Prior to ITEC 7430, I was just merely brushing the surface of integrating technology tools into my classroom. I have always been interested in incorporating technology tools into my classroom, but I truly did not know what all is out there. Our Web 2.0 How-To For Educators has to be one of my favorite resources to pull from next to Pinterest and Twitter (now). I will now think of an idea and immediately start looking for the tools that fit my needs and allows the students to get the most of the lesson. I found this course extremely useful in exposing me new tools to use in my classroom. I am no longer hesitant to try new technology tools in my classroom. I have more resources at my disposal and I know where to find what I need.
I looked forward to trying new tools to see their functions and learn how to incorporate it into my classroom. By blogging about the tools, it taught me how to articulate exactly what I wanted to say to my colleagues so that they could learn from my blog. I believe that I could continue blogging and set something up where I could share the technology tools with other teachers. I enjoyed learning from reading my classmate's blogs. I would like to thank my classmates and professor for their support, for sharing their tools and ideas, and challenging me to be a better educator and coach. Without this course, my perspective of technology tools would have been extremely limited. I feel that I am better prepared and have more confidence in implementing tools into my classroom to show students that technology is not just for entertainment, but can be a valuable resource in their education. I plan on continuing to teach my students this and improve their digital citizenship.
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After my semester in ITEC 7460, I have definitely changed and grown as an educator and a leader in technology. I am sure everyone has experienced this as this course has taught me valuable skills, tools, and techniques to use in my classroom and for others to use. From this semester, I have found myself taking more risks in the classroom by trying new tools out, troubleshooting, and having the confidence to share these tools with other colleagues so that they tool can see how technology can enhance their classrooms. I have a strong understanding of the different variables that goes into to make technology changes in my own classroom, and even in making the change for teachers. These skills will take me far when I face certain situations like working with a teacher who does not see the use for technology, or the teacher who resist change despite the great results. I feel that I have the tools now to appropriately address these situations and many more that may arise.
Through this course, I have not only challenged myself, but also my students in ways to make them better digital citizens and make them more aware of the tools around them. I have also created better relationships with teachers in my school thanks to this course. Prior to this course, I did not feel that I had the proper tools or techniques to approach someone to share my ideas or assist them. Since this course, I have found myself reaching out to teachers, building relationships and putting myself out there as a resource to others. I am proud of the progress I have made over this course, and I know that this is a work in progress. I plan to continue to teach my students and my colleagues how technology is not just used for entertainment, but also for education. I am becoming more involved in my school and in my county, which is putting me on the track I want to be. I knew going into my master’s degree I wanted to be the technology specialist that had the relationships with the teachers, so everyone could benefit, lead workshops, and make an impact on our school system. Without the foundation from this course, I do not think it would have been a smooth and valuable transition in changing teachers’ perspectives from just another teacher to someone they can use as a resource that genuinely wants to help them in their classroom. I would like to thank my classmates and professor for their continual feedback and support. I thoroughly enjoyed reading your thoughts, learning from you, and working with you during this semester. Between all of us, we have a lot of experience and have been able to bounce ideas amongst ourselves to better our techniques in the classroom and handle situations. I hope to continue to learn from each other as we progress through our future courses. Digital Citizenship and YouStudent’s safety is school’s and teacher’s top priority, but it does not just relate to their physical safety, teachers more than ever have to teach students about online safety. As more classrooms move to utilizing the internet as a resource and tailoring their classroom around learning management systems and encouraging students to collaborate and connect with each other, teachers also need to make sure that they are preparing them for the digital world making them aware of netiquette, their digital footprint, and digital citizenship. There are also dangers out on the web called cyber-bullying and students need to learn how to avoid and redirect these situations. Teachers have the task of making sure their students know how to conduct themselves online. Some students have the belief that what they post online won’t affect them later, or have the mindset of that wouldn’t happen to me. Netsmatz Workshop is an interactive website that brings the consequences of poor internet decisions to life and puts it into perspective. The article “A New Twist on Cyberbullying” from the ISTE website, describes how teachers can use this workshop to open up the communication with your students about cyber-bullying. The article mentions that the teacher starts this discussion by asking, “Will you accept the identity that others give you?” It is important to give students a voice and empower them to say something when they see it happening. By using this workshop, teachers can touch on a variety of topics that relate to the internet and it comes with lesson plan guides to get students more aware of the behaviors behind a computer, tablet, smartphone screen. ThinkB4U is an interactive website that allows students to make decisions based on several different situations and educate them on the outcomes of their decisions. In this interactive game, students go through the members of a family from school, home, and the mall perspectives. As a teacher, you could assign students to complete all of the situations for school, home, and the mall so that they see that they need to watch their digital footprint everywhere they go. It is not just something that they need to be aware of at school, but in all facets of their lives since we live in a society that revolves around staying connected. ThinkB4U provides interactive videos, discussion points for students and teachers, and give them real scenarios to analyze and make decisions on