This semester I have been exploring various uses for technology in the classroom. As I approached this course, I was excited and interested, but I was also nervous and intimidated by the word ‘technology’ in the classroom. I didn’t think I could navigate websites and design lessons using technology platforms. However, my mindset has definitely changed since then.
This semester I learned that technology really is accessible to everyone, and with a little bit of time or tutorial videos, you can navigate just about any website. With the skills I learned in my Edtech methods course, I feel excited to incorporate technology lessons and spark engagement among my students. I hope to use technology as a tool in the classroom and encourage students to explore internet resources. I also want students to use technology to construct more personalized work and explore creative outlets.
I am thankful to have this knowledge and practice of incorporating technology in the classroom as the world is ever changing and we may relay on virtual teaching. Most importantly, I feel confident to approach and integrate technology teaching platforms into my curriculum.
I chose to share this project because it highlights the idea that using technology can really take you anywhere in the world. Using Google Tour Creator, I have created a virtual tour of the peaks in Washington state. Each location also includes a description and correlating information. I feel that this resource would beneficial in the classroom as it allows for virtual field trips to anywhere in the world!
This is one of my favorite projects within my portfolio. I created this classroom website using Google Sites. I feel that a classroom website would be very beneficial as I can upload and embed all formats of content and organize it accordingly. A classroom website is beneficial as parents and guardians can access resources and information all from one place. I also like the fact that the classroom website is accessible from anywhere for all users.
This is the final project I created for Edtech methods. I had a lot of fun with this project and post as I truly envision myself using this lesson in the future. This is an example of how technology can foster relationships and community as students will be creating a showcase and reflection of their work to present at student led conferences. I feel that this lesson would be accessible for many students as Adobe Spark Video is an easy website to navigate and provides music and templates to choose from.
What an interesting semester in Ed tech! Going into this class for the semester I was a little bit nervous as I am not the most confident when it comes to using technology, let alone to teach others. But I can say overall this class was a really good learning experience and I feel much more confident know using technology hopefully in my future classroom. I think considering our current situation with the Corona virus pandemic this is an especially relevant class to us as future teachers as well as current students. I know personally classes online have been easier having taken this class, and not knowing the future of education I have many more tools and skills I am comfortable using. Learning to use many different platforms to put out content for not only students but parents and families as well has been a really good learning experience. Being able to now, more confidently incorporate technology in my classroom will help to stay current with how students learn and what is going on in the world around.
These links following are some of my favorite examples of work I created throughout this semester.
This was one of the first lessons I created in Ed Tech. I used google forms to create a beginning of the year get to know yo survey fro students and their families to fill out. I really liked google forms because it was easy to use as a teacher, as well as it is very simple and easy for students to respond as well. Being able to send this home for parents or families to help as well would be easy and a smart way to being the family into the classroom.
I created a google sites website to teach a mini lesson on sink and float. Google sites is one of mu favorite platforms we learned about because it is very clean looking and easy to use. It was very easy to incorporate videos and quizzes into the website as well. I think the easy set up makes it very useable in the classroom.
Using book creator was also one of my favorite websites we learned about. For this assignment I created a very simple lesson about shaped for younger students. I like the colors and many different feature this website had to really make each book unique. I think students of all ages could learn to use this website to recreate or create their own books in a very unique and personalized way.
What a great semester in Ed Tech! Technology in the classroom is becoming more and more predominant. As I write this, we are going through the coronavirus pandemic where all schools were forced to go online. I am so glad the University of Portland requires their education students to take this technology class. I have learned so much throughout this semester and feel more confident using and implementing technology in my future classroom. I have learned to create content on multiple platforms and applications that are easy to use and easily accessible for students and parents/guardians. Technology is all around us and is always changing so, as educators we must make sure to incorporate it effectively as well as making sure the content is meaningful and has a purpose for the students. This class has shown me that technology in the classroom can be engaging, culturally responsive as well as build community.
In the following section, are examples of the work I did throughout the semester that I plan to implement into my future classroom.
For this lesson, I decided to use Google Sites to create a website that will allow me to communicate with students and parents or guardians as we are distance learning. I really enjoy using Google Sites because it is easy to create and easily accessible to students and parents/guardians. On the website, is a science lesson that is focused on the skeletal system where students will become bone experts and will be able to answer the question: “why do humans need bones?”
