Today's classrooms are now all decked out with interactive white boards, iPads, student lap tops, smartpens, electronic textbooks, and more. Classrooms may have all the frills (technology) but not all have the thrills (how it's used? Does the technologies application coincide to learning goals?). There are definite challenges to attaining a successful "frill and thrill" classroom - some of which I mention below...
First off, integrating technology requires some forethought and 'double innovation' if you will. You have got to LEARN the technology itself and then decide whether or not it supports the classroom objectives and curriculum. This task alone took a lot of time and energy to learn how to use the technologies I wanted to integrate effectively and come up with engaging activities that tied into my lessons and that students would enjoy.
Some of the challenges I encountered were extremely time consuming like looking for connections to integrate technology with curriculum didn't just zap into my brain… I wanted to create lessons that when students use the technology, it made sense and be within the context of our classrooms larger learning goals rather than in isolation of them.
Another challenge I faced was in the technologies application and how I intended on using the technology. I knew that the success of any EdTech tool is in how it is used and I found myself asking how a particular innovation or gadget I wanted to use in my lesson furthered higher order thinking skills, basic skills, or students' ability to evaluate, analyze and synthesize ideas. This way, I ensured that the technology I wanted to incorporate was being used for more than just its novelty.
Some benefits in my EdTech practicum were shown in students' personalized learning. For example, the IXL iPad application I used adjusts the level of difficulty whilst documenting student results or students progress to electronic books that talk and respond to the tap of a finger - I found that products that personalize the learning experience for students often benefitted and increased their understanding. With my game-based lessons, an interactive game is more engaging than a book, so technology often promoted more practice and review in areas requiring more exercise such as math and literacy.
Looking ahead, technology may be changing the experience of education but the role of teachers grow increasingly important as they become the experts and guides for new learning resources.
Supporting student learning with technology!
There is extensive discussions surrounding differentiation in classrooms, but the reality of implementing classroom based differentiated instruction can be challenging. One way I supported varying student learning needs in my practicum was through assistive technology like the smartpen, iPad apps like IXL, google translate (for our ELL students), interactive white board use and a lot of game-based learning.
I used the smartpens with some students to optimize their own learning and understanding - having a couple students like Brandon (pseudonym) who has difficulty with his fine motor skills, verbally record his answers instead of solely writing them down which proves a difficult task for him. I also used the smartpen alongside google translate for a Syrian student who only spoke Arabic. I had him practice his pronunciation of flashcard words for some particular lessons and he would use google translate to speak the English word into the smartpen recorder. IPad apps like IXL were used significantly for some of my autistic students or lower levelled math students enjoyed IXL, in addition, IXL also documents what problems the student(s) were successful at and which ones they had difficulty with. Other lessons included use of the smart board where students would physically and mentally engage with the lesson eagerly raising their hand to roll the smart board dice for math or ask that jeopardy question for our Canadian government social studies unit.
The technology did not "make" my lesson so to speak - I made the lesson, but the technology helped support me in executing student engaged learning through its functionality. Using these tools helped me create an inclusive classroom during my practicum, these tools provided students flexible learning experiences to support student engagement and promoted their own independence in completing classroom activities and assignments.
I used the smartpens with some students to optimize their own learning and understanding - having a couple students like Brandon (pseudonym) who has difficulty with his fine motor skills, verbally record his answers instead of solely writing them down which proves a difficult task for him. I also used the smartpen alongside google translate for a Syrian student who only spoke Arabic. I had him practice his pronunciation of flashcard words for some particular lessons and he would use google translate to speak the English word into the smartpen recorder. IPad apps like IXL were used significantly for some of my autistic students or lower levelled math students enjoyed IXL, in addition, IXL also documents what problems the student(s) were successful at and which ones they had difficulty with. Other lessons included use of the smart board where students would physically and mentally engage with the lesson eagerly raising their hand to roll the smart board dice for math or ask that jeopardy question for our Canadian government social studies unit.
