Before beginning this course, technology was something available in our school, but not widely used. Most teachers, including myself, didn’t take advantage of it as much as we could because we were never fully trained in how to use most of it. As a result, we were skeptical about taking extra time on our own to learn a new skill. Within our school, we have one Smart Board on every grade and a cart of portable laptops. Since beginning this course, I have been integrating a lot more technology into my lessons, which has in turn become recognized by my colleagues and administration. I’ve used each of my technology rich lessons created in class in my own classrooms. The students were very much engaged and loved working with the interactive lessons. They found it particularly “cool” when there was on online game right in my Smart board lesson. The students afterward asked me to write down the links to these websites so that they may use it at home. I have become more and more comfortable creating lessons that involve technology. Since then, I have been offered one of the two portable Smart Boards we have within our building to hold onto permanently because, as our technology coordinator said, “You’re one of the only people using it often and I’d rather it get good use.”
This year, I’m only teaching Science, so I haven’t been able to incorporate technology into any Math lessons yet. However, it’s proven useful in my Science lessons. The use of videos and embedding them into the slides themselves has been very useful, particularly units that do not have as many hands-on activities available to keep students engaged. The interactive pieces of the Notebook program have been incredible in keeping students interested and engaged in a lesson. The actual act of physically touching and moving components on the screen are exciting to the students. I’ve started letting students know that I will only call them to come up to the board if they are actively participating and trying in class. Once I say this, the participation jumps from only some of the kids to every hand going up. Once the student is actively involved in coming up with an answer, or working though a problem, they remember it that much more and it stays with them.
Since talking about all of the resources available online to keep an open communication between teachers and students, and teachers and parents, I’ve began exploring what’s out there. I’ve started an online grade book at Engrade.com as a way to keep parents (and students) updated on their grades. I have about 175 students and it is sometimes difficult keeping up with all of the parents when needed. This was a way for me to open the lines of communication so that nothing will come as a shock to parents when they receive their child’s report cards. Many of my parents love this, as well as the kids themselves. I will always notice that the day after a test is given, my students will continuously log in to check to see if it was graded yet. They are able to monitor their progress as well as identify what component is bringing them down. They’ve then set goals to reach based off of this information.
I’ve found creating this Weebly website to be quite useful to my students and their parents. Whenever a student is not doing as well as they’d like, or wanting to learn more, I often get the question “What websites are good to help _____ more in Science?” This would then lead me into a long list of keywords and sites being written on pieces of paper and taking up time. Now it’s a little easier having all of those links right on one page. My students have sometimes even come into class and have suggested websites they’ve found to me. I’m hoping to be able to add some of these sites to my homepage.
I think it is very important for students and teachers alike to become involved in the wide range of technology out there. Often students are familiar with technology in as an entertainment tool and not so much as a tool for learning. They should become more familiar with the proper way to search for resources, to properly type and create documents in all Microsoft office tools, how to properly write an email and attach documents to them, just as a basic knowledge. Then the idea of students learning how to create blogs and websites is crucial for this age of technology that is developing. Teachers should also be trained more thoroughly on the technologies out there and available to help enhance their teaching. There are so many tools out there now that open the lines of communication between the teacher and their students and parents that have not been present in the past. In a way, this takes some of the burden off of the teachers shoulders because now parents can become more involved without taking up all of the teachers time.
All in all, I’ve found this course to be one of the more useful courses I’ve taken in many years, as it has taught me skills I didn’t even think to learn that will further improve my teaching and the learning and exploring of my students. I’m hoping to be able to get more people on board for creating more meaningful workshops for the teachers within my school to really teach them the intricacies of technology they may not know even exists.
This year, I’m only teaching Science, so I haven’t been able to incorporate technology into any Math lessons yet. However, it’s proven useful in my Science lessons. The use of videos and embedding them into the slides themselves has been very useful, particularly units that do not have as many hands-on activities available to keep students engaged. The interactive pieces of the Notebook program have been incredible in keeping students interested and engaged in a lesson. The actual act of physically touching and moving components on the screen are exciting to the students. I’ve started letting students know that I will only call them to come up to the board if they are actively participating and trying in class. Once I say this, the participation jumps from only some of the kids to every hand going up. Once the student is actively involved in coming up with an answer, or working though a problem, they remember it that much more and it stays with them.
Since talking about all of the resources available online to keep an open communication between teachers and students, and teachers and parents, I’ve began exploring what’s out there. I’ve started an online grade book at Engrade.com as a way to keep parents (and students) updated on their grades. I have about 175 students and it is sometimes difficult keeping up with all of the parents when needed. This was a way for me to open the lines of communication so that nothing will come as a shock to parents when they receive their child’s report cards. Many of my parents love this, as well as the kids themselves. I will always notice that the day after a test is given, my students will continuously log in to check to see if it was graded yet. They are able to monitor their progress as well as identify what component is bringing them down. They’ve then set goals to reach based off of this information.
I’ve found creating this Weebly website to be quite useful to my students and their parents. Whenever a student is not doing as well as they’d like, or wanting to learn more, I often get the question “What websites are good to help _____ more in Science?” This would then lead me into a long list of keywords and sites being written on pieces of paper and taking up time. Now it’s a little easier having all of those links right on one page. My students have sometimes even come into class and have suggested websites they’ve found to me. I’m hoping to be able to add some of these sites to my homepage.
I think it is very important for students and teachers alike to become involved in the wide range of technology out there. Often students are familiar with technology in as an entertainment tool and not so much as a tool for learning. They should become more familiar with the proper way to search for resources, to properly type and create documents in all Microsoft office tools, how to properly write an email and attach documents to them, just as a basic knowledge. Then the idea of students learning how to create blogs and websites is crucial for this age of technology that is developing. Teachers should also be trained more thoroughly on the technologies out there and available to help enhance their teaching. There are so many tools out there now that open the lines of communication between the teacher and their students and parents that have not been present in the past. In a way, this takes some of the burden off of the teachers shoulders because now parents can become more involved without taking up all of the teachers time.
All in all, I’ve found this course to be one of the more useful courses I’ve taken in many years, as it has taught me skills I didn’t even think to learn that will further improve my teaching and the learning and exploring of my students. I’m hoping to be able to get more people on board for creating more meaningful workshops for the teachers within my school to really teach them the intricacies of technology they may not know even exists.
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