Indicator 6.B

6.B- Manage the use of technology and student learning strategies in digital platforms, virtual environments, hands-on makerspaces or in the field.

Reflection

For this artifact, I chose a program that our district uses for reading comprehension skill. This program is called Raz Kids. Raz Kids is a website and app that allows students to read books on their level and improve on different comprehension skills. In the beginning of the school year I am able to assign each student a reading level that meets his or her needs. This is where the students will start reading books on their level. Once the student’s progress through the level that they began at, they will level up to the next level as the year progresses. This app also allows you to assign specific books to students so that you can see how they are doing on particular skills. This also works well for guided reading lessons. After reading a book and teaching a skill in a small group, I can then assign that same book to the students to read independently.

I am able to manage many different aspects with the online platform of Raz Kids. I am able to see basic features like how many books each student has read and how many minutes my students have been logged on for. Some other things that I am able to see are individual progress reports for each student. I see the books that each student has read and the grade that they got on each comprehension quiz. I am also able to see which skills each student needs to improve on. This data is used to guide my small group instruction with regards to comprehension practice.

I really like how user friendly this website is, which allows for easy management of this online platform. The app for Raz Kids is very simple and easy for my first graders to use with little explanation. In the past I have not used this website to it’s full advantage. With the teaching world moving towards more of a virtual platform, I have been able to use the features on this website a little bit more meaningfully in my classroom.