Tech Reflections

As I sit to begin my reflection on this course, the reading I've done, the scenario project, new uses of technology, and even the video of my final presentation I feel proud of myself.  Time goes by so quickly and it is often easy to lose track of just how much has been accomplished in a short amount of time. Personally, I have two large take-aways from this course.  The first is about my personal style and learning.  As excited as I get about new technology and uses for students I need to remember to be thoughtful in what I choose to use.  Now, thoughtful doesn't have to mean delaying implementation (in the past this would have been tempting for me), but it does mean choosing a few specific pieces to bring to my students that match the purpose and are developmentally appropriate.  I can easily be caught up in how impressive or engaging certain tools are, but if I jump in to everything most things will not go well and I'll end up stopping rather than increasin...

So, I'm going to go out on a limb and make myself a little vulnerable.  I'll start by saying that I love the idea of using technology to help monitor student progress (a formal or informal assessment depending on how you use it).  However, I am not at a place where I have yet figured out how to make this work for me.  Already, we have first grade students using Dreambox (a math site), Lexia Core 5 (structured phonics), Reading A-Z, and the the SeeSaw app.  All of the sites/apps allow me to go in to student accounts and verify how much time they are spending on certain skills, how they are progressing, and where students are still experiencing difficulty.  I am embarrassed to say, but I rarely go in and check these things.  I am not saying that I find these tools to be just a 'filler'.  In fact, as a district we have chosen to use them and spend money on them because they are research-based sites. However, I still rely more on student math journals, wri...

To be perfectly honest, I was not sure where I wanted to begin with this assignment.  I thought that maybe exploring Google Hangout would meet the requirement, but it did not take a full three hours (for the record, though - I explored, tried a ‘hangout’ within my own school, and then set up a ‘Mystery Number Hangout’ with a colleague across town, and it was very easy and really fun!).  Next, I considered spending more time with coding, but I am concerned that I will not embed this into my curriculum enough to make it worth the time (currently, students have Kodable as an option during ‘fun Friday math’).  So, I finally just used the link What Innovation Looks Like in an Elementary School . that we were provided in the syllabus.  I am so glad that I did!  I ended up in a place that was totally unexpected. The link referenced above provides brief synaposes from various educators about things that they are doing in their classrooms.  The reason the articl...