in the virtual world so that they are prepared when these scenarios arise in their own life. It is crucial that they are cautious not to overshare and put themselves in harm’s way. Teaching students about digital citizenship are not just important, but it is necessary. Common Sense Education provides teachers with lesson plans, activities, and resources to assist students in navigating cyber-bullying, privacy, safety that they will face at school and in their other digital lives. This website also focuses on having students create a pledge on how they plan to be safe, responsible, and respectful when they are online. When students are asked to analyze what it means to them, it gives them the opportunity to think critically about their behavior online. This can hold students accountable for the behavior that teachers expect, also on that same note, teachers need to express and set high expectations of the proper behavior and protocol when students are online. Communication is key in relaying the information and making them aware. These websites provided new and different ways to engage students in learning about their digital footprint and digital citizenship that will open up the doors for communication and awareness of the proper use of the internet. Parents, teachers, and students all need to get on board to help encourage and teach the students for their safety both at school and away from school. Keep in mind, teachers cannot be there with the student to tell them not to post that picture, not to say those things, or not to make those decisions, but it is our job to make them think twice about it, make them aware of their consequences should they do something, and educate them about the world that they live in. Teachers are molding students whether they know it or not and it is an important task that cannot be taken lightly. They need to make sure that they are properly equipped to handle real world situations and it starts when they walk into your classroom. Learning Management System- CanvasThe internet provides students and teachers with more resources and available web-based tools to increase student engagement in their classroom, but now there is more! Teachers can actually host classes in learning management systems (LMS) where most of the aspects of a physical classroom can take place online on one single platform. Edmodo, Canvas, and Moodle are some of the many learning management systems that can allow students to organize and connect to their education in a new way. These systems can teach them skills that they can use beyond the classroom, the organize class information for students, and provide teachers new ways to engage students in their education. This school year, I am using Canvas in my classroom, and I will be focusing on it in this blog post as I share my experience with it, but I would definitely recommend you trying out any LMS in your classroom to see the impact that it has. Canvas gives students and teachers more ways to engage students in their education. On Canvas, students can take tests/quizzes, participate in discussion boards, upload their assignments, and collaborate with other students. Canvas keeps students on the platform so that teachers can control what they look at and narrow their focus. Teachers can modify the tests and quizzes to best meet the needs of the students. Teachers can also modify assignments and differentiate instruction to assist with student understanding. By modifying the assignments and instruction, teachers can reach each student on their individual level. Teachers can flip their classroom by inserting videos, websites, and articles for the students to view prior to class that will allow class time to be focused on practicing the skills or discussing the topic more in-depth. This school year was my first time using it and incorporating it into my classroom. From my experience, Canvas has revolutionized the way my classroom functions. More students are involved in their education and active participates. Canvas is teaching them skills that they will use in the workforce and teach them to work together. This platform prepares students for life outside of school and creates accountability. More Web 2.0 tools and learning management systems give access to education far beyond the walls of the classroom. Teachers need to show students the tools and how they can use them to empower them to continue to learn. There are more resources available to the students now than there were 15 years ago and they keep growing. With more resources comes more ways to engage students, more information to gain different perspectives, and give them the opportunity to analyze facts and figures in a different and new way. Since I am a history teacher, I have access to primary documents, original news coverages of historical events, and I can make history come to life in the classroom. This breaks down the walls of the classroom and brings the topic to life. With this movement to using online and web-based tools and resources is revolutionary, however, it is difficult for schools to keep up with the increasing technology demands such as internet access, computers, tablets, and programs needed to keep up with these demands. More funding will be needed for maintenance, repair, and training to teach teachers how to use the new tools. Technology moves quickly and it can be difficult to fund, but it is important to allocate money towards because the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Schools may struggle with providing teachers and students opportunities to have access to computers and the internet at school especially if they do not have any at home. I believe that teachers and school systems realize the increasing importance and advantages of technology tools in the classroom. I know I have seen schools directing their focus towards this movement and allocating appropriate funding to make this possible. Already some schools are 1:1, which allows them to provide access to those students who may not get it another way. Web 2.0 tools, learning management systems, and digital citizenship create a more globalized classroom, teach students the skills to be successful, and appropriate behavior online to make sure students are aware of the dangers and consequences that the internet has. Lino
Lino is an online visual tool. You can view the Lino that I made below to learn about all of the educational opportunities. Lino hosts a web-based canvas where you can post sticky notes, photos, links, documents, and video. Users can create multiple canvases on the platform. In class, you can have students post their answers to warmups, share ideas, post ticket-out-the-doors responses, and collaborate. Not only can students write text, they can upload videos, post pictures, and upload documents. Teachers can create their own where they can host assignments, use it to share ideas or resources for other teachers and students to view, or display student work for others to see.
