{"id":799,"date":"2015-07-22T10:59:32","date_gmt":"2015-07-22T14:59:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.benschersten.com\/blog\/?p=799"},"modified":"2015-07-22T10:59:32","modified_gmt":"2015-07-22T14:59:32","slug":"starting-an-elementary-student-helpdesk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.benschersten.com\/blog\/2015\/07\/starting-an-elementary-student-helpdesk\/","title":{"rendered":"Starting an Elementary Student Helpdesk"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year (2014-2015) Kim Lynch<\/a> (a 5th grade teacher) and I started a Student Helpdesk at our elementary school. The idea was to have a group of trained students who could help with tech-related issues in the building. Here’s how the Helpdesk came to be, and how I hope it will change in the future:<\/p>\n

The Vision<\/h2>\n
\"Helpdesk<\/a>

Helpdesk students working in first grade.<\/p><\/div>\n

The vision was to have a group of students who could help teachers, or other students, or even whole classes when they needed a hand with technology. This could mean them joining me working in a classroom, or they could work without me if I was already teaching in another room.<\/p>\n

Since elementary students don’t have study hall, or unscheduled, time this would mean taking them out of class to help out. It was always made clear to teachers that if I wanted to borrow a Helpdesk student from their class, I would seek their permission first. Helpdesk was not meant to be a ticket to get out of class. Each time I would make sure each student was okay academically before taking them. (That said, I definitely\u00a0believe that when a student helps another student or classroom learn a technological skill, the teaching students learns some valuable skills as well.)<\/p>\n

Tech Skills<\/h2>\n

Since our district is 1:1 with iPads, our skill list<\/a> is pretty iPad-centric. I developed the\u00a0list and grouped the skills into categories (most of them correspond to the district’s Foundational\u00a0Apps<\/a>). Students came to the computer lab\u00a0during their recess time to practice the skills, and help each other master them. When they felt they had mastered a category, they would sit with me 1:1 and show me that they could do everything on the list. I kept a running list of who had mastered which apps, so if I needed help with iMovie<\/a> or Book Creator<\/a> or Google Drive<\/a> I could quickly see which students had mastered which apps (and who would be a good student to help out).<\/p>\n

On missing recess<\/em>: Coming to Helpdesk was never required<\/em>. If it was a nice, sunny day after a week of rain it was fine if kids wanted to be outside. Interestingly (but not entirely surprising), if you look at recess as free time or a way for kids to recharge mid-day, most of the Helpdesk\u00a0students were just as\u00a0happy to recharge by learning a new app on the iPad than\u00a0running around outside. Most mornings I was greeted with, “can we come down at recess today?”<\/p>\n

Students<\/h2>\n

In it’s first year, we hand picked about a dozen fifth graders. Most were boys, which initially we were uncomfortable with. But the more we looked at the specific makeup of that year’s 5th grade class, we felt better about it – it was a group that really didn’t have a lot of tech-interested girls. Looking at the class we had the year before, it would have been a more evenly balanced group simply because it would have been a different population to choose from.<\/p>\n

Moving Forward<\/h2>\n

Changes for the upcoming year:<\/p>\n