Reflections on Educational Technology

This week, I chose to approach the assignment from the perspective of a parent rather than a teacher because that is my reality. I have three kids at home with me, a Junior in high school, a first graders, and a brand new 4 year old (she had her 4th birthday a couple weeks ago, in quarantine) and I am still working on getting my teaching credential and not yet teaching, so I am in the same boat as many other parents across the country trying to navigate online instruction for their kids and keep them busy and happy while also not leaving the house or having any adult interaction. In theory, staying home ALL THE TIME sounded great, but it's been a lot. I chose to look into Wide Open School, particularly their daily schedule for Pre-K . I wanted some ideas about educational activities and games for my 4 year old, particularly ones that would keep her busy while I did math or social studies with my first grader or Chemistry with my 10th grader. We started on Tuesday and the videos a...

I am not currently a classroom teacher, so all of my ideas on connecting to students is hypothetical at this point, but the assignment actually did inspire me in my real life. I am one of two board members for my daughter's school's PTO and so we also run the Facebook page and I decided to reach out to parents on there to send me video clips that I could put together into a longer video thanking our teachers, telling them we miss them, and to show them that students are still learning and growing at home. I am planning on finishing it in time for National Teacher's Day, so I will let you all know how that turns out. Also, if anyone knows of a good video creation tool that will allow me to put together clips and do voiceovers, I am taking recommendations because I have not done anything like this. I am just assuming I will figure it out as I go. Back to my hypothetical classroom, to connect to students, I would probably try to do it with humor. My focus would be to encou...

Last week, I created and reviewed the learning tool Kahoot! I was a big fan of the program. I felt that it was an excellent tool for engaging students, especially when used as a review tool. After the assignment time closed, I received an email with the scores from the students that took the quiz. To see more in-depth information (who got each individual question correct, for instance), I would have to purchase the pro or premium account. If I decided to use this program in class, I would most likely purchase the pro account for $3/month. I think it would be worth it for the feedback aspect. Before I decide on a certain tool though, I always like to investigate what else is out there. The two other tools that I found the most promising was quizizz (this is a tool that is used by a middle school science teacher that I follow on social media) and Nearpod. I will start with Nearpod. It does not align as closely with Kahoot! It is not a quiz tool, it is designed to be a full lesson pre...

I am not a teacher... yet! So, coming to this assignment as someone from the outside, I have seen so many teachers step up to the challenge and it is incredible! My cousin is a teacher and, while she's on maternity leave currently, she got in her car and formed a parade with the other teachers from her school and they drove through the neighborhoods where their students live so those kids knew they were still important, even if the schools are closed. I follow some teachers on Instagram and one, Ms. Bensko at  maniacsinthemiddle , is still dressing up in crazy outfits that she wears to begin units and recording video messages to students to try to keep life normal for students. In the podcast I listened to for last week, teachers from that district (including the interviewee) were going in district vehicles driven by bus drivers along their school routes and hand delivering school work and food to students. My 1st graders' teacher, Mr. Seiders, has sent out messages on C...