Lino has the capability to assist students who struggle with writing and grammar because they can express themselves through images and videos. Students can also freely collaborate with students online in a low-risk environment where everyone’s voice can be heard. This helps students who struggle with communication and speaking up to get their point across. If teachers use it as a ticket-out-the-door or a warm up, teachers can quickly gauge how well their class knows the material as well as allow each student to answer in a low-risk environment as long as the teacher keeps the board private to only the teacher viewing it. If teachers allow all the students to see it, it could be an issue of high risk for the students as they may not be as open to posting their answers or they could cheat off of what others on the board are putting. Should teachers be using it to collaborate the whole group, teachers can assign students that if students post a similar idea as some they have to add to it with their own personal thought or comment that would curb the cheating. Evernote
Evernote is an organizational tool that can assist with school, work, and personal life. Evernote can capture texts, images, audio, and PDF files from the web, your email, and you can create your own notes and reminders all in one place. This program can be accessed through the website, the web clipper add-on, and your personal devices through the app. I highly encourage students to use Evernote to take notes and keep up with assignment due dates. This tool is easily something that the students can use while in high school and can follow them to college and beyond. With this application, students can organize their classes with different Notebooks within Evernote. Students can set reminders and create tasks. You can have the reminders emailed to you every day until they are complete. If students handwrite any notes or anything really, they can easily take a picture of it and upload the information to their Evernote to keep it all in the same place. After it is uploaded, they can still search the document for keywords just as if it was text.
Students who struggle with keeping up with their assignments and notes in class can benefit greatly from using this tool. If students get the premium subscription, they can record their teacher (with permission) so they can go back and listen to the notes. Students who have ADHD can also benefit from using Evernote. Check out this article about how Evernote can help students with ADHD to learn more. Evernote essentially helps them focus on one location for all their work that is easy to access from multiple devices. I would recommend this to students who have difficulty organizing information during a project or research paper. They can clip parts of websites to their notebook and access it later when they need it. When students are using it, the teacher needs to make sure the students are on task if you allow them to use it during class. It would need to become part of your classroom management and teaching students appropriate uses for the application. I believe that teachers could manage this tool without many problems as long as the specific guidelines on usage were addressed at the beginning of the school year. Now, some other challenges as teachers we may face are student’s access to computers/apps outside of school. Teachers would need to work with these students to schedule regular time in their classroom to use the computers or have access during class to take notes on and print them. Despite this concern, Evernote truly can be a game changer in a student’s life to organize their school assignments. The beauty thing about this application is that students can continue to use this as they grow—it is not just a school tool. I provided two articles for you to explore to learn more about ways to use Evernote and ways to improve note-taking. Also, follow them on Twitter @evernote. Ways to use Evernote Improve Note Taking Lucidchart App
Lucidchart can be used by both teachers and students as a great productivity tool. This app allows students to use their phone or tablet to create a nicely designed mind-map of a topic. The teacher can use this app as an assignment to assist with students thinking through a topic and displaying it visually. Teachers can also use this during notetaking to illustrate an order of events or all the components of a topic. There are a variety of options that can assist students in understanding the information. The app is user-friendly for all grades and levels. Students and teachers can share their charts amongst each other. Within the app, students can start with one chart and add new pages within a particular topic to create more charts. The feature I think is neat is the ability to write on the line that connects to the individual boxes. Users can add colors, use different shaped boxes, change the text fonts and sizes. The app contains many manipulatives that allow students to use their creativity.
Students who need assistance in seeing how topics relate to another, cause and effect and sequencing to name a few can use this app. Teachers can also help by developing their own charts to help with student understanding depending on the topic. Despite this being an app that most students can access from their phone or tablet, some students do not have that ability and it would be beneficial for students who do not to still have that opportunity. Lucidchart makes this possible by allowing students access to it from the web. Teachers would need to ensure that these students have computer access. The products from this app can be as simple as a flowchart to as complicated to an interactive chart. Teachers and students can collaborate on assignments, create charts, organize ideas, and develop critical thinking skills. Lucidchart’s website also provides a blog that you can learn more about the uses of Lucidchart such as using it for project-based learning like this article mentions. You can follow them on Twitter @lucidchart. Screencasting- Kahoot! : A new way to assess and engage students
Have you ever experienced students requesting to review for a topic in class? Well, once you start using Kahoot! you will! This interactive, competitive game allows teachers to host quizzes, discussions, and surveys on its website. In the screencast below, I discuss how to create a Kahoot! quiz that allows students to verse each other a quiz that you make. You can use the quiz as a review or introduce a topic. To learn more about this neat assessment tool, check out my screencast.
