Teaching Practice Under the Sea: The Electronic Portfolio and Me RESOURCES
Lindsey Inman - Preservice Teacher at New England College
Biography:
Hi, my name is Lindsey Inman and I am a sophomore at New England College. New England College is located in Henniker, NH, 30 minutes northwest of Concord. As a student at NEC, I am majoring in Elementary/Special Education and Psychology. I spend my free time playing varsity field hockey and softball. I was recently named captain of the field hockey team. I am also involved in several different committees on campus. I volunteer any of my free time to helping out the school and the college community.
When I graduate from New England College, in the spring of 2005, I hope to become a first, second, or third grade teacher in the area. I have always had a passion for working with children. I have grown up in a family of teachers and administrators. I see the influence they have had on children and they way they have touched their lives. I would like to be able to touch a child’s life in the same way that they have. I have always wanted to become a teacher. For the past four summers I have worked as a summer camp counselor and a vacation camp counselor. I have also been involved with practica at Henniker Community School, John Stark Regional High School, and Hillsboro-Deering Middle School. As a result of the experiences I am having at each school, I hope to become an excellent teacher.
I have also worked at Center Woods Elementary School while participating in the PT3 Project. I worked with two fourth-grade teachers: Cindy Hurlbut and Larry Restuccia. I also worked along side another pre-service teacher: Meaghan Dube. The objective of our project was to create a PLP or Personal Learning Portfolio. This portfolio is a way for students to save and post their work in an electronic folder on the computer. Their work can be posted online under their PLP program, which is accessible by the student’s teacher and parents. This limits the amount of loose papers a student may have, and will help organize a student. Students will benefit from using the PLP when they save their work on it. Each year they can save more work and review the work they posted on their PLP from previous years. This is an excellent way to see a student’s progression from year to year. In this particular project students will be learning how to use the different types of technology available to them. For example, using computer programs such as a word document, Internet, and Kid Pix. Applying technology in the classroom can be difficult. There are many constructive uses for technology, but there can also be many challenges with it, too. The quality of a student’s work may improve through use of different technology programs. However, they may experience technical problems with certain programs. The students will complete different assignments using these different programs and will post their quality work on their PLPs. This project is a great way to teach and incorporate technology in the classroom. I hope all of the students reap the benefits of the PT3 Project
David Gibson - National Institute on Community Innovations
David Gibson – The Director of Research and Development for the National Institute on Community Innovations
The PLP (Personal Learning Planner) is a web-based work environment that is envisioned as a place for students to take charge of their own learning, receive help from trusted advisors and friends in planning and making high quality artifacts that demonstrate what they know and can do, and build collections and electronic portfolios of their work to share with others. It allows parents to join the conversations and act as co-advisors with teachers, community mentors, and experts. The artifacts created by students can be linked with national, state, and local standards; can be validated by feedback from advisors, including feedback using rubrics. Students can also be surveyed as can their advisors and the results can be aggregated and displayed for a variety of groups, allowing schools to better understand and serve groups of students.
Meaghan Dube - Pre-service teacher at New England College
My name is Meaghan Dube. I am a second year Elementary Education major specializing in Social Studies at New England College in Henniker, New Hampshire. The school is located in south-central New Hampshire, about twenty minutes outside of the state capital, Concord. I received my high school diploma from Saint Thomas Aquinas in Dover, New Hampshire in June 2001. When not at school, I reside in Newmarket, New Hampshire, a small town in the southeastern corner of the state.
I would like to teach fourth grade once I have my Bachelor’s Degree. Ideally, I will teach in Newmarket, with some of the same teachers I had years ago. I have pictured myself as a teacher for many years. I have been inspired by several wonderful teachers from my past, reaching back to first grade. I like the challenges in teaching. I look forward to meeting the needs of the various students that I will have in my classroom. If I can inspire only one of them the way I have been inspired so many times, I will feel that all of the difficulties facing teachers right now will be worthwhile. I want to make a difference in a child’s life. I feel that teaching is one of the most important jobs in the world. Teachers prepare future generations for the challenges they will face in the world around them. This teaching cannot always come from a book, map, blackboard, or even technology. It comes from life experience, and the heart.
