Technology

Google Series

Google Sheets

While I have personally used this mostly for data gathering, I have also used it to help students practice with concepts. They are called Mystery Pixels, and some very artistic people created them. Many I used as is, but some I adjusted the content to help with what I was working on at the time. It was then copied to each student on Google Classroom so that they could practice that skill and reveal a picture.

Google Classroom

I personally really like Google Classroom. I love posting videos, learning tools, assignments and more. It is an easy way for my students to have access to what they need. You can also assign something like a jamboard and create a copy for each student which allows each student to receive and work on their own jamboard. This is great if you do not want students collaborating. Otherwise you could share a link and have all students work on the same jamboard or Google Slide together.

Google Sites

This entire site is a great example of how Google Sites can be used. However, I also created a Google Site for my parents to visit two years ago. I didn't push it enough, and therefore my parents didn't use it. Next year, I would like to try again and really get into pushing the site through our communication forms. This way, parents and guardians will have a better idea of what is happening in the classroom. I can also post things such as homework for any students who might lose theirs, a school calendar with important date information and so much more.

Google Meets

I used this program during COVID. It was a great way to meet with students to teach them. I was able to project my screen. Then, I was able to use multiple program to teach students what they needed to learn.

Copy of Studies Weekly Week 28

Google Docs Example

Google Docs

Students can be given questions to fill out. In the example below, students were asked to use the information on the Studies Weekly Program (History) to answer the questions.

Building Words

Google Slides Example

Google Slides

It is amazing how versatile Google Slides is. In this example, students use the letters, vowel patterns, Digraphs, Dipthongs and more to build words.

Click the picture to be taken to the

Google Form example

Google Forms

I love using Google Forms to test a students understanding. The example below was created in collaboration with another teacher at my school. We created Mad Hatter google slides for students to learn the material on and then had students answer the questions asked in the slides on a Google Form.

Click the picture to be taken to the

Jamboard example

Jamboard

This was a paper craft activity that I wanted to use on the computer. I used the pictures from the Not So Wimpy Teacher creator, and placed them into a Jamboard. Students then used the tools available in Jamboard to create their area and perimeter robot. The last page in the example was a robot that one of my students created. Note: The name on the robot is the name of the robot, not the student.

Using Google Suite products is important within many school districts. Google Classroom became an even more important component within education when the pandemic hit. It was important to be able to have a place to store all of the information students needed in an organized way. Then, after the pandemic, it was still important to keep the exchange of porous papers to a minimum. Now, most school districts continue to offer distance learning for their students, and many teachers continue to use Google Classroom as education had made such a sharp change to technology. Being able to create documents, slides, and forms all allow for digital versions of paper work. These digital versions also allow for a digital trail that makes it easier for teachers to follow work completion.

Educational Technology

iReady

Provides individualized lessons at the students learning level in reading and math. My district uses iReady Diagnostics as a measure of students learning throughout the school year. After students take the diagnostic, teachers can have them complete lessons which iReady places them into after taking the diagnostic. If a school of district does not have the diagnostic, teachers are able to place students to work at their level. If a school or district does not have the lessons portion of the program, the diagnostic can be a good way to identify where your students are at in reading and math.

IXL

Focuses mainly on ELA and Math practice. It does not teach a concept. I like to assign skills that I have taught to students to either check their understanding, or as review before a test. It can be set up to differentiate for each students needs. For example, if I am working with a small group on a level below grade level, I am able to recommend skills to those students at their level rather than grade level work. This lessons frustrations with students who are struggling and helps them gain confidence.

Reflex Math

A type of gamification. It focuses on math foundational skills such as adding and subtracting from 0-20 and multiplication and division 0-12. It is set on an island and students get to create their own avatar. Then students play math games that practice the skill assigned to them by the teacher until they reach 100% fluency. Students earn points and can buy items in the store for their avatar once they have practiced enough for the day which in the game means getting a green light.

Legends of Learning

A type of gamification to practice math skills. Legends has two different versions. They have a program called Base Camp which focuses on foundational skills only. They also have a program called Awakening. In Awakening, students can practice any math skills available based on standards. Teachers can assign certain skills to students that the game with then focus on for that particular student. Students move around the gaming area and battle within the game or against the other players. The battle is won by answering questions correctly. It reminds me of Pokemon with an educational twist. One down side that I found is that students can wander around and talk to each other without ever having to practice any math skills.

Kahoot

A quiz type program. Kahoot is a fun and competitive way for students to practice a skill they have learned. It is also a great way for the teacher to do a formative evaluation of who understands a certain concept.

Remind

https://www.remind.com/

Is a communication application. Districts, schools, and teachers use this application to stay in communication with parents and guardians. I love the ability to easily send out a single message to all of my parents.

Bitmoji Classrooms

I joined the bitmoji craze during covid. Bitmoji is a program that allows you to create an avatar and will place it in different poses or place phrases around a picture of your bitmoji. This was taken to new heights during COVID when teachers began creating "classrooms" within google slides and adding in their bitmojis. Teachers felt that it helped create a classroom feel and mentality for their students when they couldn't be in an actual classroom.

If you click on the picture above, you can see it being used for the purpose of a bitmoji hallway which leads to multiple different slides such as a general classroom, brain break room, calming room, and PE room. For school privacy, some of the links in the general classroom were turned off. During COVID, the schedule would lead to a calendar that students could click on for the day which would lead to links of lessons or assignments that needed to be completed.

Click on the buttons below to go to the websites:

iReady

IXL

Reflex Math

Legends of Learning

Kahoot

Remind

Bots

Beebot

Beebots are a wonderful introduction to beginning coding. I love how versatile it can be. Not only does it help to teach the beginning ideas of coding, but the mats can be used to help retell a story, letter match, match science or social studies vocabulary, etc. The list is somewhat endless.

I have mostly used beebots for story sequencing activities. For example, if we read Little Red Riding Hood. We would lay picture cards of Little Red, the wolf, grandma's house, grandma, and the woodcutter randomly on the mat. Then students would direct the beebot to the pictures in the correct order. Since I don't have enough beebots for each student, we either set a timer or switched after each student tried. My students love this activity!

Sphero Bot

Sphero is another coding bot. The wonderful thing about Sphero is that it can grow with students. The program allows for the most basic coding to higher levels of coding. The youngest students are asked to "drive" the bot to make shapes or certain designs. There is a ball shape on the screen and the student simply moves their finger around on the device to tell it where to go. The next level up are building blocks for coding. Students connect blocks to tell it where to go. After this level, students are then asked to put in the degrees of rotation and distance into the coding blocks. It is a great tool for students to learn coding with. Also, you can still use Sphero for all of the same learning purposes that you would a beebot.

Sphero was supposed to be used for an after school club last year. I learned all about it. However, we were unable to get things up and running it time. Hopefully I will get a chance to try this with students soon!

AR Project

Arctic Habitat Project

Augmented reality can be used in so many ways to keep students engaged in learning. This project was created to teach students about arctic habitats to second graders with a secondary focus on mapping with their place in the world.

Reflection

It's amazing how much we question our use of technology. When I first started on this page, I did not know what I could include However, when I started thinking about all of the technology I use within my field, I began to realize just how much I use. Technology is growing rapidly within education, and teachers need to learn as much as we canto best help our students in this growing technology age.

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