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October 1, 1998
1 Computer, 1 Teacher, and 20 First Graders
by LuAnn Lawhon
The situation in which I found myself two years ago is probably typical
of many teachers. My classroom was given one Macintosh LCII computer. A laboratory was
available, but first graders were definitely low on the priority list. For my kids to get
any kind of quality time, we had to figure out how to make the best use of the single LCII
in the classroom.
I didn't want to use the computer for drills. I didn't want the computer
to be a reward for students who completed work quickly. I didn't want to go to the lab and
have all the children laboriously follow step-by-step instructions, which would limit
their operating speed to that of the slowest student. I did want to use the computer to
promote the literacy skills that are so important in the first grade. So I designed
four "Quickie" projects.
The first two Quickies promote five basic skills:
- Locate and open an application program (ClarisWorks from an At Ease
screen).
- Insert a diskette correctly.
- Locate a document on that diskette.
- Open the document.
- Quit and remove the diskette.
These skills sound simple to people familiar with computers, but they
are pretty good for a six-year-old child (especially for one who doesn’t have a
computer at home). The children must also have the skills before you take them into a lab
situation.
Quickie Number One: Secret Word
I wrote "Secret Word" on the diskette label. I made a document
for each child on the diskette and used his or her name as the document name. When the
child opened the document, he or she saw:
"Hello (name). Your secret word is (three-letter word)."
All of the words were simple short vowel words, made by combining
letters found in the child’s name. For example, Megan’s word was man. I
did not have to go over to the computer to check on the students. The children quickly
learned the other words from context or by reading over each other’s shoulders when
their classmates opened their secret words. I used a liquid crystal overhead to
demonstrate the process of opening a file. My school uses an At Ease screen and
ClarisWorks, so the process looked like this:
- Find the ClarisWorks icon. ("Paper and a number four!") Click
on it.
- The first screen asks us if we want a new...something. We don’t, so
we go down to the cancel button and click. (The class recites, "Cancel that
idea!" It was a favorite chant.)
- Blank screen. I ask the class, "What dowe want the
computer to do?
- ("Open.") We pull down from File to Open.
- Insert the diskette.
- Click on "Secret Word."
- Several children repeated the entire process in front of the class.
When the secret word was reported, each child received a sticker. The
children were also given a chance to do Secret Word independently during workshop time.
Quickie Number Two: Look
We used the same format as above for "Look." This time the
instructions were a little trickier, but the kids were motivated. They had to learn a few
more words, but they helped each other. A small prize was hidden in the room and
instructions were on the diskette. Instead of the children’s names, the documents
were labeled "First," "Second," "Third," and
"Fourth."
The instructions would be something like "Look in the red
box." A prize awaited the successful child. Of course, only the first child of the
day opened the document named "First." I made a different Look diskette for each
day of the week, so each group of treasure-hunters looked in different places!
Secret Word and Look required only opening a file and closing it. The
third project added the skills of making changes to a document and saving those changes.
Quickie Number Three: News
The class diskette was labeled "News," and the single document
on the diskette was labeled "Today’s News." Students typed one sentence of
news (in their best invented spelling style) and signed it with their names. They made
sure that they pulled down the file menu and saved. We included this news in the weekly
parent newsletter (along with a teacher translation!).
The fourth project required students to create their own documents.
Quickie Number Four: Rhymes
One more skill was needed for the children to work successfully in the
lab. The children needed to learn to create and save their own document. For this, they
each had their own diskettes. Again, we began by showing the steps on an overhead
projector.
- Use the same steps as Secret Word to locate ClarisWorks.
- This time, when the ClarisWorks screen opens, we don’t "cancel
that idea." We say OK to a new word processing document.
- When it opens, we type a set of rhymes (the class names a few).
- Pull down File to Save As and type in "Room 101 Rhymes."
- Insert the diskette. Click on Save.
- Quit and eject the diskette as before.
In the Lab
These four Quickies helped my class use a single computer in the
classroom. We used the computer as a tool to make the writing process easier and more
motivating. Once the students went to the lab, they were ready to work independently on
writing projects that met curriculum goals.
Our group writing projects were based on the reading series. When the
Folktales unit was completed, the students went to the lab and composed folktales, using
ClarisWorks pictures in the text so that the final product looked like a rebus. When we
finished the Being Afraid unit, the students wrote short stories about things they fear
and illustrated them using the drawing tools.
Once the children knew how to use the computer as a writing tool, it
opened up a whole new world of self-expression. The children learned to compose their
stories directly on the computer. They learned to fix misspelled words without having to
copy the whole page over. They learned to insert adjectives to make a story more exciting.
They learned that the computer can take some of the drudgery out of a writer’s work.
With the students now familiar with basic computer skills, I was free to
go about the room helping those who needed it. The entire class was not limited to working
at the speed of the slowest student. I would even recommend these projects to teachers who
have more than one computer in the room!
Email: LuAnn Lawhon
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