For this lesson, I learned how to use an application called Edpuzzle. Before taking this class, I had never heard of it before and now it’s one of my favorite tools to use in the classroom. I really enjoyed using Edpuzzle and will definitely use it for future lessons. Edpuzzle is easy to use and makes videos more engaging. This is a site that allows teachers to go into preexisting videos and add questions, voiceovers, and notes to help keep their learners engaged. It allows teachers to turn videos they may assign into more interactive and meaningful content. For this learning experience, I chose a video from Storyline Online where students will learn themes about family, adoption, and responsibility. Great book and great tool!
Using Book Creator, I published a book for my first grade classroom. This book would be used as a resource for my students to get to know their peers and classmates. This website is very easy to use and I enjoyed making the book. I can see myself using this in my future classroom! Book Creator is a simple tool for teachers and students to create fun and engaging digital books.
In this post, we were assigned to look at two different apps and compare them. The apps I chose to use were Padlet and Bubbl.us. Padlet can be used in a classroom to encourage students to share their ideas and have a voice. It gives students who are quiet or shy, the opportunity to feel comfortable sharing their opinions and contributing to the class. I like Padlet and think it is a great tool for students and teachers and could be used for such a wide variety of activities in the classroom. Bubbl.us is also a great tool to use but I would have to say I like Padlet better because it is organized, easy-to-use, and has many different formats.
Wow! What a semester and what an amazing adventure in Ed Tech. I came into the class not really sure about technology in the classroom. I wanted to implement technology in my future classroom but wanted to use it as efficiently and productively as I could. After this semester I was also reminded of the importance of technology. I write this as we are going through the coronavirus pandemic and many schools are using technology to teach and communicate with their students. I have heard from teachers that they wish they had the opportunity to explore some of what technology has to offer, and now they do. They want to know more about technology so they are able to support and engage with their students as much a possible. I am thankful that I was given a start with discovery with this. Technology is something that is always around our students and so we must make sure to utilize it in our classrooms as teachers. This class helped me realize how important technology is in the classroom. I was also introduced to so many apps and sites to help me do everything. I was able to discover how to utilize technology whether it is creating a website, making books online to finding easy ways to get informal assessment data on what we are working on. I was also able to see the support that technology can give a teacher in making sure all of her students are able to access the material. I have included some of my work this semester along with the apps/sites I definitely plan to use in my future classrooms.
One of my favorite creations was a video of me reading to my students on Spark Adobe. I found Spark Adobe to be very easy to use. I was able to include my video of reading as well as the words on the page to support reading. In this post I read A Chair For My Mother” by Vera B. Williams. I have seen different school employees and even celebrities read to children and I love this! I have learned the importance for young kids to interact with literature and I want to create access for my students to listen and read books if they aren’t receiving this at home. I also think that this can help build my relationship with my students.
In this post we were assigned to look at different apps and then compare them. The two apps I used were Bubbl.us and Padlet. I can see myself using Bubbl.us for a writing workshop. I made a map on Padlet and liked all of the options I had from different maps to how you can add pictures from online. I also like all of the Padlet form options you can use. I definitely think this app could be great to use in the classroom. I think this could be a great app to explore the world and to practice the Capitals. It would give a visual of all the capitals and then the pictures could also help students remember the capitals. Bubbl.us is also such a great app to use to help students organize their thoughts and could be used for a writing lesson with a web. I also think these apps could be used by students because they are so easy to work with and create.
Another creation of mine was a history lesson and I used EdPuzzle. This lesson would be an introduction to a lesson to prepare for a history lesson where we learn about different countries/places! I also think this is a great activity to get students to think about different places and to see someone their age while combining with their imaginative side.The post includes someone reading a book and then there are questions. I like that this lesson also would help my students think about with technology how they can connect with other children even another countries! EdPuzzle was very easy to navigate but also had a lot of content already on it so it would be really great to use this to create a lesson.
For my final project I created a Google website as a mock classroom website. I included an activity where students will create a book about themselves and then read it to the class. I would do this lesson at the beginning of the year to create a classroom community. The students would create their books on Padlet. It was very easy to navigate and easy to upload things off of my computer. I really liked creating a class website on Google. I enjoy using Google and everything on Drive. I want to create a class website because it is such a great way to communicate. I would include weekly updates and even try to include all of our lessons. I also would include links to school links like the school calendar. A Google website is also an easy way for absent students and their families to know what they are missing and should work on.
