Getting to Know My Digital Students

This morning my 5th students entered class ready to complete their usual morning Brain Booster (a.k.a. "morning work"). However, today's Brain Booster was slightly different than their normal mixed review of concepts and topics from the week. As I mentioned in my first entry, my students and I are currently in a classroom sans technology, but we expect to have access to a computer lab once we move to our permanent building. For this morning's Brain Booster, I had my students complete a Student Technology Survey. I explained to my students that when we moved to the new school that we would have access to a computer lab, and this survey would help me understand their learning needs better as well as their knowledge of technology.

I learned that all 19 of my students have computers at home and use them just about everyday. However, their use of the computer mostly consists of surfing the web and visiting their favorite sites (some educational and some entertainment). Some of these sites include funbrain.com, Kids College, Study Island, funschool.com, and YouTube.  Only one student had used a computer for productivity purposes such as to type a report or document, create a presentation, or do research. Despite this, the majority my students felt that using computers would make schoolwork more fun and interesting and would rather use the computer over pencil and paper. Many also voiced that they would like to learn more about how to use computers. Being able to gather some insight from my students is going to help me so much when it comes to integrating technology into the classroom. Now that I have an idea of their skill level and their familiarity with technology, this will be a great opportunity to refine my students' skills, teach them about digital citizenship, and introduce them to new software! :)

Thanks for reading,

Zena