Teaching With Technology

Teaching With Technology

 

During this summer class I learned a lot about teaching and using technology. After doing some research I would prefer to use technology as an assistive tool in my classrooms rather than as the main focus of my lesson. I have seen SMARTboards used in the classrooms. It is a great tool and has many great features that the students benefit from. Another great thing I learned about was Concept Mapping. This is a great tool when trying to come up with ideas about a particular subject. It can also be used to organize ideas regarding a specific topic. I never thought that digital cameras was something I could have used in my classroom. There are many ways for me to incorporate the camera and digital images into my lesson plans for my future English students. I figured Excel was a tool only math teachers could use. But this class made me think outside the box and create various ways of implementing Excel into my English class. Powerpoint is always a fun program. It can be used to discuss many topics. It also provides a change in atmospheres in the classroom. Sometimes both students and teachers need a change in the daily routine. Another tool that is similar to PowerPoint is the movie maker. I never thought I could use movie maker to create a lesson plan but I was obviously mistaken. I can add all types of effects which keep the students entertained and learning all at the same time which is great. When I was a student in school my teachers never used games to teach us a lesson, so it is a new idea to me. Even though it is a new idea, I think it is a great idea. Games can be educational. Afterall, that is the first form of learning that children have — through games. Web 2.0 tools are great ways to gt the students to use different things in both their homework and for me to use in my lesson plans. I really think these lessons and tools can help me become a more effective teacher. These tools can also help me reach out to the students who are growing up in an era where technology is key.

Educational Gaming

Educational Gaming

Play is the first form of learning that children do. Whether it be playing with toys or on their parents phones, they learn through play.There are so many educational games that exist that parents as well as educators have what to pick and choose from. The are also games that cater to specific age groups and subjects. For example I played a few games on PBSkids.org. Because I am fluent in Spanish I decided to play the games in spanish. Even though the games were for younger people it was very engaging and interactive. It was so interactive that I played the game a few times and at different levels. The game was in both English and Spanish. It was very easy to maneuver as well as challenging. The good thing is that the game was not too challenging where you would want to give up. The other good thing is that the games was themed about the shows that children watch on a regular basis. Another thing I like about those games is that they become more than just games, they can turn into activities for families to do. Overall the experience of gaming at PBSkids.org was both fun and intellectual.

The PBSkids games are more helpful for the parents to use at home than for teachers to use in school. There another website that I visited that would be a great tool to use in my classroom as a future English teacher. That website was ICTgames.com. Those games are very good to use in the classroom. The games are great for teaching children in elementary. One particular game that I played around with was The Wordy Woods. Once I played the game, I realized that it would be a perfect game to use in the classroom as a form of teaching the children how to spell. It could also be a way for me to present their spelling word list to them. This game is perfect for the fact that it can be edited and I can shuffle between 3 different lists of words. This is a game that I could use in the classroom as well a give the students the link to use at home. When played in the classroom, I could use the SMARTboard and have the students play in groups and come up to the SMARTboard and move the words around and so on and so forth.This is a great game for students in grades 1-3.

Another website I visited that had the more challenging games was kongregate.com. This website had games that were sort of entertaining but not necessarily the type I can use in my classroom. What I like is the fact that these games are made by other people who are looking to create educational games that are fun and stimulating. Another game I played was a deductive reasoning game. This game was very hard and even after playing the game about 5 times, I was unable to figure out the game. It was a very hard game and it was discouraging. It was too complicated and had no type of tips to help you solve the problem after the few failed attempts. One thing that Katie Salen mentioned in her video was the fact that when the children created the games they were conscious of their audience. This is an important factor when it comes to games. I am not necessarily sure if the creator of this game had their audience in mind.While on the kongregate website I also played another game called Edumacational. This game was different. It needed a bit more incentive for the students to make it to the end. Overall I did enjoy the whole gaming process. It was nice to see all the different types of educational games that exist.

One tool teachers use in the classrooms are SMARTboards. These are great tools because it is not only big enough for the entire class to see but it can also implement teamwork. More than one student can be at the SMARTboard interacting with it. The SMARTboard is also a great tool because it has many functions and features. It has a touch screen feature which allows students to use their hands and interact with the environment around them. The SMARTboard is also great for using when playing games in class. The game I mentioned previously The Wordy Woods can be played in the classroom and done on the SMARTboard.