I have to say using screencast was a great experience. I used Jing as my screencasting tool. I have not only found that it does an excellent job for recording screencasts, but also to capture screenshots. For my first time recording screencasts, I have already discovered many tips and tricks that I would love to share with you if you have not tried this before. I recommend writing your main points down, to begin with before you start recording. At first, I tried writing word for word what I wanted to say, but then once I played back the screencast I noticed that it sounded rehearsed and not welcoming. I went back and just jotted down the main ideas and it sounded much better. While doing the screencast it is important to explain every detail to make sure your audience can follow along easily. I can see that this tool can provide a variety of opportunities for teachers. Teachers can use this to flip their classroom, to explain a topic to students who are absent, or even to teacher other teachers about technology tools like I did. Please feel free to share any ways that you use screencasting in your classroom in the comments below or any other technology tools that I should check out. Podcasting
Podcasting is something new that I experimented with this week and was pleasantly surprised at how useful and informational it is. Podcasting hosts a multitude of topics from varying interests where students and teachers alike can find something that interest them. When I was exploring the different topics of podcasting, I discovered Grammar Girl, TEDTalks Education, Stuff You Missed in History Class, and Out of School. These all provide interesting information from teaching techniques to history information that I can use in class. The beauty of podcasting is that you can listen to it when you are commuting, listen to it when you are working, or whenever you would like. This flexibility is great, especially for a teacher on-the-go! Students can be assigned podcast to listen to and use the information it provides for extending thinking and knowledge, reinforcing material that they have already covered in class, and for some ELL students you can find a podcast in their native language to help them understand the material. Teachers can also differentiate instruction by providing students to explore topics that interest them in the unit they are studying in class to promote engagement or teachers can flip their classroom by assigning a podcast to listen to prior to class/create their own podcast for class. Podcasting is a tool that I believe is underutilized and needs to get the recognition it deserves for providing great opportunity to engage, teach, and inform students and teachers.
TEDTalks Education provided inspiration to me and made me think differently about the way I view education. I enjoyed that it challenged my views on education and provides different perspectives. I can see this being a podcast that I can listen to regularly on my way to work. Grammar Girl discusses grammar topics and explains tips and tricks of writing. This is something that you can assign your students to listen to, especially if you are working on a specific skill that you are focusing on in class. Stuff You Missed in History Class explains topics more in-depth than what you would be able to provide in a history class. Teachers and students can use this to provide more information on a topic or to extend students’ knowledge by assigning them one to further engage them. Teachers can also reference information from these podcasts to provide another perspective. Out of School podcast highlights technology tools/Web 2.0 tools to use in the classroom to engage students. I recommend teachers to listen to these to learn about emerging technology and the uses that it has. Technology is always changing and evolving, so what better way than to stay updated on the topic. Teacher Tools:
Flikr
When you think of Flikr, I am sure you think of a place where you can view and upload pictures. Well, what you may not think of is that you can use Flikr in your classroom. There are multiple ways you can utilize this resource. As you can see from my example below, students can create a story using pictures from Flikr. Flikr filters their pictures in a variety of ways, but one way that allows other to use their pictures is filtering with Creative Commons. Creative Commons allows users to use posted photos as long as they provide credit for their sources. Teachers can also have students find a picture from Flikr and write a story based on the picture. They can differentiate instruction using Flikr by having students find pictures that represent the definitions for vocabulary words, or visually tell a story if they struggle with writing.
Classroom 2.0 Website
Classroom 2.0 website is an excellent resource for teachers. This website provides a place where teachers can come and discuss their lessons, share ideas, get advice, and ultimately learn more about Web 2.0 tools from other teachers. I would definitely recommend this for beginner and novice teacher would are looking to expand their knowledge about Web 2.0 tools to use in the classroom to engage their students. The site does require you to sign up for a free membership to access the full site. It is well worth the sign-up to be able to join in on forums and groups and network with other colleagues from across the globe.
Windows Movie Maker
Windows Movie Maker creates videos with audio using images and video footage. This program allows you to record audio, add music, title slides, and transitions. Teachers can utilize this tool to have their students create, produce, and edit videos. By using this, students will take ownership of their work. It uses higher order thinking skills and engages them in the material. Teachers can assign a project where they create a music video over a specific topic, create a commercial, or create a documentary. I recently tried creating a country profile video with my students where they explained the government structure, economy, cultural aspects, and population trends to provide a snapshot of the country. My students enjoyed uses the technology to create this video, which allowed them to explore new resources and express themselves in a different way.
Wikis
Ever wonder what you as a teacher can do to help your students engage in an assignment, take ownership, and collaborate with not only students in their own class, but with students around the globe? Well, wikispaces are the perfect outlet to achieve this! Wikispaces does all of the above plus increase productivity and teachers can track participation by seeing who edits the page. I never thought that Wikispaces could provide this educational opportunity. I even explored some Wikispaces to learn more about it this resource.
