Teacher Supports
N. Marie Green - GCU - College of Education - TEC 544 - August 23, 2023
Teacher supports for technology integration in the classroom.
Get help on the following topics.
New to teaching, or new to using technology in the classroom? This menu of supports is meant to help. Under each category you will find activity suggestions or implementations that could be used in the classroom. Follow the hyperlinks to find out more about the technology tools suggested or to get other ideas for the classroom!
Lesson Delivery
To get lesson content across to students, it is helpful to combine visual, auditory, and even tactile elements to give a student's brain more inputs. Presentation tools help students see and hear the content, adding an interactive piece like a matching activity or virtual animation can help students better connect their thinking.
When presenting a new topic, it may be helpful to have students start with what they know. Doing a notice and wonder activity and having students share their thoughts with a partner can stimulate the parts of their memory that connect to the day's learning. Padlet is a helpful tool where students are able to share their thoughts with the class.
See lesson strategy directions and ideas for grouping, student sharing, and matching activities here: https://lead4ward.com/docs/instructional_strategies/playlist_2023_24.pdf
Assessment
For formative assessment, a teacher may use whole class responses. Things like a thumbs up/thumbs down, or from 1-5 how are students feeling. These helps check in quickly with all students. Another way to do this is with a student reflection on what went well with the lesson or what they may still need clarification with. Desmos does this at the end of its math lessons.
A summative assessment can be done in many ways. There are several testing platforms online, many of which will auto grade to give immediate feedback to the teacher and students. Tools like IXL are intended to give the students feedback while they work for 'mastery' of a specific skill.
For some Desmos formative check-ins with students check here:
Classroom Managment
Classroom management may be specific to each teacher. But following routines and procedures is pretty universal. The website classroom screen helps give visuals for some of those management problems. For example there is a noise monitor, a timer, and a redlight/green light; each can be used to help students monitor themselves during class or transition times.
Specifically for managing how students transition from one activity to another, consider using music. Students can move around only while the music plays, at the end of the short song they need to have completed the transition to the next activity.
Lead4ward, gives specific suggestions on how to use music in the classroom, or have students dance it out as they follow directions. https://lead4ward.com/docs/instructional_strategies/playlist_2023_24.pdf
Student-to-Student Collaboration
A great way for students to solidify their knowledge, clarify misconceptions, and even get help it through collaborating with peers. Often for effective and academic centered conversations students need guidance. Sentence starters are a great structure to build confidence in collaborating with peers. Sharing a digital copy of sentence starters, questions to ask, and conversation etiquette with students can be a reference tool.
Padlet is a good tool for student conversations to happen digitally. The teacher can set up reflection questions or response statements. Students then practice writing their thoughts in complete sentences. There is even the option to reply to peers with agreement or questions.
Seidlitz has strategies for helping increase student discourse in the classroom, find a helpful infographic here. https://www.valentinaesl.com/uploads/8/0/4/0/80401970/7_steps_.pdf
Student-to-Teacher Communication
Students often need to communicate with teachers and typically this can be done via email when it cannot be done in person. Email helps the teacher and student stay connected, and is great for asking questions or getting clarification. Teachers can also send acknowledgements or praise to students and their parents via email communication.
Another form of student-teacher communication is feedback. A simple way to intake feedback is from a survey or questionnaire. Google forms can be used by a teacher to collect student data in regards to a particular lesson or unit to find out where students may need reteaching, or additional supports and practice.
Hardware/ Technology Issues
Write a short summary of what problem the article will solve. Use step-by-step instructions to help people solve the issue.
There are so many technology issues that may arise it can be hard to have a 'fix-all' solution. Logging out, restating the internet, or doing a software update may be enought to get things working again. If your issues is with a specific app or website, find their specific help page or FAQ to see what to do.
For harware issues, there are often creative on-the-fly solutions. Speakers not working, or sounding jumbled? Lets turn on sub-titles. A student did not charge their device? Borrow a cord from tech support, or make the activity for the day partner work. Padlet is not populating student comments? Try a differnt tool like JamBoard or use sticky notes and have the students share out their answers.
Additional tips and things to try to get technology back to working. https://www.edutopia.org/article/teachers-most-common-tech-issues-and-how-fix-them/
English Language Learners
Students who are still learning English may need more supports in the classroom or accommodations to help them understand the language as well as the content. Presenting images and videos that directly relate to the learning objectives will help students visualize what is going on.
Many digital tools are already made to accommodate to language differences in the classroom, teachers just need to know where to find them. Tools like Nearpod have an immersive reader built in so that students can have the information read to them. IXL has the option on many of its skills practice to allow students to read the questions in Spanish if that is their primary language.
Other teaching strategies for the classroom that will specifically help English language learners can be found here. https://blog.edmentum.com/7-strategies-supporting-ells-mainstream-classroom
Student Engagment
For each category, provide two ways in which you can support the teacher in implementing technology for the designated purpose. Provide a brief explanation for each support.
Students need to have buy-in to their learning opportunities for them to be truly engaged. Often being able to see the action or take part in it helps to clarify the learning and keeps the student's attention. In addition to using manipulatives or doing labs, virtual animations or interactive applets can be used to grab students attention as they engage with a specific learning topic.
Gamification is great for the classroom. Student get to practice skills as well as see their progress in the gaming envirionment. Virtual games also provide extrinsic motivations for students which keeps them engaged in the learning during the gaming experience.
For more apps that can be used in the classroom for gamification or other uses, see this Lead4ward playlist for ideas to try. https://lead4ward.com/docs/instructional_strategies/playlist_tech_app.pdf
References
Drexel University (n.d.) How to use technology in the classroom: benefits & effects. Drexel University: School of Education. https://drexel.edu/soe/resources/student-teaching/advice/how-to-use-technology-in-the-classroom/
ISTE (2023). ISTE standards: Educators. https://www.iste.org/standards/iste-standards-for-teachers
Lead4ward (2023). Instructional strategies playlist for teachers. https://lead4ward.com/playlists/
Valentina (2017). 7 Steps to a language-rich interactive classroom. Serving Multilingual Learners. https://www.valentinaesl.com/articles-for-educators/7-steps-to-a-language-rich-interactive-classroom