Equity in the Classroom

Equity in the Classroom

According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, equity is being both fair and impartial. Equity in the classroom allows the teacher to address every student in the class. By addressing every student in the class at the same time with the same level of attention, it provides opportunities for more work to get done because the teacher does not have to pay any specific child special attention. This is very beneficial for teachers with large classes. Not every teacher is privileged with the opportunity to teach a small class. With large classes it may be hard to give students the individual attention they need to grasp the lesson being taught. Growing up I attended private school. The classroom sizes were typically 15 or less. Being that the classes were small, the teachers were able to teach the class and if a student needed personal attention they would be able to give them personalized instruction.

Even though private school classes are typically small, a student can still be lost and miss out on their opportunity for personalized learning. Not only because the students may refuse to speak up and ask for help but also taking into consideration the pace that most private schools work at and the level of work they do. Public school classes, on the other hand, are much larger typically consisting of 20-30 students per class. In such situations the teacher may have difficulties catering to the personal needs of students. While doing observations in a 3rd grade literature class, I observed a tool the teacher used which allowed the students to work at their own pace and still get the individualized help they may need. The teacher put the students in their respective reading groups (based on their reading level). Each student is assigned to read for a specific number of minutes, then they must turn to their partner after the time is up and tell their partner what their individual book was about. While the students who are reading at the highest level worked on their own, the teacher sat with the students who are struggling. She would read with the group by giving everyone in the group the same book and making the students take turns reading. This particular class has 32 students. It was not easy for the teacher to devote 30 minutes or more to those students who really needed the help because other students would decide to misbehave.

Another thing I noticed about that school is, at specific times teachers would pull certain students out of the class and take them to a different classroom which would help to strengthen the areas in which they lack understanding or clarity. Different students get “pulled out” of class for various reasons and at various times of the day. Another method I have observed and even assisted with is, while the class is at either art or gym, the teacher will withhold certain students on certain days to focus on the areas they need assistance in. Since I was able to participate in the personalized instruction of the students, I was able to see first handedly what individualized instruction can do for a student. The students actually showed improvements in the class assignments as well as in their tests scores. This seems to be a strategy that works for this specific teacher. Maybe other teachers may want to implement such a system into their classrooms and see the students begin to understand and blossom into wonderful students.

I say all of that to say, personalized instruction is very beneficial to students. It can be done in the classroom during class hours, or while on breaks. As long as a student receives the proper tools needed to move forward in the lesson, they will be able to be a more productive individual in class. Sometimes a change is necessary in the classroom. Rather than the teacher addressing the entire class, he/she may take a few classes to focus on the needs of students who are falling behind. This can be done more often than not, so there are fewer students lost and more participating and paying attention. Teachers can do this learning assessment with their class after each lesson is taught. One way is to give the class an exercise to do and while the class is working the teacher can go around the classroom assisting those who need help. Another thing teachers can do is allow the students to work in groups and help one another. Sometimes other students can get through to their fellow classmates.

When I attended private school one tool many teachers of mine used to get everyone in the class to understand the lesson was group work. There are some students who grasp the lesson before others on a regular basis so the teachers would ask those students to explain the work to the students who needed help then increasing the amount of people in the class that understood. This tool worked in subjects such as, science, math, english, history, gym, etc.

There are many other ways for teachers to give both individualized instruction and equity learning. Not every student learns at the same pace or in the same way. Some students need more attention than others. The schools need to take this into consideration and implement various systems that can work in the classrooms. Being that individualized instruction is as important and as necessary as equity learning, the two statements do not contradict themselves. Instead, they go hand in hand. The more individual instruction a student gets is the more improvements he/she will make. The more improvements they make is not only better for them but it makes a happier teacher. The teacher then feels and knows that they are doing their job to the best of their abilities making sure that every student is receiving the help they need. The students need to learn at the same pace but they also need individualized instruction to bridge the gap in learning, so in the end no child is left behind.

Teaching with Technology in my Major

Technology is not only in our social lives, it is also present in our school system. The schools are using technology in more ways than one. Some of these ways are: SMART boards, Blackboards, virtual classrooms, online books, Skype/Oovoo, clickers, etc. Many of the previously mentioned tools are not only helpful for students, but they are also beneficial to the teachers. These tools would personally help me as an English teacher in the future.

