Award-Winning Teacher Utilizes a Wealth of Classroom Technology

We have noted in several posts the role technology could have in enhancing education. Today we offer an interview with elementary teacher Tim Thompson, an educator who has indeed utilized technology to bring his second grade classroom to life.

Mr. Thompson recently received the Patience Norman Prize, an award presented annually to recognize an outstanding teacher within School Administrative District #52. Mr. Thompson’s principal, Thomas Martellone, notes in glowing terms this teacher’s innovative techniques. Notes Principal Martellone, “Tim has a thirst for using technology, both in and out of the classroom.”

A thirst indeed!!

In his classroom, Mr. Thompson has been using blogs to communicate class activities to parents and SMARTboard technology to have students create powerpoint presentations. In addition, Mr. Thompson utilizes movie technology for both classroom lessons and student products. This caring and dedicated teacher even provides “Podcasts” on his web page that give verbally recorded instructions for parents on how to help children with their math and reading instruction.

Below we present our interview Mr. Thompson in question and answer format. We have included numerous links to his classroom materials including “The Morning Work Show,” “The Literacy Fastbreak,” and his classroom web page.

We think teachers will find a wealth of classroom ideas as well as an inspirational dose of optimism.

Congratulations on winning the Patience Norman Prize for Teacher Excellence in your school district – my understanding is that you received a $5,000 cash prize in the process? That had to be pretty sweet?

Thanks. It’s certainly been a wild ride so far. When you’re a regular guy, who leaves a small island community to study elementary education, you’d never dream of winning an award for your everyday teaching efforts. I’m still awe struck, to tell the truth.

Can you give our readers a sense of what it felt like to be selected? Were you even aware that you had been nominated?

It has been an unparalleled honor and an extremely humbling experience to win an award like this. There are so many truly gifted educators, especially here in MSAD #52 and to be counted among some of them is unbelievable! When our Superintendent of schools announced my name as the winner, in front our entire student body it felt like I’d won an Oscar! I told my mother and father that this was the first standing ovation I had ever received. I honestly just stood and basked in the glow as long as I could. It took about a week to wipe the grin off my face. So many educators work so hard and to actually receive this kind affirmation for all the hours of preparation and planning is more than I could ever hope for.

What did your students have to say when they found out you had been selected? How about your colleagues?

My students were so proud! A young gentleman in classroom actually came up to me afterward and very formally offered me his hand and congratulated me. I also had one little girl who was so overwhelmed she burst out in tears saying, “I’m just so happy for you!” My favorite moment of celebration with my students came in the form of a phone message. After my wife and I arrived home, on the night of my award I had a message from a parent of one of my students. She related to me that her son had come home all excited telling her, “My teacher won five thousand dollars for being the best teacher in the world!” This parent, obviously very emotional, told me she was “So proud” to have me as her son’s teacher. Needless to say, that phone message has been saved!

According to Principal Martellone, you utilize a wealth of technology in your classroom – blogs, SMARTboards, and podcasts among other things. Could you give our readers some concrete examples of some of the technology you do use and how it relates to the second grade classroom curriculum? And are there some links our readers can check out to get some ideas of the products your students have produced?

It seems I’ve tried so many different possibilities in the realm of technology it’s so hard to know where to start. One of my most favorite is a new initiative into video production. I’ve found that my students respond so well to anything presented in a visual medium. Early on this year I created a daily show called “The Morning Work Show.” My students would come into the classroom first thing in the morning and gather at the white board with paper and pencil in hand. I would create a three to eight minute show that practiced skills previously taught in class. Students would watch the show and respond to written activities while it played.

The Morning Work Show has since evolved into “The Literacy Fast-Break.” Students work daily at our classroom computers with headphones to watch and practice literacy skills. These shows are also available for students to review online and often are sent home on video compilation discs I share with the parents.

My own passion for making movies has taken root in my students as well. The students love to create movies based on the content they are learning. We take small steps with these types of projects. But before long students are writing, creating slides, and voicing their own productions. Often these videos relate to a content area such as science or social studies. We began the year by studying the solar system in science. Students did basic research related to their space topic and made slides for a simple space movie. Students worked with me to create digital photo stories to exhibit their work. It is extremely gratifying to see enthusiasm spring up in students as they explore new frontiers and learn new skills.

Students are now working on cloud movies. We are using video clips from Discovery Education’s United Streaming web site. Many of these Discovery videos contain editable clips. Students are using these clips to write “voice-over” scripts that can be added to professionally produced videos. I have asked students to apply what they are learning in science class about weather and then produce a quality written script to show what they know. Their digital recordings will become mp3 files and we will work with the Windows Movie Maker program to produce student made movies. I’ve gone on and on about videos, but that’s my passion at this moment. I do still use blogs, wiki pages and other web 2.0 tools in the classroom. But the greatest spark lately has come in the form of multimedia education.

Engagement of students has been the driving force in this area for me. I desperately desire the percentages of actively engaged students to increase day-by-day… hour-by-hour… moment-by-moment… Once a former Superintendent of mine inspired us to reach not just student number one, two, and three on our class-lists… but all students… numbers seventeen… eighteen… right down to the bottom of the roster. This charge has stuck with me. Having all student’s senses fully engaged has begun to achieve this end.