When I first started this class I was pretty nervous because I am not the best at working with technology and creating new material on different platforms. After going through this class I have become much more confident in working with technology and now feel that I will be able to learn new platforms more easily in the future. Most of what we have learned in this class can very easily be transferred into the teaching world, and I plan on doing just that. We live in a world that is becoming more reliant on technology, and because of this, I have found that it is important to get students acclimated to using it as fast as possible. Technology can be seen as a negative thing to be used in classrooms, especially with younger students, but I now believe that it is an important aspect of the curriculum and will be embraced by students of any age. This class has really shown me how to incorporate technology appropriately into my lessons and how to make that use of technology fun and relatable to the subject material.
One of my favorite assignments we completed is a comparison of two platforms. Both platforms are found to have appropriate and easy to use tools, but I found Wakelet to be more fun to use and gives a lot more options of how you can present material. This is just one example of how I learned to not only create with and use a platform, but how I learned to compare and contrast similar platforms for the same purpose.
In this lesson I used Adobe Spark and Quicktime Player in order to create a lesson based on seeds sprouting. These platforms were really cool to use in sync as they allowed for a lesson with not only visuals, but with the teacher speaking and with questions input throughout the video. Lessons that allow for multiple ways of learning help all students who need to learn in different ways. Incorporating two platforms into one lesson also allowed for me to practice using more than one platform and see what I could create.
For our final project in this class we were asked to create a final lesson using some of the platforms we have learned about and used in the class. This final lesson incorporates Google Sites, Google Forms, Google Slides, and Padlet into a lesson for a kindergarten class on wants and needs. Having to create this final project allowed me to show all I have learned and practice for using technology in an actual classroom lesson.
When I first found out I had to take an ED Tech class, I thought to myself what do I need to know how to do this for? But now, with all that is changing in the world and this monumental shift that is occur in modern day education, I am so glad I have had this class to hone skills as well as learn to work with the numerous apps out there that can only aid in making learning accessible both inside the classroom and outside in a virtual learning setting. With all the knowledge I have accumulated from this class I am confident in taking the next leap into the ever-changing teaching realm.
Towards the beginning of the semester we worked with apps like Google Tour Creator and Google MyMaps. During this time I chose to work with Google Tour Creator and create a fun lesson that could be used to introduce historical monuments throughout portland. This app allows for history lessons to become a bit more interactive and meaningful by allowing students the chance to see virtual tours of different areas.
As we moved, through the semester we continued to work with other Google tools like Google sites, google slides and google forms. Below is an assignment I created using forms that could be used as a whole class review or an individual assessment for students.
One of my favorite apps to work with was Edpuzzle. This is a site that allows teachers to go into preexisting videos and add questions, voiceovers, and notes to help keep their learners engaged. It allows teachers to turn videos they may assign into more interactive and meaningful content. For this activity, I decided to work with a kids CrashCourse YouTube video about the sun and work to enhance it with questions and notes that could help focus on key ideas of the videos—this was meant for 1st-2nd students.
The more we got to explore the different ed tech tools for the classroom, the more I realized they could all be put together to help make something great for our learners and their parents in this current time of distance learning. For my final project I decided to combine a lot of the different tools we worked with in order to create a sample supplemental activity that families could do with their students!
This class has widened my view on the use of technology in the classroom. I feel that there is always some things that teacher usually have in their back pocket for using technology in the classroom, like Microsoft and google programs. However, there are so many other websites and programs out there that can be used to support and engage students of all ages. Technology has already grown so much within my time in school, and it probably will continue to grow throughout our lifetime. That it is only fair to help our students navigate how to use technology to help them keep up with new advances.
Technology is not only helpful in supporting the whole class, it can also be used to target specific students to help them learn the content of the class; therefore it is also a culturally responsive practice. It allows students another mode of access to the material and to demonstrate their learning of the content. We can use these apps to teach content with more visual stimulus, to make it more engaging. Also, technology can help us to assess students by having them create something online; instead of taking a traditional test or a written assignment.
