, and wonders: why am I doing this?

In the electronic age of instant information and video games, it is often challenging to engage our students in the lessons and activities that we prepare for their learning. Students want visuals. They want pizzazz. They want us to dance around and do cartwheels (although this may not always work). They want to be entertained without having to leave their cushioned couches. How do we answer to their cries? How do we answer to our own cries for help in teaching hi-tech kids?

“You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” We can be creative with how we present our information to our students, but we can’t always make them apply what they’ve learned. We’ve got standards to reach. We’ve got deadlines to meet. And we better make sure that no child is left behind in the battle.

While participating in an online writing marathon with the Dakota Writing Project, a branch of the National Writing Project (a professional organization that promotes teachers teaching teachers how to write and teach writing), I began brainstorming ways to integrate today’s technology into my classroom curriculum. As part of an inquiry project with it, I used Nicenet.org as an instructional tool for science.

I taught science to both classrooms of fifth graders, with about fifteen students in each section. The site has a message center for the students to correspond to one another. Initially, introduction into the program was gradual, but the ever-present demon of time became a huge factor in the success of our usage of the Internet Classroom Assistant (ICA). It was going to be a learn-as-we-go kind of project, but availability of computers and computer lab times became crucial. Not only that, the amount of time allotted to the teaching of science (shamefully) was sacrificed in order to accommodate for schedule changes and to allow for math and reading to have their necessary time. (Social Studies was another loser in the game of scheduling).

In the midst of my excitement of getting students to see the internet and science in two different, merging lights, other teachers watched, smiled and nodded, and carried on with their regularly scheduled classroom programs. “You’ve gotta try it!” I would say to my colleagues. “Yes, Lindsay, that’s nice,” would be their reply. How could I convince them that they should be integrating technology into their classrooms? How could I show them that it really isn’t so intimidating or that it really doesn’t take any more time than what is already needed in the classroom?

With only thirty minutes of technology being taught a week, I knew that there had to be something done so as to not cheat my students out of possible experiences. Seeing the varying possibilities through our DWP E-Writing Marathon, I didn’t want my students (or teachers) to lose out on what was out there. Nicenet became my medium to write with technology, a baby step. But even more so, the journey that I took in using it became more valuable as I continue to integrate technology and writing into my classroom.

My adventure began in September with the setting up of the Nicenet online classroom. I thought it would ease the students’ usage of the new learning tool by already having student logins and passwords assigned and ready for use when the time came to sign in for the first time. I typed them out and saved them, knowing that the day would come with someone (and probably more than one) forgetting a password.

Other loopholes that I had to get through were permission for the students from their parents to use the internet and the arrival of new students to the fifth grade. It took weeks to collect all of the permission slips. By the time we started using Nicenet, there were still a handful of students who couldn’t even be in the lab with us. Finding alternative assignments and keeping them on task during my introduction to Nicenet was a challenge.

New arrivals often came unexpectedly and sometimes on days when Nicenet was in the plans. It caused two problems: 1.) Did they have their internet-use permission slip?; 2.) Could I get them a login and password by class time? I did as any teacher does in those situations, I “punted.” No permission slip meant an alternative assignment, and a login and password would either have to wait or be assigned during a planning period (or lunch period) before class.

In order to set up my science classroom as a classroom that uses writing to learn, I begin my year with Thinkbooks. They are basically journals the students use to write down thoughts and questions pertaining to what is being studied. I often post a question or statement on the board for the students to respond to, and they spend the brief minutes at the beginning of class and write down their thoughts. It’s a tool that I use to assess understanding and to give them a chance to think about what they are studying.

A month of using Thinkbooks passed before trying Nicenet. Science was scheduled in the afternoon. Fortunately, at the time of my introduction, the computer lab in my upper elementary wing was available for use. In it was an LCD projector and enough computers to accommodate both sections of students.

The first issue to arise was the use of software. We are a Macintosh school with both Internet Explorer and Safari software. Students began opening Internet Explorer. Soon after running, however, the computers began locking up, causing the students to have to shut down their computers and start them up again to open Safari.

With the chaos of software somewhat out of the way, we had just enough time for the students to log onto the website. Students were exposed to case-sensitive “hiccups.” Voices of “it won’t work,” “what’s this” or physical frustrations were heard in the lab. With patience and perseverance, we marched onward toward our goal until all were finally logged on.

The LCD projector proved to be an almost necessary piece in introducing the students to Nicenet and in giving them a visual “walk-through” of what the site contained. Our first stop was the Messaging center. I had posted a question to the students, asking for their thoughts about science so far. I demonstrated how to respond to my message. All followed well. Whew! The fruits of my labor!

The first day’s plans were almost too much for my fifth graders to handle with the stress of actually logging onto the site. Once the students were onto the website, they were a little apprehensive at first but got excited at the thought of getting to “e-mail” each other messages. Ha-ha! Motivation for learning! It was at this time that I gave them the disclaimer that the Messaging feature was only to be used for “scientific” things, not for personal messages; and I had access to all of their accounts and would know if they were using it inappropriately.