When most people think of the second grade I am not sure they would immediately think of using technology to such an extent with students. Where did you come up with your ideas?

I’ve found that the most beneficial strategy in finding and choosing new classroom technological initiatives is to try them myself. Whenever the opportunity arises I sit in on our school district’s technology seminars and classes. Without fail I always hear of something new to try. After I first give it a try I am much more apt to give it a go with my own students. As educators, we ourselves never want to lose that sense of wonder. When we are open to new ideas and processes our students will be too. There’s nothing wrong with getting wrapped up in a new technique or web-tool and letting our imagination run with it.

When I start asking myself questions like, “How can I use this with my students?”… “What can my students do with this tool?”… “What are the possibilities?” Then and only then do we really get rolling.

I think a key issue at this age has to be how to assess the process of learning and manage to keep the final product from being the key focus of your assessment. How do you manage to do that?

These words constantly come to mind: explicitly model, guide, practice, support and modify. It is so true, the process is of vital importance with younger students. I have found that when students undertake a project like research and movie making. I save piles and piles on work from each student, this document, that document, all their work along the way. Students love to look back on notes, templates, organizers, and drafts they have done throughout the course of a project. These little pieces really exhibit to me just what students are able to do. The final product pales in comparison to the mountain of work the students did in preparation for that product. I do consider myself like an editor at a publishing house. And any polish or surface work students were not able to do on their own comes from work the student and I do together.

I remember some animal reports and movies my students made last year. At the end of the project I put together a manila envelope for each of my students. Their envelope contained every piece of work they completed as they made their final movie. My assessment of their work was a narrative letter with my observations of their strengths and needs. My hope is that students and parents will take the time to reflect on and celebrate all the effort their children put into their learning.

A topic that is being raised more and more in education is the teaching and fostering of creativity in the classroom. The idea is that there is no way for any of us to truly know what the world will be like for our children in the near future so creativity is now a critical component of the teaching process today. Do you agree with that notion and if so how do you go about fostering creativity in your students?

I agree whole-heartedly that creativity should be a major ingredient in any learning project we undertake. Creativity can take so many forms for so many different people. It can be flashy and glitzy. Or it can be quiet and consistent. As long as the product shows a little piece of who you are and what you care about I think creativity shines through. When students are invested in and excited about what they are learning they can’t help but be creative.

Two themes run constantly in my classroom: This activity matters and you can do anything you set your mind to. When we show students what we expect them to do, and then guide them in the steps of how to do it… They can do whatever we ask them to do. It doesn’t matter how young or disadvantaged they appear to be… all students can participate and achieve. I remember dreaming as kid of making a TV show or starring in a movie or a concert. My friends used to pretend to do this and have a great time doing it. The amazing thing is that today students have access to simple technology to actually put together a product on par with Hollywood. Instilling kids with a “Can-do” attitude goes a long way in today’s day and age. Because we all have access to the tools to help them do just that!

My sense is that your approach to teaching is enormously time consuming – how much time do you spend each week preparing instructional materials, teaching students, and assessing their progress?

Doing justice to the amount of time I put in is hard. The hours are many, let’s just say that. Teaching is not a nine to five job. Most of us know that. It is an all-consuming lifestyle. It’s all about commitment. How committed are you to providing your students with quality learning experiences? You can do that without technology, but using technology makes it a whole lot of fun. My wife is an educator as well, so we constantly talk-shop and bounce ideas off of one another. Our lives are wrapped up in our classrooms and for us that’s okay.

Being on the cutting edge obviously involves taking risks – was there ever a time when you tried to implement an idea that simply flopped? If so how did you handle that with the kids? From you experiences, is there some general advice you would give to other teachers about implementing technology in the classroom to protect them from possible failures?

Try to get over the fear of failing. I’ve learned that when you try something new in technology you more than likely will fail at one time or another. And that failing isn’t because of you necessarily, it is more than likely because of the quickly paced, very fluid, constantly evolving learning curve related to technology. I have a Garfield poster on the front of my desk at school. It says, “We must all learn to laugh at ourselves.” Letting students know that failure isn’t actually a bad thing but a great opportunity to learn is paramount. This is especially true when it comes to using technology. I’ve found that it’s great for myself and students to make a mistake, learn how to work our ways back from it and then discuss how it will help us in the future. My hope is that this approach and class attitude permeates all that we do as we set out to learn together.

For teachers interested in greater technology implementation in their classrooms yet not feeling fully confident of their own technology knowledge, what suggestions do you have for them?

Get out there and explore! Visit your building and school district technology leaders ask them what they are using. Find out what programs and web 2.0 tools your school is using. And give them all a try. I find that educational web sites like TeacherTube and EduHound are especially interesting. Seeing what others are doing can really peak your interest and inspire new ideas. I love the web 2.0 features that Google is implementing and have often used one of their tools to drive my own technology work. Google labs is a wonderful place to see what’s out on the cutting edge for web tools. Blogger has been another excellent tool for my classroom. The key is to stay aware of what’s going on online. If you hear a techie buzz word being used a lot or something new you’ve never heard of check it out. You never know exactly what might be of use to you down the road.