TET Internship Report
Becky Earll
May 18, 2006
Introduction
After proposing to work at Gayville-Volin School for my TET internship, I designed a computer course intended for my first grade class. In this day and age, technology skills—specifically computer skills—have become a necessity in many fields of work, in addition to a growing number of our daily activities. Technology is integrated into so many aspects of our lives. Given that advancements in technology are continuous, it seems only fitting that basic technology skills be introduced to people at an early age in preparation for what may come. In creating a computer class, I developed benchmark skills that I believe my first grade students would benefit from obtaining at an early age.
As a first-year teacher in the Professional Development Center Program (PDC), I was able to work with my own class of first graders at Gayville-Volin School, located in Gayville, SD. When first designing the computer class for my students, I created a list of benchmark skills I wanted them to master. I started with the very basics, such as turning a computer on and off, identifying the computer parts, handling the computer parts, etc. Other benchmarks included opening, saving, printing, and performing a number of tasks in Microsoft programs. By the end of the course, the students were to bring all their computer skills together to create Microsoft Word documents, Internet searches, and PowerPoint presentations. Using their new computer skills, my first graders were able to integrate their knowledge of computers into other areas of the curriculum. Our class met 3 times a week for an hour each time, totaling 35 hours overall. For the remainder of my internship, I researched, designed, and assessed my computer class on a daily basis.
Outcomes
Students in my computer class were able to perform the following tasks by the end of the internship: identify the parts of a computer; turn a computer on and off; recall tips on computer care and safety; model proper typing posture; identify the “home row” on a keyboard and the functions of keys; identify the desktop and its icons; perform single and double-clicks using the mouse; use both right and left mouse buttons; change settings on the desktop; open the Internet and identify a URL; open and close programs; minimize and maximize screens, save programs to specific files; identify tool bars; perform Microsoft functions pertaining to font size, font face, font color, font character, cut, copy, paste, text alignment, pictures, Wordart, backgrounds, sounds, animation, and transitions; display slideshows; perform Internet searches, and print documents.
Using the skills they learned, my first graders created two “Paint” projects, two Microsoft Word documents, one Internet search project, and three PowerPoint Presentations throughout the duration of the course. These projects were all integrated with topics being covered in the classroom. Students first created a picture in “Paint” that went along with a math unit on geometric shapes. Next, students created a Microsoft Word document in which they told about themselves. For the third project, students typed a creative story written earlier in the classroom. With this, they included a “Paint” picture as an illustration. Both were printed and later presented in the classroom. Microsoft Word was also used in language arts lessons to help teach proper capitalization, punctuation, and spelling in writing.
For the Internet project, students used the search engine “Yahoo” to locate pictures of U.S. symbols. Once found, students printed these and artistically created a bulletin board in the classroom for this particular social studies unit. Finally, using their skills to create PowerPoint presentations, the first graders made three projects on the following: the earth, weather, and the human body. They were able to present these projects to their classmates on a projection screen and give each other feedback. Working in PowerPoint was by far the biggest success of my internship. Students loved it and picked the skills up so quickly. I originally planned for the students to create only one presentation, thinking it would be more difficult and time-consuming. Through my on-going assessment of the course, however, I added more projects to the course.
PowerPoint was the big success of my internship. As for constraints, I think the biggest problems came with the Internet portions of my course. First of all, I had not planned for the many blocked sites at my school. I created many lessons at home and without taking into consideration the limits placed on our Internet activities at school. Furthermore, my first grades do struggle with spelling at their young age, thus making it difficult to search out specific topics. They cannot read as well either, so this makes it hard to decipher between a good and bad website. I overcame this last problem by instructing and assigning assignments on picture searches, as with the U.S. symbols. Still, blocked sites created troubles here as well. In the future, I would test out my course design on the actual technology I intend to use.
In developing this course, I referred back to my research methods and instructional design courses within the TET program. I was able to read research articles relating to the kinds technology that young people could and should be exposed to. I was able to read technology benchmark skills that others have proposed and then found appropriate for particular age levels. All and all, however, I referred back to my instructional design course the most throughout my internship. That course taught me much about how to go about designing a class in the first place and the importance of assessing effectiveness and making changes along the way. Also, I took into consideration the way in which students learn and took a constructive approach to teaching them these skills. The course started off very basic and built on in complexity from there. While there were no group projects, students did help one another as well, which was another reason I believe the computer class was a success.
Conclusion
After designing my first computer course, I feel more confident to develop more courses in the future. I learned a great deal about preparation (research is helpful, for example) as well as assessment of design. There were times when students either did not understand a concept or the concept was too simple. In these situations, I had to carefully assess that portion of the course and make adjustments to my original plans. Having now made changes, I will be better prepared to teach this course to young students again.
I am an elementary teacher, and the integration of technology into the other areas of the curriculum is very important to me. My class did not simply develop PowerPoint presentations, perform Internet searches, and write in Microsoft Word. We presented our science units on the earth, weather, and the human body; our Internet search was related to our social studies unit on American history; and we practiced English grammar and wrote creative stories using Microsoft Word. Students liked this very much and were much more involved in the units than they may have been otherwise. I plan to continue teaching in a manner that is as integrative as such.
This experience is beneficial not only to me, but my school as well. Having created benchmark skills for working with computers, I am now able to help my school add more technology to the first grade curriculum. From there, my school and I should have an easier time creating a list of computer skills that students in the second grade should be able to master and so on. Through my internship, I feel more confident to share my ideas about designing a course, teaching technology to others, and evaluating courses and instruction for overall effectiveness.
Actual Number of hours spent on the Internship: 120 hours