While I have been at New England College, I have been fortunate enough to spend time in the Weare School District through New England College’s partnership with SAU 24. At the Weare Middle School, I spent time with a very energetic class of sixth graders being taught by a New England College graduate, Jessica MacAllen. Through this semester long experience, I came to the realization of how “on my toe”’ it is necessary to be at all times. The students are wonderful, but at the average age of twelve, it is obvious to see how all of their energy can lead them to make unwise decisions.
My second experience has been at Center Woods Elementary School, where I have worked with another pre-service teacher from New England College, Lindsey Inman, and fourth grade teachers Cindy Hurlbut and Larry Restuccia. Our project has been designing a PLP. Throughout the semester, we have taught the class ways to implement the use of technology in the classroom. For example, students learned how to use a Word Document, and then they were taught how to upload it to their Personal Portfolio. These portfolios are great because they allow students to save work that they are particularly proud of without the paper clutter. Through the experience they are having with these portfolios now they will reap the benefits in the future when they are showing pieces of work in the future. While it is not the point focused on in fourth grade, they will be able to use electronic portfolios such as these for the rest of their lives. The work the students did using technology did not end with word processing. The students, along with their regular classroom teachers and their pre-service teachers learned the fun art of making an i-movie, and using technology to collect and sort data, such as that collected during a taste test of food from the sea. We also had fun with the computer-drawing program ‘Kid Pix.’
Implementing technology in the classroom is not always easy. It is difficult to plan for glitches in the system, such as a computer just not wanting to work. It is frustrating when work was accidentally not saved, or saved work suddenly disappears. However, as teachers become more comfortable with technology and come up to speed with the knowledge that their students already seem to have in some cases, things are sure to go more smoothly. It is very important to use technology in the classroom. It is vital to instill safety in the minds of one’s students, especially when using the Internet. Technology is certainly not going to go away, nor should it. It must be embraced and learned how to be used effectively. There is a careful balance that must be created between new and old school teaching methods. The lessons still must be taught, but the method for teaching them sometimes must be changed. There are of course those lessons that cannot be changed and will still need to be taught from the heart.
New England College: Teacher Education Program
New England College is an independent liberal arts college that also offers professional programs. Maintaining a low student-teacher ratio, the College fosters close working and mentoring relations among faculty, staff, and students in an atmosphere of mutual care and respect. We are proud of our history of success in challenging and supporting students of diverse academic and cultural backgrounds who wish to achieve their full intellectual, personal, and social potential. New England College is nestled in an area abounding with natural beauty. Henniker is a village of 4,000 residents just 85 miles from Boston and 15 miles from Concord. The Contoocook River runs through the center of the village and alongside the campus with a picturesque covered bridge spanning the Contoocook River connecting the residence halls with the athletic fields.
There is a real sense of support and collegiality among faculty, staff, and students, and also between the College, townspeople, and our preK-12 partner schools. The campus is a comfortable and informal place, friendly and casual. The teacher education program at New England College is one of the largest majors on campus, hosting approximately 110 students out of a total student body of 850. In the teacher education program students and faculty work together to identify and solve community-based problems and gain the knowledge and power to take thoughtful and effective action. Imagine an education experience that allows you to become an active member of the school and community and where your contributions and achievements are authentic and valued. From your very first year in the Education program, you might read to a second grade child, create and lead an after school program, work in an urban school over spring break, direct a student performance, or help lead students to improve the quality of their own schools and communities.
Author:Cyndi Hurlbut
and Larry Restuccia School:A Collaborative Project with Center Woods Elementary School and New England College Organization:Center Woods Elementary School and New England College Credits:Debra Nitschke-Shaw, Director of Teacher Education
Meaghan Dube, preservice teacher, New England College
Lindsey Inman, preservice teacher, New England College
