Technology Resources
Learning in the 21st Century
We live in an age of technology that influences every aspect of our life, from communication down to fashion. With Chromebooks being issued to every student in our county, our learners have more resources than ever before. However, more is not always better. Access to unlimited content can make learners unmotivated and find the concept of research pointless. Too much of a good thing can make focusing on the small tasks difficult, and learning can stagnate. This is why it is important to have well-planned, directed digital learning, so that students stay on task, on the subject, with rubrics that explain the manner in which the students should be learning. Below are some resources that will help you as you explore your digital teaching options. Explore them, play around, and find a few favorites but ONLY use district-approved digital resources.
A Few Examples of Technology Worth Exploring
Snap and Read is a phenomenal tool for our students with special needs, or those who are significantly below reading and writing level. Snap and Read has read aloud text, speech to text, picture description, syntax adjustment, and a number of other fantastic options to help your students stay on track.
Google has created a ton of add-on apps that can be attached to your Chrome browser. Since our students have chromebooks, it is easy for students to download them and use them everyday. With your guidance, you can help your students search for apps that can help them read, write, and even draw, perfect for an engaging lesson in any subject.
Grids are a meeting place for your classroom, your school, your department or any learning community to discuss your topics. Start with an icebreaker, add weekly reflections, share book talks, explore STEM principles, give mini-presentations ... helps ignite discussion on any topic
A multiple choice quiz game that you can write yourself or find pre-made games to match your test specs. Projected on the big screen, this program allows all your students to play against one another or work as teams in a competitive tournament designed to test their knowledge.
Quizziz is a platform designed to assess student knowledge in a competitive framework, providing students with a timed, directed quiz that lets them compete against their peers.
A teacher/host picks a question set and a unique game mode. Then, we generate a code that players can use to join the game on their own devices. After the game starts, players will answer questions to help them win. That’s where the fun starts, because we offer a variety of games to keep students engaged and excited!
Nearpod is an instructional platform that merges formative assessment and dynamic media for collaborative learning experiences. Students complete assignments independently while you direct a class-led presentation.
Kami is a leading digital classroom app built to transform any existing document into an interactive learning experience. The app lets students edit, share, and alter PDFs.
Want to learn more?
Resources from previous and upcoming professional learning are available on the ITPD webpage by clicking below.
Helpful Hints When Managing Student Learning Online
No matter what subject you teach, these helpful hints could make your online-life a lot easier throughout the year!
When you have to obtain a substitute, make sure to make an assignment on your learning platform and make it accessible to the students. Sure, you could leave a stack of papers they need to fill out, or create a hands-on type lesson that requires cut-outs and glue and markers, but the end result will be a messy room, lost items, and incomplete worksheets. Building a short, subject-specific lesson in your online learning platform, maybe utilizing a video or a digital learning tool (check out our Technology page) will provide the students with a creative, digital resource that can be completed at their desks, quietly and efficiently and requiring no extra work on the part of the sub.
Your class roster will be automatically updated in all online learning platform systems. You do not need to upload all students by name or email to have them be a part of your class. That means anything you upload or send out to your class will automatically be sent to every student at once, unless you choose to change that function.
Plan ahead. Online learning platforms allow you to schedule the release dates and times of assignments. When you plan out the next unit and chunk it into weeks or months, you can create your lessons ahead of time and set them to be released on a certain day at a certain time. You can choose when the assignments close, providing students with a very real deadline.
Communication. You can decide whether an assignment will allow comments from students, or whether that's a no-no. Comments can be helpful for non-verbal class discussion or bellringers. However, even the most well-managed classroom will have a few students who want to use that very public and very noticeable forum to put in their two cents about last nights game, or the teachers new haircut, or something inappropriate. Keep calm if that happens, and remember: Kids will be kids, right? Just make sure that if you're leaving the comments on an assignment open and unlocked that you have a well managed class that's focused on the topic at hand, otherwise you may suddenly have a group of giggling first graders in front of you (even if they're actually high school seniors!).
Use your online learning platform for bellringers. The use of bellringers is a great way to kick off a class and get students centered and focused on your subject matter. Bellringers on online learning platforms allow students to instantly answer questions, and you can choose whether they be multiple choice, short answer or a different format altogether. Best of all you can see their answers instantaneously, so the lesson can kick off with a discussion of what they got right, and what they got wrong.
