The computer lab

Today I went with my class on their weekly visit to the computer lab in the library. Every week they go to the computers and there is a program installed that the students use to practice different academic areas, like math and literacy, through computer games. It was an interesting expirience for several reasons. The first was that it was interesting to observe my students motor skills when it comes to working with keyboards. Most all of my students were very cautious and clumsy when it came to typing on the keyboard, but I was impressed with how well they were all able to log in and navigate through the computer without assistance. I did notice that my students need to learn a little patience with the computer and that continually clicking something will not make it go faster. What was also interesting was to observe the games and activities my students were doing on the computer. They looked like fun games that not only delt with math, literacy, and writing, but there were also some social emotional development games as well. Overall, based on my observations, it seemed my students respected the computers and understood that they were not something to be aggressive with.

I also want to mention that I had an interaction with my schools library media specialist this week. I was preparing to do a read aloud as apart of my ED 315 assignments and I wanted to find a book that tied into my classes weekly theme of being a good citizen. I tried looking in the Juvenal section of our own campus library, but there really wasn't anything appropriate for a 2nd grade read aloud. So I took my teachers suggestion of talking to the library media specialist and she helped me find a book that delt with beings good listener, which is an important part of being a good citizen.  I see the worth these specialists have in a school and for teachers and I hope to have one in my future school.