I believe that part of being a teacher is being adaptable and always learning something new because there is always going to be something new to learn. At the beginning of this class, I was like other teachers that only have Microsoft and google programs in my back pocket, but throughout this semester I have learned numerous things that have created a solid base of technological knowledge. I hope to continue to grow this base in the future; to continue to be more adaptable and to grow with the times. Here are a few examples, of my growth and learning throughout this semester.
We started off this semester with breaking out those trustworthy programs, but with a twist! Instead of engaging the students through passively viewing this power point, we instead learned how to make these google programs interactive. A ton of these plans can be found all over the internet and can be easily adapted for any topic and grade level.
Then we explored different mediums with displaying information. Students can learn how to use AdobeSpark Video to illustrate their own writings or retell others. This would be a great way for students to creatively show off their knowledge and to make an afternoon of viewing everyone’s videos.
I have not only learned how to create lessons that embed technology, I have also learned how to appraise programs, to find the ones most suited to serve the students and the end goals of the lesson. Just like any new tool, apps can have positives and negatives, it just takes some time to learn how to use its strengths to enhance the learning going on in the classroom.
To wrap the semester up, I created a mini unit about Nutrition, that combined many of the apps that I enjoyed using throughout this class, like Wakelet and Adobe Spark Page. This could be a unit done within the classroom, or, in the time we are now living in with online learning, at home.
As I am about to cross the finish line of this semester, online learning has taken over the world. Things will never be the same as they were; technology has forever changed the way learners acquire new knowledge and master skills. While it was forced upon educators rather rapidly, I find myself thankful for this class as it helped me begin my journey in navigating the endless amazing sources available. I believe that as time goes on, more and more curriculum will be done on screens. Thanks to this class, I feel much more prepared for my future as modern day teacher in an ever changing world.
When we began the class, we started working fairly basic but valuable websites. In particular, I found Interactive Google Slides to be really fun. Like a modern day choose-your-own adventure book, interactive slides allowed my to create an activity for the preschoolers I was working with at them time about learning social cues and being a good friend. It would have to be done with an adult, but i believe it could start some good conversations.
As the semester progressed, we worked with another Google tool: Google sites. I decided to focus on kindergarten standards to create a website about weather. Google Sites is easy to navigate and has a lot of really great features such as embedding YouTube videos and other Google Tools. This is my favorite tool we learned about; I have a feeling I will be frequently using this!
Another valuable tool we got to learn to use is Edpuzzle. Edpuzzle allows teachers to crop, pause, and add questions or comments to any YouTube video. It also takes away advertisements and suggested videos at the end, so students won’t potentially click on something you don’t want them to. There is so much great YouTube content, especially for remote learning, so I know this tool will come in handy too!
Finally, I believe my best piece of work from this class is the final project I created: a Google site for personal narrative writing for the 4th grade. I wanted to challenge myself working with content for older grades, and found that it was much different than working with the younger grades due to the type of content you can provide for them as well as the complexity of instructions they can follow. I used Google docs, Edpuzzle, YouTube, and image inserts to create an abundance of resources for the writers.
We live in a world that’s constantly changing. The world today is noticeably different from the world just five years ago. While many parts of the world and society have evolved, technology provides one of the more evident records of the changes we’ve seen. With more schools becoming one-to-one or having classroom sets of ChromeBooks and iPads, knowing how to effectively implement and utilize technology into lessons is a valuable skill. Current events affirm the value of technology in the world of education. I think technology also holds value when instruction is in-person. EdTech Methods gave me the opportunity to explore the many ways that technology might support and enhance content and instruction. Of the different tools we explored, two of my favorites were Google Sites and Screencasts.
Google Sites
One of my favorite tools to use was Google Sites. I think Google Sites is especially helpful in organizing a lot of content in a format that is easy to navigate. It can be very useful if the teacher cannot be there in person (absent, online school, snow day).
I used Google Sites again when I created my final project. It was very helpful in organizing all the content I wanted to use. On this website, I incorporated several other technological components as instructional aids including an EdPuzzle video, Google Docs, Google Slides, and a collection of images.
Screencasts
I also really liked using screencasts. I think screencasts and lecture capture tools can be very helpful! Like Google Sites, I think they can be especially useful if the teacher is not able to be present for a lesson.
I used the screencast feature on my computer to create a short video explaining to parents how to multiply via the box and lattice methods so they can help their student with math homework.