Linking your grades to Focus. One of the BEST things about any online learning platform is the ability to link your grades directly to our district hub. Each system is different, and depending on your school this can be set up a variety of different ways, but imagine the ease of being able to grade an assignment in the Google Classroom and NOT have to do double the work to put it into Focus. Check with your schools administrators or your school's tech coordinator l to determine what system your school uses and how to link your online learning platform to Focus.
Find your sweet spot between an online learning platform and the real world. Students get bored... FAST. Too much of one thing can drain them of enthusiasm and interest in learning. Even daily lessons should be chunked and divided between activities, and that's just 45 minutes (or more if you teach in blocks). Imagine doing the same thing day in and day out for 180 days? Sometimes we forget that what works best for us when it comes to lesson planning, might not work best for our students when it comes to actually doing. Life would be easy if we could just plug in the same video- answer form-worksheet-test lesson format into our digital classroom, but how long until students start skipping your class and acting up because they know you just dont care? Online learning platforms are incredible resources, but like any tool you cant use it for every project. A hammer wont fix a broken pane of glass. Try and find a balance between using an online learning platform, and engaging your students in the real world through discussion, projects, and hands-on learning. Plan your weeks to have a balance of both, and we promise life will be easier for you in the long run.
Rules and Regulations: You should apply rules and regulations to your online classroom in the same way you do for your face-to-face classroom. Make sure students know your policies on commenting in your online learning platform, or plagiarism, or any other concern you might have when it comes to letting your students work independently in their online learning environment. The more you remind them of these rules and the earlier you reinforce them, the better your students will work together and collaboratively in the long run.
Subscribe to Technology Status Updates
If you're still on the fence about technology...
...just know that you're not alone. It is still something a lot of teachers are getting used to, and not just those who are 20 years into their careers. New teachers are somewhat resistant to the idea as well. Typically we dont consider teaching to be a process that involves students staring into a screen all period. We want to engage, encourage discussion, and develop hands-on lessons. However, those two concepts arent necessarily mutually exclusive. With the right activity and the right purpose, digital lessons can be exciting, intriguing, and develop classroom relationships like never before.
There are a number of reasons to teach using digital learning tools, some of which are explained below. We dont expect you to completely change your mind on digital learning in just a matter of minutes, but try to remember these as the year progresses and try to put a few into practice. We promise it will make life easier for you and lessons more engaging for your students.
Special needs students (Exceptional Student Education). Many students are non-verbal. Many cannot hear or see, and some have difficulty reading and writing. Whatever the case may be, these students are just as eager to learn as everyone else, and it is our responsibility to make sure they have every chance to do so. Google extensions can give readers a chance to have the text on a page read to them, and other programs like Snap and Read can describe pictures, adjust reading levels and sentence syntax, and translate speech to text.
Assessments. There are a number of testing programs out there that let you and your students sign up for free. When doing a quick knowledge check on this week's lesson, or determining the extent of your student's understanding of a specific reading or activity, a digital assessment tool is quick, easy to assemble, and in all likelihood fun! Check out Kahoot or Quizziz or find your own resources that you like best.
Review Games. There are literally hundreds of websites that let students review content while making it fun and productive. Kahoot and Quizziz are both good for assessment and review for more substantial summative assessments, however there is no limit to what you can do when it comes to review. One of the favorites among students is to play virtual jeopardy, where a pre-designed jeopardy board is projected onto the screen and students team up to write their answers on a white board and try to win the game. Again, a good blend of virtual and real-world that makes learning (and reviewing) fun. Make sure to search for other similar resources that you feel comfortable with.
Virtual Labs. Let's face it, lab equipment is expensive. Setting up the lab is time consuming. If a concept is simple yet requires some type of visual reinforcement, a virtual lab is a perfect alternative to the real thing. Whether it's for science, math, or social studies, virtual labs provide students with visuals and testing variables that help them understand the intricacies of even complex concepts. Unlike a real lab, virtual labs can be used as bellringers or end-of-day-reviews, making them versatile and perfect for every teacher. Check out the CORE-LMS plan library for a myriad of virtual lab options, or explore online virtual lab offerings like Phet Interactive.