The first few trials of Nicenet left me exhausted! I was troubleshooting. The students were impatient. Computers were locking up or passwords were lost. Students had difficulty typing or typing well. Not until later in the year, thank goodness, did the students start abusing the Messaging feature. In the early stages of its use, when most of the problems emerged, the computer lab was vacant at the times I needed it, but, as the semester progressed, the computer lab became less and less available and was given precedence to reading classes over my science class.

I was able to establish the use of Nicenet through our Ecosystems and Astronomy units in the first semester. I exposed them to the Conferencing feature and the Assignments feature. Students had a difficult time following the written directions in Assignments. They either didn’t want to take the time to read it or they wanted me to talk them through their assignment. It was a feature that I had used only a couple of times. In retrospect, fewer, smaller steps should have been built onto larger steps to promote their independence.

Conferencing was supposed to be the magical tool that brought our great minds together, with open discussions about science and what we were doing in class. It became a carnival of writing, some thoughtful, some just haphazard words typed out. Few students read what their classmates wrote, and even fewer actually responded to their classmates’ postings. What I did get, though, was a collection of students’ understandings of science. It became another assessment tool.

Link Sharing became most valuable during our Astronomy unit. Students were expected to perform investigations about an astronomy-related topic or concept. During those investigations, the class researched their topics on the internet. The Link Sharing feature was a tool for them to use. I posted links on the site that they could explore that may or may not have led them to other sites for their research. The Link Sharing also provided an easier way for me to get the students to navigate to certain websites instead of expecting them to type URLs that were long and cumbersome.

We finally got most of the wrinkles ironed out with software and computers halfway through our experience. That’s when I saw results of using Nicenet for thought processing. It could have been student maturity, or it could have been the habit of processing their learning in writing. The students’ replies to my Conferencing topic about Astronomy were deeper than their short responses to their feelings about science at the beginning of the year. Some were metacognizant. Some were analytical of their efforts. Overall, their writings were beginning to become just that: writing!

In my investigations i have had a lot of fun.I have got a lot of experience about astronomy now.While i was researching i had a lot of fun.I got to roam around on the internet it was really cool.The construction of my or our final project turned out pretty well, we made a model of crab nebula.My classmates projects were really cool i liked jeremy and patricks the best. —Fifth Grade Student (1)

And their writings were improving! Early Writings of a Fifth Grade Student:

I liked the experiment that we did today.It was really fun. I hope we get to do more fun experiments this year. —Fifth Grade Student (2)

Later writings of same fifth-grade student:

I had a really fun time learning about astronomy and making projects. It was easy researching.The resource I used most was the internet. It was kind of hard and kind of easy to make our project.It was better than I thought it would be. I thought my classmates projecst were cool and they took their time. —Fifth-Grade Student (2)

And then it happened (ominous chord). Just after completing the students’ reflections about Astronomy and their investigations, a new schedule for the computer lab emerged, throwing yet another wrench in to my trial of using technology. At the time of the schedule change, science was from 1:45-2:45. The computer lab was going to be occupied until 2:20, leaving less time to devote to Nicenet. We visited the lab when we could. My topics were simplified for the time.

A light bulb came on after a month of playing cat and mouse with the computer lab. Through a grant (for reading), the school purchased a mobile lab unit with Mac labtops. Aha! I had my answer. With only a couple of months left of school, we began using the laptops instead of the computer lab. By this time of the year, we were in a time crunch and were only able to log onto Nicenet a couple more times.

Curious to know how the student felt about using Nicenet, I asked them their thoughts on getting to use computers and using the website. The majority of students agreed that they enjoyed it. They recommended its use for future fifth graders. The classes liked the idea of not always having to do “real work.”

I don’t look back on this trial as a failure. I think that this “experiment” was very much a success. 1.) It integrated technology into the classroom; 2.) The students were writing(!); 3.) The students were writing in science(!); 4.) Very few, if any, complained about having to perform the tasks set up for them while in Nicenet; 5.) It became a tool for assessing the students’ understanding of the subject matter; 6.) Students were having conversations through writing; 7.) The science classroom was self-motivated; 8.) By the end of the year, I had a couple teachers inquire about Nicenet and one teacher who told me, “You know, I really should be doing something like this with my students.” I got as far as showing her the website and how to set it up!

This adventure is not over. This is only the first leg. In my nine months of obstacles and challenges and mini successes, I began something. I jumped over a road block in my teaching that will only get smaller and smaller the more I take on these new battles. And when I meet a new road block, I won’t sweat it. I’ll take in stride. Keep my patience, and trudge onward toward my goal. Isn’t that part of what we try to teach our students? Perseverance?

My students thought, reflected, wrote, typed, studied, discovered, communicated, listened, and learned. A student reflects, “What I think about science is that we write a lot about science and that we do a lot of hard work!” They hadn’t been exposed to something like this before. This was their beginning, too. I gave them a taste. Just a taste of what’s out there. It may springboard into their own adventure, or just may make things easier for the next teacher who attempts the unheard of.

My challenge to those apprehensive teachers watching that pioneer face her doom? Take some chances. At least a few little ones at a time. Take the risks to make you better and to make your students better, accepting mistakes as part of the beauty of learning.