Middle School Science for the Future!

So sorry about not posting for a while…just in case anyone actually reads this. I have been playing with a new internet application. Google will, for ten dollars a year, allow you to set up your own internet domain with 200 gmail accounts hosted at your domain. You can customize the start page they see, create a group calendar, share/collaborate on Google Docs and Spreadsheets, and even write web pages to link to your start page. Its called Google Apps and while it is only in beta testing (translate to not yet perfect), it has many advantages to paying to host your own web site somewhere else on the web. You don’t even have to know how to write HTML or XML code to do it. You just alter the template they give you. I had lots of fun. You can get a look at my home page ziggysclass.com here. I have also begun writing web pages for next year. Check out my home page for my 7th grade and 8th grade students. I think it will be a great tool for teachers but the education version requires some commitment on the school’s part. I am starting with the Family/Group version as I do not currently know if my students will have much internet access or how much my school will support student internet usage.

I am a Fifth year teacher beginning seventh grade science for the first time next year in a new city with a new demographic. Up until now I have been working in at Chemawa Indian School teaching a range of high school science subjects to students ranging in age from 14 to 20. Chemawa is a unique school with its own special politics and considerations. For one thing teachers here get paid more than they do in the surrounding school districts, but there is almost no process for review of teacher work or mechanism for encouraging teacher improvement. What little incentive there is has been historically mis-used. The school is also not (or has not been until recently) regulated by state NCLB standards. All of this leads to a lot of teacher apathy and a lack of significant improvement. The students board at the school which should result in more time for education but does not seem to.

This summer I will be moving to Phoenix Arizona and have tentatively signed with Alhambra Elementary School District at Montebello School. This as far as I can tell is an inner city urban K8 school with and 80% Hispanic population. Gangs and drug dealing are an issue here. Students predominantly live in homes that do not have computer Internet access for middle school aged students. I am currently brainstorming ways to bring them into the global web 2.0 conversation. Here are some of the ideas that I have so far:

• Opening up my classroom after school for computer use (contingent on permission from my administrator and equipment access).
• Using a SMART board (I have been assured that I will have one), microphone and web-cam to make podcasts/youtube videos of classroom discussions and projects and posting them on the web.
• Organizing and educating students to use computers at the local library.

So far I’m thinking that I will be using all of these possible solutions and a few more I haven’t thought of yet. Any suggestions about what you have done to alleviate this problem or comments would be appreciated.