My biggest takeaway from creating educational material with these different technologies is that there are so many ways to share content. Just as I have my favorites, my students will likely have a variety of applications or programs that they would prefer to use to share their work and learn material. Technology provides so many possibilities and ways to enhance lessons and engage students. As the world continues to change, I know there will be more applications and programs for me to learn and experiment with. I strive to be an educator that will implement technology to enhance learning experiences and engage students. At the same time, I think it can be valuable to take a step away from the digital world and be in the moment engaging in face to face conversations with students and encouraging students to engage with one another in person. My goal as an educator in an ever-changing and technology- driven world is to find the balance between interacting with technology and the people right next to us.
At the beginning of this journey, I started with what I thought was a decent understanding of technology, but I knew that I had a lot to learn. Now that I have created content on various platforms and applications, I realize that I am fully capable of implementing technology into my classroom in this digital era filled with distance learning. I strive to continue to be a lifelong learner, and the gift of technology is no exception. As an educator, I will not only embed technology into the classroom, but I will make it easily accessible to my students and their guardians. I will do this using multiple platforms, however, all of these will be embedded into my Google Site. This allows everything to be in one place that everyone, including those who are not in my class, can access. Below are some examples of lessons that I plan on implementing, or have already implemented, into my teaching, including my current website.
My Class Website created with Google Sites. Students and their guardians can easily access this with a link. They can interact with the documents and contact me if they need assistance!
It is the responsibility of any teacher to do all that they can to effectively convey and communicate content, to encourage students to engage with the material and reach their fullest potential, and to help students grow not only academically but socially and emotionally. In order to do this, I believe that teachers should work to integrate technology and all of the resources that it provides into their classrooms. I had a professor who told me that technology is something that students are already engaging with, so for school’s to resist the advances of this rapidly growing field would be limiting their methods of communicating with students (or something along those lines). While I agree with this statement, I believe that technology has the ability to not only provide an access point, but to enhance the classroom community in diverse and important ways. I have embedded some highlights from my portfolio that I feel illustrate 3 key ways that technology can help to create a classroom that is culturally responsive, encourages collaboration and connection, and allows students opportunities for experiential learning without even leaving the classroom.
Using Google Sites, I created a “Classroom Culture” Project where students have the opportunity to not only dive deeper into their own culture and what makes them unique, but learn more about their classmates’ cultures as well. In this case, technology allowed me to create a resource that makes my classroom and my teaching more culturally responsive, and will help my students to feel known and valued for who they are. To read more about this project, click below:
One of the things that this course allowed me to experience first hand was the collaboration and connection that can come from using technology. Using Google Slides, my colleague Anna Wanner and I were able to make an activity on making inferences using clues from the text. Creating technological masterpieces, as well as using technology (i.e. the finished google sites project above) can be a collaborative experience for both teachers and students. Sharing documents and work, as well as their stories and their personal experiences on a digital platform can allow students to connect with one another from physically different locations. To read more about the inference project, click below:
Using Google Tour Creator, I was able to create a science lesson all about investigating the ways in which specific environments have been impacted by environmental change and human actions. Technology like this resource from Google, and virtual reality (if you can access it) have the ability to transport students to new places. Not only does this make them global thinkers, but it gives them the chance to explore and experience a location that they may not have the chance to physically visit on their own. To read more about this project, click below:
I am looking forward to finding more technology resources and continuing to expand my knowledge on the tools that are out there to make my classroom the best it can be! Enjoy my portfolio!
I believe that technology can be a great resource in the classroom. For example, technology can be used to create and build relationships and connections with students. One of the project’s I created was a get to know you timeline activity, where students could create a timeline of important events in their lives, such as starting new grades or moving. Here is my example of this project.
Another example of a relationship and community building activity is one I created for having a circle activity. This activity allows students to build relationships with their peers in a safe environment. I created a google forms that would allow students to understand this circle activity better.
I also believe that technology can be used by students to explore the material in school with real world applications. In one of my lessons, students would create an online cookbook complete with recipes and the fractions in the recipes. This digital book could be printed out into a physical copy that they could use in their homes.
Another real world application is exploring digital photos to find shapes in the real world. This allows students to get excited about the world and buildings around them. Here is my post about this lesson.
Overall, I believe that technology is a great resource for students in the classroom. I’m excited to use my technology skills in my future classrooms and to find even more exciting resources for my students!