I researched the DiRT wiki that houses digital research tools. This wiki was full of information about the types of tools that are available on the web. The site is a one-stop-shop for tools based on categories. Once you pick a category it then moves you to another page that list all of the tools that allow you to accomplish that task. Each linked page is complete with a detailed list of information with an explanation of what the tool can perform. Visually, it is not appealing, but granted they have since moved to a new site. I feel that this wiki provides all of the information that I would expect it to even including references, explanations, even a glossary page to help for those who are not familiar with the lingo. I then visited the UNSW wiki page to see just what students are able to create with a blank canvas or wiki for that matter. I was quite impressed with the ability and freedom that the students have. I can tell that profound effort was made to make this wiki flow from section to section, hyperlinked words to connect you to other pages and embed videos and podcasts. The wiki also hosted a discussion post that provided great insight into their topic and built upon the original post. The wikispace was well designed so much that it earned 2nd runner-up in the 2009 international Edublogs award in the category of Educational Wiki. I wanted to then see a blog that was created as a collaborative space for a teacher’s classroom and I visited FHS Wolves Den wikispace. Excellent wiki to look at if you need to see an example of how to connect and involve your students in this space. The teacher posted class assignments complete with links and documents. Not only does this teacher provide resources for her students, but she also provides information for other teachers. This wikispace also hosts discussion posts, polls for the students to participate in, and educational games. This wikispace is acting as learning management system and it seemed to work for this teacher and her classes. It can be a little overwhelming as an outsider looking in to see all of the information, but I am sure that if you were a student and knew what was going on the class you may be able to navigate the site a little better. With all of this research of wiki spaces, I wanted to create my own space so I can collaborate with others! My wikispace is for collaboration among teachers and I especially want to reach out to first-year teachers to provide them with a single place to find helpful, useful, and teacher-tested materials and ideas to help them have a more successful first year. This does not only apply to first-year teachers, it can be for anyone really, but If you have any resources or tip/tricks to help these teachers out, please feel free to visit my wikispace and add to it. Productivity Tools
Productivity tools are designed to help people do tasks easier than before. These tools along with other Web 2.0 tools “offer classroom teachers the potential for effective strategies” (Solomon & Schrum, 2014, p.105). I explored Google Drive: Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, and Google Forms as well as Planboard and Piktochart. Check out the slides below to get the fast facts about these great tools!
Google Drive
Google Drive allows you to create, access, share, and collaborate in a whole new way! Within Google Drive, it offers many different tools including Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, and Google Forms. The possibilities are endless. In my classes, I plan on using Google Drive to increase productivity and collaboration with students. Through Google Docs, students no longer have to struggle with waiting on other classmates to type their portion or each student writing a section and then compiling it all together and the essay doesn’t flow. This doesn’t just stop with essays or collaborative papers, you can even have students make presentations in Google Slides, collect and analyze data and information in Google Sheets, and teachers can informally survey their students about their content using Google Forms. Google Drive tools can also help students who struggle with their grammar skills such as a low-level learner or an ELL student because it provides spelling and grammar checks. When trying to determine assignments for students, teachers should reference the Pedagogy Wheel to determine what skills that the students will be using. Using Google Docs falls under the remember and understand category. This allows students to improve their recall of facts and be able to locate information. Personally, I look at Bloom’s Taxonomy and the Pedagogy Wheel to give the students a variety of ways to show what they know and at different levels.
Planboard
As teachers, it is essential to be able to see the big picture in where you are going with your lessons. One productivity tool that I found to help with this is Planboard. Planboard is an online lesson planner. With this lesson planner, teachers can easily organize their lessons, attach content standards, assignments/notes, and even share lessons with other teachers and administrators. When you have a change in plans, it is easy to move the assignment electronically to a different day without having to see all of the arrows that you would usually see on handwritten lesson plans. This also helps with planning each year because you can use the same schedule each school year and make tweaks instead of reinventing your lessons every time. I know for me at least, I love using this because I can take it everywhere! Planboard has an app that you can download to your smartphone or tablet and edit your lessons on the go! If you aren’t using it, then you should be! It makes lesson planning easy and saves time, so you can focus on your students.