The technology did not "make" my lesson so to speak - I made the lesson, but the technology helped support me in executing student engaged learning through its functionality. Using these tools helped me create an inclusive classroom during my practicum, these tools provided students flexible learning experiences to support student engagement and promoted their own independence in completing classroom activities and assignments.
Livescribe smartpen one-on-one coaching session
I coached Ms. Jones for half an hour on the smartpen, introducing her to the smartpens main functions and capabilities. I introduced how the smartpen combines all four modes of communication: reading, writing, speaking and listening - showing how the smartpen can record conversation and digitize the handwriting, automatically syncing ink and audio; explaining how the smartpen can be used to record teacher/EA instruction to students (for homework/absenteeism etc.) and can predetermine what work they want the student to do by writing and recording instructions where students can hear her voice and listen to instructions, read along with possibilities of slowing down or speeding up the speed of instruction to suit their learning style. I introduced how the smartpen can also act as translator, learn basic piano chords (music composition), and also provides a scientific calculator for complex or simple calculations.
Ms. Jones was fascinated with the smartpen technology saying how she sees herself integrating the smartpen with her students, especially the basic piano chords she knows the twins would especially love. After I introduced the pens functionality, Ms. Jones experimented with the pen herself - playing "Mary had a little lamb" testing out the pens chords, recording instructions and playing them back, doing some math calculations among other functions of the smartpen.
At the end of our session, Ms. Jones communicated her anticipation and excitement about using the smartpen technology with our students saying "I can't wait to see how they'll respond to all of its capabilities, especially translating tool for some of our ELL students and the piano and different musical instruments. I can't wait to see what learning and engagement will result from integrating this technology into your lessons."
Teaching with Technology Showcase - Brock University 2015
Brock University's annual Teaching with Technology Showcase provided a unique opportunity for myself, as a teacher candidate to introduce latest technological innovations available to the education community.
Being apart of the EdTech Cohort, I hosted my own educational technology session featuring the livescribe smartpen and its varying capabilities in an educational setting to fellow teacher candidates, practicing teachers, school administrators and university faculty members.
I was able to showcase my knowledge of how to use the livescribe smartpen to create innovative and engaging learning experiences for teachers to implement within their own classrooms.
Throughout my showcase, I demonstrated the smartpens technological capacity for differentiating instruction combining all four modes of communication: reading, writing, speaking and listening.
I demonstrated the smartpens capacity to record and digitize handwriting automatically syncing ink and audio, being an assistive technology for students with physical and hearing impairments, use for the visually impaired, augmentative communication, music composition, paper calculator use, translation for English language learners, to articulation practice for the speech impaired among its many other uses.
Not merely a showcase, but a collaborative event that provided an opportunity for all interested parties to not only discuss how smartpen technology is currently being used in the classroom, but provided hands on usage whilst learning how to fully capitalize the potential of this innovation to take teaching with technology to the next level.
My Philosophy of Tech-enhanced Teaching
The following video was prepared and completed using the online tool Animoto and GarageBand. The video expresses my belief in tech-enhanced teaching that is conducive in today's present and future classrooms and learning environments.
The TPACK Classroom Photo Credits: http://bit.ly/1y3cFVi, http://bit.ly/1t1HVD0, http://bit.ly/1rfToHz, http://bit.ly/1pO97y2
The TPACK Classroom Photo Credits: http://bit.ly/1y3cFVi, http://bit.ly/1t1HVD0, http://bit.ly/1rfToHz, http://bit.ly/1pO97y2
Grade 4's are going on a mission!
Our grade 4 class is going on an important mission. We are going to further explore the different types of book genres we have been learning about this week.
The 'NAME THAT GENRE' game will ask you a series of multiple choice questions and you will choose which genre you think best describes what the question is asking. You may click on the link below to access the genre game. Have fun grade four's!!!
NAME THAT GENRE
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