Many schools have SMART boards in the classrooms. These boards are like an extension of the computer. They alow the teacher to stand in front of the class and have access to everything the computer has  and not have to be stuck sitting behind a computer desk with minimal interaction with the students. The SMART boards are a great tool to have in a classroom because it is big enough for everyone in the class to see so no one has limited view no matter where they sit. This would be a helpful tool for me as an English teacher because I can put the reading up on the SMART board. I can also display the daily assignments on the board without having to take time out to write our the “do now”, which results in wasting the limited class time.

Blackboard is also another helpful tool in the school system, because it keep the teachers and students connected in more ways than one after class hours. Blackboard allows teachers to create discussion panels. In these discussion panels the students have the ability to access what the teacher posts as well as what their fellow classmates post. There is also the option of commenting on previously posted items. Teachers can post quizzes on Blackboard. There are many different features that can be added to the quizzes to minimize the amount of cheating that takes place. Teachers can also put a time limit on the quiz. This allows the student to take the quiz within an alloted time on a specific date. Blackboard has the option to post grades. This can be a virtual gradebook for both students and teachers. Blackboard is a very helpful tool for teachers, but will especially be helpful for me in the future because as an English teacher there will be many reading and writing assignments. Those writing assignments can be submitted online where I can check for plagiarism as well as correct that papers and respond with feedback on the papers. Assigning quizzes online allows for maximum use of class time. The virtual gradebook allows students to track their own grades and not have to constantly run teachers down to know their grades and progress in the class.

The virtual classroom has the ability to change the way we look at school in the future. Teachers will no long have to wake up early and go to work and teach in front of a class and repeat the same routine for an entire school year. Instead, teacher will soon be able to teach from home (for those who do not already do that). There are many schools that offer online courses as well as online degrees. Many schools are offering online Ph.D’s. The work load is the same, the only difference is that the students do not have to be in a physical classroom, and they can also work on their own time and still do other things which allows them to still have a social life. The downside about the virtual classroom is that not everyone learns the same way, and so having the classes only online is sort-of forcing everyone to adapt to a specific learning style which might not fit them.

Online books are very beneficial to both students and teachers in many ways. The students benefit because they can access both text books and reading books from a handheld device, which eliminates the need to walk around with heavy books which can cause future physical damage. Some of the common handheld devices that students can use to access the online books are: Kindle, nook, Ipad, Iphones, Laptops, etc. These books do not always have to be purchased. Some books can either be rented or bought for free. The online books will be a very useful tool for my future students because they will not have to walk around with the physical book but will still be able to read along in class and at home The online books will also allow them to have access to their textbooks with the simple press of a button.

Skype/Oovoo are applications that do video calls to anyone at anyplace as long as they have an internet connection and an account for either application. The video call is a good tool for students to learn when not physically in the classroom. This allows the students learning experience to continue anywhere and anytime. This is a helpful tool for students who have difficulty understanding something in class, they can video conference with either their fellow classmates for help or they can do a video call with the teacher in question. Sometimes the students may have an understanding of the work but may have missed the assignments that are due, so they can video call a friend to get the work. This is a tool I would encourage my older students to use. This keeps every student in the loop. This is also a form of social interaction. Although it is not a form of physical interaction, it is a form of interaction which has become very popular and any use on a regular basis.

The clicker is something I was recently introduced to. I first saw it in a school I went to so my field observations in. The clicker is a mini device with a small screen and both a letter pad and a number pad. Teachers use the clickers to have students take multiple choice tests or quizzes. These clickers are very beneficial to teachers because they provide instantaneous answers. They also eliminate the need to physically grade papers. The technology behind the clicker does all of the work. The teacher can evaluate which students answered which questions correctly as well as who got the highest score and who got the lowest score. This would be beneficial to me as a teacher because I can assign multiple choice questions and the clicker would show the class average and other helpful tools that I can use to help correct the reoccurring problems that the students may be having. This is also not always beneficial in my field of work because I can not always only assign multiple choice questions. I have to give the students short answer or essay questions. The clicker can not evaluate those answers. I would have to physically grade those papers, tests, or quizzes.

Technology changes the way our school system works because in more ways than one it limits and minimizes the amount of interaction the students and teachers have, but on the other hand technology helps the teachers be more effective and execute their jobs better. The technology that people use in their social life setting is slowly making its way into the classroom. A perfect example of that would be Skype/Oovoo. Those were applications that people used to socialize and now they are being used to extend learning outside of the classroom. Any piece of technology has its pros and cons but it’s up to us as teachers to find a happy medium where we are all benefiting from these devices. In other words, virtual seems to be the new reality.