Author: Kali Tagomori-Lai

Welcome to my digital profile! This is a collection of all my work that I have done throughout my class called EdTech methods. The course was to teach the importance of integrating technology into the classroom through different platforms. Each week we learned about a new website and created sample lesson plans using such websites.

As you scroll through my webpage, you will see that the newest posts are on the top and the older ones are at the bottom. From that, you will be able to see the progress that I have made while navigating this new form of instructional learning.

Here are some of my highlighted posts:

Fun Fraction Facts!

I am from San Francisco

A Book About Our Class

As a future educator, I have always valued the concept that teachers are forever learners. This concept rings even more true for learning about technology within the classroom ! I thought I knew all about teaching students about watching videos and creating google documents. Boy was I wrong. The amount of online resources for teaching is endless. As the world of education continues to change, I plan on using these resources to help all my students reach their full potential.

Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash

For my final project, I have decided to create a lesson to teach third grade students about opinion writing. A major standard for third grade writing is about building their opinion writing skills.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.1: Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.1.B Provide reasons that support the opinion. 

My goal for this lesson is to have students practice brainstorming for their opinion writing paper and in the end write a paper around their opinion with reason. I will first  utilize Edpuzzle to show them a video of what opinion writing is and what the structure of their paper should look like.

EdPuzzle:

Next, they will begin the brainstorming process. I will have them brainstorm some ideas that they would want to write about. We would spend some time during class to help them brainstorm ideas and reasons that relate to their opinion. I will send them a google document of some ideas that they can write about but they will have to create their own reason for their viewpoint. Of course, they are free to choose their own opinion topic.

Google Document

Whenever the students are ready, they will fill out a google form which asks them to provide me with what they might want to write about. The questions will help me gain a better sense of what the students know and what they might need help on. It will also give me a sense of what topics they might write about and I can help them revise if necessary.

Google form:

Then after, students will have time to use bubbl.us to create a mind map of the information that they will have had to research about their topic. I have create an example of one for my topic and I will provide them with a blank template so they can easily fill in their own information.

Mind map Guide:

Finally, they will present their final draft by creating a short adobe spark video. This platform is easy to use and customizable . Students will be able to add enough writing to the video that will help me understand their opinion.

Here is my example:

Photo by hannah grace on Unsplash

With Book Creator, I made a rough version of a book that I would share with my students and their families at the beginning of the school year. It includes information about myself, the students in the class, and what they will need in order to prepare for class. I will also add more resources that parents and students could refer to throughout the year. I wanted to make the book almost like a website that will always be accessible to them. I might even make a book for the end of the year to show the families everything that they have accomplished over the year.

The use of Book Creator was easy to use and customizable. I used the cartoon feature to get even more options for the book. I was able to customize the page color, font color and size, and then add images and links. I didn’t try this feature in this book but I saw that you are able to record your voice on specific pages or all the pages. That could be useful for helping students understand how to pronounce certain words.

Overall, I really enjoyed making a book with Book Creator and will definitely like to make another book in the near future. I think it’s a great way to promote reading/ the idea of books in a different but maybe subtle way.

Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

I used both Bubbl.us and Padlet to create different types of mind maps. I wanted to test the different features by keeping the lesson idea the same. I liked that on Padlet, it gives 8 different templates to start, which I thought would be great depending on what will be taught. I decided to use the shelf template that allowed me to stack all the information into different columns. The other templates seem like another easy way to display information, like the map and timeline template. I liked the ease and simplicity of this website.

For the Bubbl. us, the mind mapping tool seemed much more complex and allowed for more personalization by the user. This application is to replicate the traditional mind maps that teachers may already use in the classroom. The website allowed you to choose the different colors, sizes, and location for each text box, which is nice to organize your thoughts. The upgraded version gives other features that may be useful in the future, but the free version seemed to provide just enough to sample their website.

Personally, I found Padlet much easier to use and I liked how it gave me other options to display information for students. If anything, I think students would also be able to use this website with some guidance. I liked that you can still personalize your padlet without being overwhelmed. In addition, Padlet has an overall better aesthetic and looks much more modern than Bubbl.us.

Photo by Avel Chuklanov on Unsplash

I found a fun video from Crash Course Kids all about stars. It talks about how stars are much different from planets, dwarf planets and asteroids (however, they don’t mention airplanes). It gives the students some definitions but my main focus was for students to understand the differences when looking up at the night sky. The video tells the watcher about three differences that can help distinguish between the planets and an actual star. I would ideally use it for 3rd-5th graders and give it as a short homework assignment probably before we even talk about stars in class. I didn’t want to make the questions to complex or the student would spend more time finding the answer than watching the video.