Piktochart
Piktochart is a great tool for teachers to use that allows students to create their own infographic on a specific topic. The purpose of Piktochart is to visually represent your information using graphics, charts, very little text, and data. Students who struggle with lots of writing can flourish during this assignments because it focuses on choosing images, charts, and topic buzz words. It also challenges your students to think critically about the topic. In my world history classes, I would have my students focus on a topic such as the effects of the bubonic plague or major players during World War II. Students are engaged and are using critical thinking skills about the topic. Students can share their finished product as well. An assignment using Pikochart uses higher order thinking skills and on the Pedagogy Wheel, it would fall into the create category. I highly recommend using this to engage students and it gives them a new way to interpret information. Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2014). Web 2.0 how-to for educators. United States: International Society for Technology in Education. Social NetworkingTwitter, Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram…. These are some of the many social networking sites that students, teachers, parents use/interact with in some capacity in their daily lives. But have you ever thought of the idea of incorporating social networking sites into your own professional development and classroom activities? With the increase of technology available, teachers and students should utilize these valuable resources. In Web 2.0: How-To for Educators, Michael Waiksnis explained, “I get to learn from teachers, administrators, college professors, and anyone else across the world. It is powerful” (M. Waiksnis, personal communication, June 2013 as cited in Solomon & Schrum, 2014, p.129). Not only is it powerful, it is a game-changer. Teachers can obtain professional development at the touch of their fingers or click of a mouse, which in itself has revolutionized the way teachers share ideas, collaborate, and work to improve student achievement. Personally, Twitter and Pinterest are the two social network sites that I use the most. Both of these sites helps teachers improve student achievement in the classroom and keeps teachers up to date with relevant information. Social Networking is just like it sounds, there to connect people, share ideas, learn new information. Twitter I am relatively new at using Twitter, but I can honestly say that I wish I would have started using it earlier. The accessibility of material, ideas, and information is limitless. As Tom Murray was quoted in Web 2.0: How-To for Educators “… educators from around the world take part in various conversations on Twitter…. These conversations have become an excellent way for educators to connect on relevant topics, share resources and best practices, all while challenging each other’s thinking” (T. Murray, personal communication, June 2013 as cited in Solomon & Schrum, 2014, p.61). Since using Twitter for my professional growth I have already found numerous articles and people to follow. I highly recommend you following Edutopia and TED-Ed on Twitter for their resources. Twitter gives you the opportunity to tailor your followers to what you want to learn or what your interests are. I have even found groups that hold online Q&A sessions for you to collaborate with others by using the same hashtag. Teachers can not only use this for professional development, but they can also incorporate it into the classroom by hosting their own Twitter chat sessions, classroom polls, homework alerts, and lesson backchannels (Solomon & Schrum, 2014, p. 60-61). This can enhance student engagement. Feel free to follow me @ms_greencvhs. Pinterest Pinterest is another social networking site that can help connect teachers. Teachers, like myself, can create boards that are related to specific topics and add pins to each board to be able to save them for later and share with others. You can also follow other people’s board to see their ideas. I have been using Pinterest for many years and love all of the activities, classroom management ideas, and networking I have done through the site. I have my boards divided by general teacher information and the subjects I teach. Pinterest and Twitter allow teachers to stop reinventing the wheel and actual focus on teaching the students while using activities or ideas that people have already proven successful. Virtual EnvironmentsAlong with using social networking sites to improve your teaching and engaging your students, another tool you can incorporate into your classroom is virtual environments. “Teachers are using virtual environments in a wide variety of ways to support learning outcomes” (Solomon & Schrum, 2014, p.177). By allowing students to engage in this type of activity gives them the opportunity to put them into the action and have them make decisions based on what they have learned in class. Virtual environments are “designed to engage minds, promote learning, and encourage creative thinking” (Solomon & Schrum, 2014, p.177). The skills that they acquire in these games are not just relevant to the classroom, but also real life. iCivics In honor of Constitution Week, I explored iCIvics with my students in class. On this website, students engage in multiple games that test their knowledge of government rules and procedures, amendments, and the judicial court just to name a few. Students make real life decisions through the games and based on their choices that games have multiple outcomes and consequences for their actions. This teaches the students the material, but also skills that they can use outside the classroom. iCivics does not just provide games for students to play but also includes free resources, tools, and information for teachers to use. As a teacher, you can create an iCivics account and establish virtual classrooms where you can track student progress and manage discussion boards. Sid Meier’s Civilization V Civilization V is an in-depth virtual environment that gives students the ability to rule an empire starting from the ground up. In this game, students portray important historical figures in world history- depending on what version of Civilization you are playing, it will determine who they have to choose from. Once they have selected their leader then they start at the very beginning of the civilization with transforming hunter-gathers to an actual settlement to a civilization and eventually an empire. Through the game, students will make decisions on whether or not they should go to war with groups, explore new land, improve technologies, adopt new religions, among the many options students have when they are developing an empire. As they grow and expand their empire they are able to see more of the world and other civilizations that are around them that they interact with. This virtual environment can be both multi-player and single. In the classroom, teachers can put all of the students in their own empire and see how the student interact with each other in the game. Students will take on the different leader roles, but make their own decision based on what they think would be best for their civilization. I use this game to help students improve their decision-making skills and I have the students compare/contrast their own decisions in their civilization with what actually happened with their leader. This deepens the meaning of the game and has them critically think about the decisions they are making. My students get excited about the game and looking forward to competing with their classmates in this virtual environment. The Great Digital DivideThe digital divide separates students from a variety of five dimensions: racism, sexism, classism, linguistics, and ableism that can create a gap between their ability and accessibility to technology (Gorski, 2005, p.7). This divide is not exclusive to one type of school or area, it may be less certain places, but it affects everyone in some way or another. I can see the digital divide in my own school district, but they are slowly improving our digital divide as evidence shows that in our school improvement plan and the information provided by the county. We currently have one school in our district participating in 1:1 with laptops, but the other schools’ in the district like my school have a variety of ways of dealing with the issue. We are working on utilizing and updating our programs and hardware that we currently have and looking to acquire more computers, iPads, and laptops. In our district, we are providing students and parents with information regarding cheaper internet to make it more affordable to them and improve their access to technology at home. While this issue is not a huge concern for my school particularly, it is for other schools in the county who have more low-income families. I currently teach students who have limited access to computers and the internet at home. Despite these challenges, I still incorporate technology into my lessons and assignments to teach the students these value skills. In order to meet the needs of my students, I provide students will ample class time to complete assignments, I am available before/after school, and students can come in during their lunches to help. As Gorski’s article mentions, teachers can also make sure that when they use technology in their classroom it is to support/enhance student achievement and all students have access to the technology (Gorski, 2005, p.40). Districts need to ensure that teachers understand the way that the digital gap can be formed and techniques to help overcome this in their own classroom. I firmly believe that our school district is working towards embracing the digital age and shrinking the divide so all students have equal opportunity.
