Thank you for visiting our Online Instruction Hub! To return to the Fort Worth I.S.D. Homepage, please click the button in this banner.

Digital Integration

Tips for Success

By Angela Conn

Technology integration is a phrase that can spur feelings of excitement and anticipation or fear and anxiety. What if the technology doesn’t work? What if it’s too complicated? We naturally want to retain some form of control in our classes, and it’s often a scary proposition when we are asked to step into unfamiliar, uncomfortable territory. Embracing new ideas requires a willingness to release a little control and embrace the outcome, ultimately allowing ourselves to grow as educators. While this may seem scary, there are a few tips that can create a path to success.

Start small.

Don’t overwhelm yourself. Instead of trying to revamp an entire lesson or unit with as much technology usage as possible, focus your efforts on enhancing a strategy, process, or type of formative assessment used regularly in your classroom. Allow yourself and your students to become familiar and comfortable with one tech tool before introducing another. Using Kahoot for an exit ticket or Padlet as a parking lot will serve as a good stepping stone.

Choose wisely.

Keep your ultimate purpose in mind. What specifically do you want to enhance/improve in your curriculum and your students’ learning, and which tool will be the most effective aid in accomplishing these goals? Rather than choosing a tool because it’s the cool, new option, choose the tool that will best help you achieve your students’ learning goals.

Get to know your chosen tool/technique.

Don’t be afraid to play around with the tool to see what it can do. You need to be familiar with the steps and processes involved, so that the first experience in the classroom is relatively smooth for both you and your students. Getting to know your chosen tool will allow you to easily answer student questions and anticipate obstacles.

Anticipate obstacles.

Before introducing the tool, it’s important to take the time to anticipate any obstacles that might be encountered. Putting in the effort to identify where students may have questions will allow you to develop a plan for addressing those questions in class. The more you plan, the smoother the experience will be for everyone.

Have a back-up plan.

Unfortunately, something can always go wrong. You may have technical issues. Students may not respond well to your lesson. It’s best to always have a back-up plan ready to go.

Reach out to your campus Academic Technologist.

We are here to help! We can co-plan, co-teach, and collaborate with you to support literacy and instruction. Set up a time to meet with your campus Academic Technologist to discuss your technology integration needs and goals.

Share Your Thoughts

ClassFlow, a More Student-Centered Alternative to ActivInspire

By Ryan Gibson

Promethean boards have been in use in our district for over a decade and continue to be powerful tools for teaching and learning in our classrooms, allowing teachers to deliver effective and engaging synchronous instruction. While ActivInspire flipcharts have traditionally been used to present content to all students at the same time, Promethean’s new lesson delivery system, ClassFlow, allows for each student to engage with the content on his/her own device. With the increase in student and classroom devices, teachers can now utilize ClassFlow to provide asynchronous instruction to students, allowing them to work at their own pace.

ClassFlow is a cloud-based application from Promethean that enables teachers to create lessons and deliver interactive content across multiple devices. It features many of the same lesson building capabilities of ActivInspire, plus much more in the way of resource integration, student engagement, and classroom management. Most importantly, ClassFlow facilitates and encourages student-centered teaching and learning. Interactive activities and assessments such as drag-and-drop, matching, polls, checks for understanding, and more can be distributed to and completed by students on individual devices from any place, at any time, and at any pace. Lesson content in ClassFlow can be differentiated by building and sending personalized slides to individual students, helping to discreetly ensure that each student receives the support that they need to succeed. Best of all, ActivInspire flipcharts can be converted to ClassFlow lessons. This means that students can now view and interact with Flipcharts individually, and teachers do not have to abandon content that they have created and found success with in the past.

ClassFlow can be accessed through https://classflow.com. Fort Worth teachers can log in with their Google or Microsoft account. To learn more about using ClassFlow in your classroom, including video tutorials, go to the Promethean support page for the application. Also, be sure to check out my session at the Fort Worth Technology Conference on January 25th, entitled “ACTIVate Student Engagement with ClassFlow”.