I found EdPuzzle to be a different way to engage students. It was pretty easy to use at first, however, I was frustrated trying to figure out where to put the questions. Whenever I would write a question, the video would keep playing and my question moved with the progression of the video. I also liked the voiceover feature because it made the video seem more personalized from the teacher to the student. I see myself using this in my classroom as a substitute to a worksheet.

Photo by Denis Degioanni on Unsplash

I have created a short 7 minute video for my students and their families about using Google Classroom! With school closures, I wanted to make a video on how to access the Google Classroom and what to expect. I showed them what the main page looked like, how they can access information, and where they will complete and submit assignments. Parents/guardians may also watch as it shows some information that will be helpful for them. I made this with my third grade class in mind and I am sure that they will be able to successfully follow the videos instructions and use Google Classroom successfully.

Sorry for the low quality, I am not sure how to change it!

Photo by Mitchell Luo on Unsplash

I have create a video through Adobe Spark to help 3rd graders learn more about saving the environment. I would ideally use this as a summary video after the main lesson. It would help students remember the main points of what they can do to help the environment. I would even post this on the classroom website for parents to see what their child has been learning in class.

I thoroughly enjoyed making my video on Adobe Spark because of the simple layout and easy tools. However, because it has such a simple layout, it can be tricky to make the video more personal and customizable. You would really need to play around with the different formats of each clip to make it look more unique. I did enjoy that Adobe Spark has copyright free images that you can import into the video, it makes it much easier than finding your own images.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

I am from a city known for tourists, 

Known best for our friend, Karl the fog, 

the busy streets, and the deep sunsets, 

The city engulfed by water and two bridges that hold the city together

I am from San Francisco, the Golden City

I am adored by two parents, creating a non traditional family dynamic, 

I am from small family gatherings with big traditions, 

and a big appetite for adventure

My impressions:

I think that this is a really useful tool to help create a story. It is easy to use and has different features that makes it easy to customize and make personable. I am not sure about the accessibility for students in elementary school but would be useful to show a lesson on. I chose to do a mix of glide show and photo grids to display my image and my poem I wrote. It made it look put together but not boring.

Authors: Alexis Henderson & Kali Tagomori-Lai

This activity is intended for a 3rd grade and up science lesson. This website contains an informational section which includes an article and video about the life cycle of a sunflower. It also contains a section that tests the students knowledge on everything they would have learned from the video and article. By the end of this lesson, students should be able to identify the different stages in the life cycle of a sunflower. Along with the acquisition of additional sunflower facts! 

I have created a fractions pretest for my third graders. This is to test their knowledge about fractions before we move onto more complex fraction practices.

I would ideally have all the students use a computer to take the pretest at the same time. I think this would be a fun and creative way to incorporate technology into the student’s math time. The students should be take this quiz relatively easily given that the google form is quite straight forward. However, this pretest would be an easy way for me to get a sense of how well my students understand the topic of fractions.

There are several standards that fit with this lesson. Which includes the following common core standards.

• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.NF.A.1
  Understand a fraction 1/b as the quantity formed by 1 part when a whole is partitioned into b equal parts; understand a fraction a/b as the quantity formed by a parts of size 1/b.
• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.NF.A.3.B
  Recognize and generate simple equivalent fractions, e.g., 1/2 = 2/4, 4/6 = 2/3. Explain why the fractions are equivalent, e.g., by using a visual fraction model.

Hopefully, I would be using google classrooms, therefore the students will be comfortable with the google layout. I would also make other activities that include google doc/ google form for this unit on fractions. I think this is the best way to engage students and change it up from the usual worksheet.

After they take the quiz, we will review the questions that were commonly missed and then begin the lesson!

Featured Image

Authors: Kali Tagomori-Lai and Allie Haakenson

This interactive map will help students (2nd-3rd grade) to understand that there are many outdoor parks that are located in Oregon. The students will be given this map as an instructional piece to help them identify just a few of the state and National parks in Oregon.

They will then be asked to take this map and figure out the distance between their school and the listed state parks. They can also find other state parks that they can identify. At the end, they will have a writing prompt about the outdoors/ nature and submit it for credit.

https://unsplash.com/photos/A–cz3cxstI

Authors: Kali Tagomori-Lai & Alexis Henderson

For this lesson, students will practice telling time by using their knowledge of clocks in order to tell time on different style clocks. By connecting the times to the class schedule students are able to find meaning in the assignment as it is relevant to their day to day schedule. *intended for grades 2-3

Photos source: google copyright free