Gorski, P. (2005). Education equity and the digital divide. AACE Journal, 13(1), 3-45. Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2014). Web 2.0 how-to for educators. United States: International Society for Technology in Education. Blogging in the classroom is a new concept for me and something that I can already tell benefits the students in my classroom. Now, I haven’t started a blog just yet, but I did host my first online discussion post. I was extremely impressed with the effort that students put into the work. From the Web 2.0: How-To For Educators, students feed off of the idea that their work now has an audience and are more motivated to complete their assignments and complete them to their full potential (A. Hogan, personal communication, June 2013 as cited in Solomon & Schrum, 2014, p.43). I can see the importance of this from work my students presented in the discussion. I plan on using an actual blog for our next GeoPolitics league. If you would like to learn more about the GeoPoliticis leagues, visit my previous post to gather more information. For people who are first starting out with using blogs in the classroom like me, you need to first decide on the platform on which your blogs will take place. This can be through Weebly or Blogger. After the platform, you need to find a topic that they students can be interested in. I plan on using their GeoPolitics game as the topic for their blogging. Each week students will need to blog about their countries that they have in their league. They will need to report on how the countries are doing, what type of news stories are occurring, how this impacts the country, and what the student's thoughts are on what occurrences they have. This allows students to have open-ended responses that give them more ownership of the countries they have in the league and allows them to make educated decisions when it comes to trading day. Students will also need to respond to peer’s post. In their responses, students will need to address the topic of the student covered, explain their opinion on the topic, their thoughts, they can provide additional information or note the author’s strengths in the articles. Students not only have an audience of their classmates, but they also will have other people who look up current events from these countries or just people on the web. Students will be graded with the below rubric that outline the requirements for the assignment. I focused on three different areas with the rubric, content and ideas, writing quality, and student comments. Feel free to download the rubric and use it in your own classroom. I believe students will be engaged with the game even more and be able to develop their writing and collaboration skills through the blog. If you are like me, trying to incorporate blogging into your classroom, I highly recommend you visiting Blogging in the 21st-Century Classroom and How to Get Started Blogging in the Classroom. Both of these websites provided insight to assist in developing my own classroom blog and can definitely help you too. “How to Get Started Blogging in the Classroom” outlines steps on how to setup and incorporate blogs in the classroom to increase student engagement. As the website explains, blogs allow students to “write in their own voice, speak their minds, and ultimately express their opinions in a welcoming environment.” Students now can explain their viewpoint and get feedback and commentary on the same topic from not only their peers but other people outside of the classroom. Teaching students how to communicate their opinion and prove their point is a skill not just for the classroom, but also for life. The article continues to explain how students should begin their blog, offers some advice on how to improve student blogs, and additional resources for blogging. “Blogging in the 21st- Century Classroom” explains how blogging can improve student writing and critical thinking skills. The author states that her students find “homework less agonizingly painful.” This website is a great testimony for teachers and provides some insight into blogging from a teacher who has utilized this Web 2.0 tool in her own classroom. Both websites provide useful information for anyone who is looking to start blogging in their classroom. Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2014). Web 2.0 how-to for educators. United States: International Society for Technology in Education. "If students are to achieve their full potential, they must have opportunities to engage and develop a much richer set of skills... While there is still a need for more empirical evidence that these factors can be taught as transferable competencies across situations, there are a wide range of promising program and approaches" (Schechtman, DeBarger, Dornsife, Rosier, & Yarnell, 2013 as cited in Solomon & Schrum, 2014, p.8).
