Digital Teaching and Student Learning

Teaching over the years has become increasingly digital. Students are almost always expected to have some sort of device or internet access at school and at home. As teachers, it is important that we grow with technology and understand the different ways we can use technology while also still including students in their own education.

Over the time of this course, I have tried to create lessons or activities that allow students to participate in their learning at their own pace or ability. It is important that students are a part of their own learning because it allows the teacher and students to work together in a warm environment wherein students are actually excited to learn and do different learning activities.

This course has also showed me the value of adaptability of different lessons. Teaching is never static; there is constant reworking of lessons or information. My lessons and activities posts include different ways that the lesson/activity can be adapted by teachers to fit whatever situation they may want to use the lesson/activity for. It is important for teachers to go with the flow and adapt their lessons to fit the students they are teaching, especially in an increasingly digital world where students have varying degrees of knowledge of technology use.

Below, I’ve included some lessons and activities that I feel show this type of work I have done with technology:

It’s All Greek to Me

The activity for this lesson allows students the opportunity to choose if they would like to be tested on Sparta or Athens. Differentiated learning is important to me because students should be allowed to share what they have learn in a way that does not reflect on what they may have missed on during lessons. The quiz allows students to have agency over what they want to show me what they can do which helps to create an environment where students are actually a part of their own learning. This lesson, of course, can be adapted differently and the quiz can be changed to fit whatever may be necessary for a teacher in the moment. The test sections themselves can be divided and one can be made into extra credit for students that really want to show the teacher what they have learned.

This Land is Your Land, But Now It’s My Land

This lesson provides students space to explore land acquisition in the United States in the nineteenth century. Students can use a google map activity, designed my myself, to see how the United States changed over the course of 50 years. Like with my other posts, the lesson can be adapted differently to include project elements wherein students add information to the map based off their research.

Women of the Italian Renaissance

This lesson allows students to explore the topic at their own pace. Students learn differently from one another and it is important that students be allowed to learn at their own reasonable pace. The website I created for this activity allows for students to go through different components of the lesson at their own pace and it includes different review sections for students before a small quiz that students take to show their comprehension.