Personal philosophy on Technology in the classroom

       Hello everyone, today I want to talk about my personal philosophy of technology in the classroom. Why is technology something teachers want to integrate into the classroom? Simply put, it is unavoidable, inevitable even. Our world is ever changing, and technology is always adapting. One day schools will replace paper with computers, but they can never replace a teacher with a computer. We as teachers are far more useful than a computer, to learn is to observe and giving a student a computer and expecting success is not realistic. Digital literacy is a taught skill just as any other, we the teachers can integrate technology in the classroom creating the next generation of critical thinkers with a knack for digital exploration. 

Technology in the classroom can serve a great purpose. Technology can evaluate, adapt, and cultivate creativity and collaboration if used properly. Digital testing allows for quick evaluation and feedback so students can see what they are struggling with, and teachers can create a personalized lesson to target those weaknesses. Digital tools can even be useful to increase the accessibility of your students learning through text to speech functions, increasing font size, changing screen colors, and much more. AI, which some may find questionable, can be used to promote students' writing capabilities if we can teach them how to prompt the AI tool as an assistant and not as a cheat code. From personal experience, technology can be immensely helpful tool for English language learners thanks to digital translators. In fact, I have had a student who only spoke Japanese, and her method of communication was an iPad with Google translate. She was able to type out what she wanted to say, take pictures of assignments all to digitally translate them, she even had her chrome book set to her native language. Technology in the classroom is not limited to computers and online tools but can expand into the tactile learning of robotics. Children love to take things apart and put things together which can be explored with robotics packages like Littlebits which even gives students experience in coding. Above all, there is the gamification of lessons to keep student's interests and have the information associated with a fun and memorable moment.  

Personally, the ways in which I would integrate technology into my classroom would include apps that allow for students to express their creativity with programs such as Canva, Power point, movie makers, and several other programs give students new ways to unleash their creativity and show what they have learned. Giving students a space such as Canva allows them to create graphics or animations of our lessons. I would even use programs like Khan Academy due to its adaptability, so that students can learn the lessons at a speed most comfortable to them. I would use tools like Edpuzzle to keep student engagement during videos and Kahoot! to promote academically driven competitiveness. Most of all, I would utilize accessibility tools such as translators, text to speech readers, closed captioning, text magnifiers, and color contractors. All to create a creative, engaging, and accessible classroom environment.  

Plot Structure Infographic

 

Gamification and Tactile Strategies for Diverse and Exceptional Students

 Gamification and Tactile Strategies for Diverse and Exceptional Students 

Gamification with Quizizz

    Quizizz is an online formative assessment tool that allows for students to take a gamified quiz at their own pace. Students will receive immediate feedback and have the chance to take remediation questions on topics they need extra practice in. This resource is great for teachers of all grades as there is not only a range of subjects, but it is also very customizable. There are premade quizzes to choose from which allow the teacher to choose the most relevant questions, edit wording, format, and rearrange the order of the questions. Additionally, within the previewing section there are options to toggle text to speech, set timers, and include ‘power ups,’ or even add some fun for the kids by turning on ‘memes.’ For further accessibility teachers have the option to add pictures using the built-in image library. Another feature on Quizizz that I found useful for a diverse classroom is the accommodations tab. Using this feature, you can select the individual students and add their accommodations such as text to speech, bi-lingual dictionary, translate, extra time, number of attempts, and one I found the most interesting you can enable dyslexia friendly fonts, and much more. Quizizz is not only for creating assessments but can also be used to design interactive slide shows, videos, flashcards, and passages. However, there is an option to create your own assessments and material, you also have access to their built-in ai adding in a document, text prompt, website, or a YouTube video. Now, something I think the exceptional students will find nice is the immediate feedback on responses and the inclusion of remedial questions for any topics they may need further practice in.  