In the field of teaching, teachers ultimately feel accomplished when students are able to “achieve their full potential” (Schechtman, DeBarger, Dornsife, Rosier, & Yarnell, 2013 as cited in Solomon & Schrum, 2014, p.8). This quote explains that teachers need to provide opportunities for students’ aptitude to be reached. I firmly believe the word potential is a dangerous word. For instance in science, potential energy just sits there like a ball on a hill until something comes along and pushes it. Then this causes an action on the ball. Without the action being performed on the ball, it will just sit there. Students are the ball, and the teacher is the action. Students will sit there until the teacher comes along to motivate the student, provide opportunities to engage them in their learning- their education. Our 21st Century classroom with our 21st-century learners have access to more than ever before. Teachers need to realize the capability of these students and show the students that they can achieve it. Teachers need to appeal to these students through tools and technology that will interest them. Teachers have an almost limitless supply of resources for students to use and have access available to them. In my own classroom, I have definitely seen student engagement increase since incorporating more technology in the classroom. I use a variety of tools that are online. One of my students’ favorite tools is FanGeopolitics. FanGeopolitics tracks current events in countries around the world just as someone would in a fantasy football league. The site allows students to research countries and prepare for a draft to pick their countries for the league. Teams can earn points for their countries’ current events mentioned in the news, additional points for positive current events, or negative points for negative current events. It is completely customizable to fit the needs of your classroom. My students actually come to class talking about what is going on in their countries and enjoy writing discussion posts on the current events. My students now use current events in their everyday conversations and they stay up with what is happening in their countries, so they can be prepared for when we have trade days. Another technology tool that I use in the classroom is called Canvas. This learning management system has increased student engagement by creating a space where students are in charge of their own education. In my classes, students have taken more ownership in their work, keeping up with assignments, communicating better, and receive feedback more quickly. All in all, this program is a win-win for teachers and students. My students engage in discussions on the platform that everyone can see. This platform is relatively new to me, as my school district just adopted it and I just recently hosted my first discussion on it. With anything, there is always room for improvement. When my students commented, they were very basic statements noting that they agreed or did not and maybe a sentence about the topic. I am already making notes for the next discussion since reading Web 2.0: How-To For Educators. The book takes an excerpt from Linda Yollis who explains how she teaches students how to comment on blogs. In the description, she explains that students need to “add something to the comment conversation” (Solomon & Schrum, 2014, p.35). They also need to add new information, note the writer’s strengths, make a connection, share a story that relates, and/or foster a conversation from this. A simple comment that says, nice job- keep it up, will not suffice when you are trying to push students to do their best. A more recent Web 2.0 tool is TED-Ed. This website has premade online lessons for teachers to use in their classroom, or teachers can create their own to share. The website takes videos from YouTube and incorporates them in the Ted-Ed platform. After that, teachers can add discussion questions, multiple choice questions, or short answers to the platform to have students complete after watching the videos. When I use these in the classroom, the students are engaged because they want to be prepared to answer the questions at the end of the video. “The limitations of traditional tools have made the process complex, slow, and less than elegant” (Solomon & Schrum, 2014, p.33). As a growing educator who wants to see students achieve their full capacity, I constantly scour the internet and other resources looking for new tools. I am currently looking into using Glogster and Evernote in my classroom. These tools seem to allow students to express themselves in different ways and provide support for the students, especially in note taking with Evernote. This tool, in particular, helps students with “organizing their notes and information” and they can even download the program application on their smartphone/laptop to have whenever they need it (Solomon & Schrum, 2014, p.270). Another tool that I am interested in learning more about is Museum Box. This tool sounds excellent for a history classroom where students can “organize and categorize information around people, places, and things” (Solomon & Schrum, 2014, p.286). Through utilizing Museum Box in my classroom, students will be able to research in-depth information on a topic, compare and contrast the cubes, and reach higher order thinking. Web 2.0 tools most certainly need to be incorporated into the classroom, but it needs to be done in a way that supplements learning and student engagement. These tools like the ones I’ve mentioned in this post help students engage in their education and provide opportunities for students with diverse needs to do the same on a variety of platforms. As our technology continues to advance and make its way into our classrooms more and more, teachers need to start discovering and utilizing these tools in their classroom now to change student potential from being a ball sitting on a hill waiting, to a student who is going to reach their full potential with the action from teacher opportunity in the classroom. Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2014). Web 2.0 how-to for educators. United States: International Society for Technology in Education. During this class, I gained a better understanding of the role a technology coach plays in the classroom. I am now able to analyze my lesson plans to enhance them so that I am able to create high LoTi levels in my classes. By doing this, I should be able to optimize student engagement and learning in my classroom. From Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching, Roblyer explains that online learning actives can be divided into “three general categories of online learning activities: interpersonal exchanges, information collection and analysis, and problem solving” (Roblyer 2016). I believe that I can now implement more indicators of engaged learning in my own classroom and share them with colleagues for them to use in their classroom as well to create learning environments that Roblyer mentions. Roblyer explains, “strategies in which students write for distance audiences help motive them to write more and to do their best writing,” and with that as a technology coach, I want to be able to stress to teachers the importance of this feature (Roblyer 2016). I would like to provide teachers with resources, ideas, and support that are accessible to them and their students so that teachers can provide these types opportunities in their classroom.
I want to thank Dr. Cuby-Richardson and my classmates for all of their feedback and support during this course. I can already see a difference in the way I look at lessons and how I challenge myself to improve them using methods and strategies from this course. I look forward to continuing to learn more about instructional technology and about the role of a technology coach. |
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January 2024
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