Internship and Research - The Beginnings

With the holidays over and this new semester underway, it is time to begin my last semester as a grad student at UHV.  I am very excited for the opportunities I have been given and look forward to the new experiences to come.

As far as my internship goes, I had some ideas as to what my internship would entail.  I had gone to a staff development early January where I was introduced to BreakoutEDU, a program that puts learning and problem solving back into students' hands.  This is where I met my Internship supervisor, who was giving the training.  I was very interested in trying out Breakout at my school, but did not have the funds to purchase the physical "Breakout Box" and programs.  While the physical "breakout box" was not yet within reach, Breakout did have a digital component that had free Breakouts that I definitely will try this semester. More on that later.

It was my first week back from Winter break that a wonderful opportunity was presented to me.  My administration informed my fifth grade team that we had been offered a grant in the amount of $4,000 to jumpstart Lego Robotics at our campus.  After seeing my interest and knowing that this was the semester of my internship, they let me take the lead on the project. 


Along with the Lego Robotics opportunity to integrate technology into the classroom, I also planned to jumpstart blogging in my classroom, particularly with the subject of science.  Fifth grade takes a Standardized test on science, and their scores on the test is dependent on a well-rounded grasp of the concepts and applications.  After speaking to my supervisor I plan to use the free blogging platform Seesaw. 

Throughout this semester I will journal my experiences with integrating technology into the classroom, and will be conducting research on the effects of blogging on collaborative learning, literacy, and achievement in the fifth grade science classroom.

I look forward to sharing my experiences with you!