Share Your Thoughts

Advice from the Tech Idol Top 12

By Kelly Cheatham

Each year, Fort Worth ISD Educational Technology hosts the Tech Idol competition to seek out teachers who are truly exceptional at integrating technology into their everyday instruction. This year’s competition began in October with a call for nominations where more than 80 educators were recognized by their colleagues as extraordinary teachers. Those 80 teachers were invited to participate in the competition by submitting evidence of their exceptional technology integration. Throughout the different stages of competition, the Top 12 were selected by a team of our Digital Learning Specialists. Those educators participated in a panel discussion at the Fort Worth Technology Conference on January 25th.

During the 45-minute panel, participants were asked a series of questions provided by the audience. The Top 12 teachers were given the opportunity to showcase what they do in their classrooms and to provide guidance and advice to other teachers in our district who hope to improve their technology integration. We have asked the Top 12 to continue the panel discussion for this blog post; their responses follow:

How do you deal with technology glitches in your lessons?

Hollie Gutierrez, Sagamore Hill ES, 2nd Grade Teacher

“In the beginning of my integrating technology journey, not very well. I would get easily frustrated and just say ‘never mind,’ and go on to the next thing. Now, I have learned that if I, first, have a backup plan BEFORE the lesson, I won't get frustrated if I run into a problem. For example, if they are going to complete a quiz or Google Form or an interactive slide activity, I can have the quiz or form printed out and I can adapt the interactive activity to use something I have in my classroom, on the fly. I have also decided that kids need to see that technology problems will almost always arise and let them help problem-solve (troubleshoot) with me. I have kids who figure out a button they can try or they can log out and log back in, etc. I have modeled some things that I try when my technology doesn't work and I use those teachable moments, when our technology doesn't work they way we want it to or need it to, to walk my students through some basic troubleshooting steps and/ or to have them do the parts they can do while I try to fix the problem. For the most part, we have made it through and have been able to complete our technology lesson / activity. When all else fails, we chalk it up to a ‘bad day,’ and try again tomorrow!”

How does your admin feel about your technology use?

Jenni Washington, Riverside MS, CTE Teacher

“All of our administrators are really excited about the different types of technology that our teachers use. I think that it may not always translate as well into excitement because they don’t get a lot of time to come around and see it in action. They are busy with evaluations and other responsibilities. For example, I recently hosted a hacking event and invited my administrators to attend. Only one of the principals was able to come, but he had a lot of fun participating. In fact, he and another student actually came in first place. It can be a little bit frustrating when they are unable to attend, but I do believe that they’re on our side. They want us to use more technology and do all of those fun things. Definitely send them emails and try to include them, but just have the understanding that their schedules don’t allow them to sit and play as much as we would want them to.”

What is your average class size?

Jenni Washington, Riverside MS, CTE Teacher

“All of my classes average 30 kids or fewer. The CTE department determines the maximum number of students based on the available technology in the classroom. I have 30 desktops in my classroom with the necessary software, so I am unable to have more than 30 students.”

How do you get parents involved in the classroom and give them your expectations? Do you do projects with the parents?

Jenni Washington, Riverside MS, CTE Teacher

“Each year, students spend a week engaged in Hour of Code. During this week, students access activities in all curriculum areas to learn how to code. These are self guided activities that you can have parents do with their children.

Another way is to keep parents informed of big projects. Invite them to work on those projects with their children and to come see the finished products.”

How do you influence other teachers in your field of expertise or your classroom to use more technology?

Sarah Hunt, McLean MS, 8th Grade Science Teacher

“I try to be as transparent as possible about what I’m doing in my classroom. I share my lesson resources with my teammates and we talk about how we’re using technology in our PLCs. I also provide mini trainings during our staff development days, faculty meetings or before/after school to other teachers on my campus. Lastly, I encourage others to come to me for help when they need it.”

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse

Digital Integration

Tips for Success

By Angela Conn

Share Your Thoughts

ClassFlow, a More Student-Centered Alternative to ActivInspire

Share Your Thoughts

Advice from the Tech Idol Top 12

ATTENTION FORT WORTH ISD:

MyFWISD Apps is now located at

www.fwisd.org/myfwisd