Technology has become an integral part of our society and our students are very experienced in using it. It is important for us as teachers to use technology in ways that are engaging. We also need to allow the students to use it in ways that will assist or challenge them.
The following are ways that I have incorporated technology or would like to incorporate technology into my classroom.
Google Classroom is a good resource for keeping track of what is going on in your classroom. I use it to shared classwork that students might have missed, assign homework and assignments, post deadline and rubrics, shared articles and videos to elucidate topics that students might be struggling with and make announcements.
Animoto This website is perfect for creating picture driven reports. I used this as a tool for creating a book report. After a short lesson on how to use the website, the students were able to use Animoto on their own.
Blogs Blogs can be a great way for teachers to provide information for students as well as collect assignments. They can also allow the teacher and students to communicate with parents. A parent can easily check a blog to see the work that has been assigned to the students. They can also see their student's progress.
Classroom Dojo This is an excellent behaviour management program that can be used both on the computer and on an iPhone. It allows the teacher to add or take away points from individual students. The students can also view their behaviour online by using their own log in.
Google Read & Write This program is excellent for students who may have dyslexia or struggle with writing. I would allow some of my students to use Read & Write on the iPad in order to check their spelling after they had challenged themselves to write it on their own first.
Flip Cams These video cameras are excellent for recording presentations. They are very easy to use and the students can be trusted to use them on their own. I enjoyed using them so that I could revisit various group skits before grading them.
Google Docs Are useful for creating written documents, presentations and charts. I had my students use fill in a document by typing and sharing documents. As students become more comfortable with typing, they may find that responding to test questions in a word document is less stressful than writing it by hand. Docs has the ability to enlarge text for students with visual disabilities. It also allows teachers to add sound clips into the document which is particularly useful for students with reading disabilities. They can take the test on the computer and listen to the questions rather than having reader who may unintentionally persuade them towards a certain answer.
Google Slides I enjoy using this website to create presentations that are highly engaging for the students due to the novelty of the program. It might be a little more difficult to use but it could be a good challenge for students who are quite technology savvy.
Voice Thread Voice Thread is a great tool for having discussions without the intimidation of public speaking. This allows students to practice critiquing other people's work in a respectful way. They can also use the program to reflect on their own projects. Because it is all recorded, the teacher has the ability to revisit the students' thoughts in the future.
Smartboard/Promethean Board I use the Smartboard for many lessons that I teach. I find it to be a great way to deliver advanced organizers. It also helps me ensure that my lessons proceed in a logical fashion. I include important terms/definitions, questions and instructions on the board for the students to refer to. I have also used some of the more novel aspects of Smartboard Notebook to increase student engagement. Whether it is an interactive review game or erase to reveal, I find this technology to be very useful.
Weebly Weebly is a site that allows you to create a website for free. This is a great tool to take students research projects to the next level as well as teach them about website safety.
GeoGebra is an interactive geometry, algebra, statistics and calculus application, intended for learning and teaching mathematics and science from primary school to university level. Constructions can be made with points, vectors, segments, lines, polygons, conic sections, inequalities, implicit polynomials and functions. All of them can be changed dynamically afterwards. Elements can be entered and modified directly via mouse and touch, or through the Input Bar. GeoGebra has the ability to use variables for numbers, vectors and points, find derivatives and integrals of functions and has a full complement of commands like Root or Extremum. Teachers and students can use GeoGebra to make conjectures and to understand how to prove geometric theorems.
Desmos is an advanced graphing calculator implemented as a browser application and a mobile application. In addition to graphing both equations and inequalities, it also features lists, plots, regressions, interactive variables, graph restriction, simultaneous graphing, piecewise function graphing, polar function graphing, two types of graphing grids — among other computational features commonly found in a programmable calculator. It can also be used in several different languages so that ESL students can comfortably use it.
Geometer's Sketchpad includes the traditional Euclidean tools of classical geometric constructions. If a figure (such as the pentadecagon) can be constructed with the compass and straightedge method, it can also be constructed in the program. The program allows "cheat" transformations to create figures impossible to construct under the compass and straightedge rules (such as the regular nonagon). Objects can be animated. The program allows the creation of numerous objects which can be measured, and potentially used to solve hard math problems. The program allows the determination of the midpoints and midsegments of objects. Geometer's Sketchpad can measure lengths of segments, measures of angles, area, perimeter, etc. Some of the tools include a construct function, which allows the user to create objects in relation to selected objects. The transform function allows the user to create points in relation to objects, which include distance, angle, ratio, and others. This is the more traditional geometry tool found on school laptops but there is no online platform
Kahoot is a fun online assessment application that is perfect to creating questions to test student learning for a particular lesson or unit. I generally use it for minds on and review.