Tactile learning with LittleBits

     A fun and creative way to promote class engagement is through the integration of tactile learning, meaning any form of hands-on project. These projects are meant to stimulate the mind and get the body moving and can even be used to promote team-building skills. LittleBits classroom is a company that supplies k-12 classrooms with easy robotics projects to aid in the demonstration of how real world technology works. They provide a wide selection of lesson plans, educator guides, activates, troubleshooting tips, and customizable handouts for all grades, subjects, and learning pathways. Additionally, each project is mapped to Common Core, NGSS, and TEKS standards. Using these kits students can build and code their own circuits, rovers, and other small robotic devices. When integrating LittleBits into your classroom it is important to go over the instructions clearly, provide written instructions for student reference, and be available to aid anyone who may be struggling with the building or coding process. The use of robotics is great for exceptional students who need the extra challenge that comes with programming and even satisfies the needs of diverse learners who learn better with hands on activities.  

Digital Learning Resources

Learning Resources for Teachers and Students  

In our ever-changing world, our ability as teachers to adapt to the newest forms of education-based resources are very important. We as teachers should be willing to grow with technology, we should not fear the change to classical education but embrace a new way to adapt technology into our classrooms. However, the sheer number of new technologies saying they are the best for teachers can be overwhelming so one way to evaluate their usefulness in the classroom is to apply Bloom’s Taxonomy. Blooms is a model of cognitive thinking skills which are separated into two segments, lower order thinking: remembering, understanding, and applying and higher order thinking: analyzing, evaluation, and creating. Now, how would we as teachers integrate the use of technology into Bloom’s Taxonomy?  

MindMup

An essential part of education is the student's ability to create something in order to better grasp a concept. One way we used to create a study web was to take a paper and pencil to write our thoughts or draw a web that connected all points of a particular subject. These study webs were very useful in different subjects for example, you could create web that breaks down the different aspects of a food chain. You could also create a story web for understanding stories in an English class. A site I have personally used for creating these webs is known as MindMup. In this website students can create a free mind map without the need to log in. Using MindmMup students who need more visualization can design a study web. Students may also collaborate to create a larger web by dividing the subject into categories. These maps can also be used to summarize the information from the lesson highlighting and memorizing the key concepts. Then the student can print the map or save it as a PDF for later review. 

        CoSpace EDU 

     I think many of us can appreciate the memorable experience a field trip has on students.  However, planning a trip for every lesson is impossible and far too expensive but there is a way to create virtual trips, exhibitions, and even experiments using CoSpace EDU. This site is free to use, simply make an account, share with your students and begin to create. In CoSpaces, teachers can design a 3D experience that ties into your lesson for your students to explore, learn, and demonstrate understanding. Not only can you program lessons but so can your students, this is an excellent tool to start them off in the world of coding. Using this site is easy, with plenty of tutorials online and they even include a library of prebuilt worlds. These spaces can touch on all of Bloom’s taxonomy by creating a linked lesson, allowing students to act out stories, evaluate understanding, and memorizing information through meaningful experiences.    

Kahoot!

 I think we all know how difficult it is to make reviewing for a quiz entertaining for students. One site that can be used is Kahoot! The bright colors, times, and catchy background music makes the site an engaging review for students. Teachers can create questions and analyze the most missed question. Students can compare scores with their classmates for some friendly competition. After the scoring is over, teachers can revisit the most missed questions and review them in depth to ensure student understanding. Kahoot does have a charge for use however, it can be purchased district wide. There is a short report from Stanford school of Education on the pros and cons of using Kahoot in the classroom. Pros include, providing interactions within a virtual classroom, can host a large group, and easy to use. Some cons are the need for a strong internet connection, and the creation of the quizzes are highly time-consuming.  

           Blogging Using Blogger

         A new way to track the progress of students is by creating a Blog. This can be done by using Blogger, start by creating an account and selecting a theme for your site, many students will find this customization the most fun. However, keeping in mind privacy safeguards of your students it’s best to have them create these sites using an alias and keeping the students real name and faces off the website. Otherwise, the creation of the blog allows students to upload and keep their work in a single space, they are then able to look back at their progress through the semester. Students can also post short blurbs of their thoughts about the school year, making it almost like a journal to get their thoughts on paper. Students can use this blog to summarize past lessons, articulate understanding, learn how to outline, and demonstrate their creativity.