Reflection, Failure, and Fun: A Letter on Teaching with Tech in Meaningful Ways

Dear fellow teacher, 

If you asked me how I used technology in my classroom before beginning my master's program in technology, I would be honest and tell you my students occasionally read on Epic or had fun on Friday with Freckle. We took our iPads to media class with us, where kids did the real learning about technology skills. My responsibilities were reading, writing, and math. Wow- that viewpoint is so out of touch with the world and what my students need from me!

Throughout my MAET coursework, and specifically this course, I've begun to reflect on how I use technology in my classroom. I'm finding through this reflection that there are so many more meaningful ways to use, discuss, and include technology in my classroom that aren't just for "fun." Students in 2025 are living with technology- it will never not be part of their lives. If we start excluding it from our classroom or making it just for "fun" we are giving up a massive teaching and learning tool. We are giving up opportunities for failure that support confidence and learning. We are giving up authenticity because the world is not devoid of technology. 

Technology is important. It can guide us, help us, be used by us, connect us with others, and teach us. It is a wonderful and powerful thing! However, with all greatness comes responsibility. The meaning of the word "teacher" is "to instruct" or "to show" (Trott, 2020). It is a responsibility we take on to make sure the next generation of people are ready to engage with the world in meaningful ways that support their individual and collective well-being and success. If we want to build authentic classrooms, then we need to include authentic technology in our everyday instruction. Now, I'm not just talking about having kids use their iPads every day at school. I'm talking about the plethora of technologies and ways we interact with the world. Technology needs to be an intentional part of our everyday routines and lessons.

As I continue reflecting on the ways I'll use technology in my classroom next year, these ideas are just the start. I'm learning to be more committed (and reflective) to how I ensure authenticity in my classroom. I've been grateful for the opportunity to learn about innovative and inclusive technology practices, and I'm so glad I got to share it with you along the way. 

Warmly,

Kait 

References

Trott, Kyle D. (2020). Defining "Teacher."  Virginia English Journal: Vol. 70 : Iss. 1 , Article 6. Available at: https://digitalcommons.bridgewater.edu/vej/vol70/iss1/6 

The world of flexible furniture: Is it worth the hype?

Almost every elementary teacher at my school has been very focused on their classroom environment in the last 2 years because of one, giant district change: flexible furniture. I have seen fellow teachers cry over the change, adapt, and argue over tables and chairs. Does it feel silly? A little. Is it understandable? Very! The way we design our learning spaces is a deeply personal and intentional process. Every routine and independent skill is impacted by where students are and how they use their space. Yet, it's still not an exact science and many teachers are polar opposites on how they set up their classrooms.

 Before our district adopted (and shelled out millions of dollars for) flexible furniture, I was a HUGE advocate for it. I interned in a flexible seated classroom, and I loved it! There were tables and chairs still, but my mentor teacher also had rocking floor seats, a table low to the ground, and several exercise balls for students to use. She even had a couch! Everything was so well managed that when I got my own classroom, there was no question I would be doing it too! My experience has taught me that "flexible" can mean so many things. These past two years, I have had to be as flexible as the furniture while I figure out what works! 

My goal for my classroom was a space that was calm. I tried to pick calm, but happy colors for my room. I attempt to only hang up things that are meaningful and useful to students. These things mainly include anchor charts, student work, and a calendar. Through this process I've also come to understand that my opinion about our classroom is important, but it isn't the only opinion. 

One of the very hardest first things I learned was that flexible furniture was extremely collaborative. This is great! Constructivist ideas really are at work in flexible furniutre, as students can learn, collaborate, and form new knowledge together. It takes the teacher-centeredness of so many classrooms and lessens it for the better. For a second grade classroom, so many activities are discussion based and require working together... except when they don't. I realized quite quickly that it was hard for some students to focus when they were sitting with 12 of their friends, rather than 2 or 3 other kids at a time. This led to my first rearranging less than 3 weeks into the school year. While I value collaboration, I know my students are capable of it and what they needed was a bit more space for what they were still learning: indepenent work. They were failing less, relying on other kids more, and some quit participating whole group all together! 

The next challenge was small group work. So many teachers were so upset about having to "give up" their beloved kidney tables. Some of them even tried to keep them before they realized there wasn't enough physical space in their rooms to do so. I had no qualms about it- I slapped a red sticker on mine and said goodbye! Then, about 4 weeks into the fall, I stumbled on my mistake. I had a large class size, something I forgot to consider, and though my furniture was new and shiny, there was not enough of it. I had to use every available thing that could be a seat as a seat. I had no group table. For a few weeks, I had to ask students to move from a table around the room to use for small groups. It just wasn't working. I finally took one afternoon to bring it up to my students as a problem that needed solving, and boy did they solve it! They found places that could be seats in the room that I hadn't even comsidered. They helped maximize countertops, benches, and bookshelves- and they loved sitting there. They were honest if something wasn't going to work for them and they even came up with choosing a better structure for when they picked their spots. Go team! 

This is when I started to realize that the problems weren't just impacting my teaching, but also their learning. I started including my students more in the decision making process of our classroom and how it looked and felt. We started moving things a bit more often, and I was often impressed by their flexible solutions to problems I felt like were unsolvable. We even drew maps of furniture configurations we thought would work nicely. We discussed what was important to us in how our room looked, and felt, and there were less arguments overall about where kids sat when. 

I know at this point what you must be thinking, because I thought it too: Kait, no way. I did the same thing as I sat in the first fall professional development of our flexible furniture and heard pilot teachers speak out about it. I didn't believe them. Looking back now, I wish I had taken their advice to get kids involved a bit sooner in the process. The problem-solving skills, responsibility, and community moving our furniture around together built within my classroom is something I won't forget! 

Draw some maps together, ask your students to point out some problem spots in the room that they notice (for example: no group table! Or, we can't walk through here easily!). I promise that it will make your classroom a better place to be, and you don't have to take every piece of student input- let it be a discussion you have together. Bring up why a solution may or may not work for them and let them think about it. 

It takes time, but it's worth it. 

Next year, I'm looking forward to a smaller class size and making some changes to support collaboration AND individual work skills. Below are some mock-ups of my current room, and what I'd like to do with it this upcoming fall. I've learned that it always feels different when kids are actually in the space, and flexible furniture requires us all to be a bit flexible ourselves! 

Mockups created using floorplanner: https://floorplanner.com/demo 

I'm excited to meet my new students, but I'm even more excited to see what changes we make in our room together. Flexible furniture, while it comes with it's challenges, has taught me a lot about student-centered learning spaces. I'd say it's worth the hype- and I'm fortunate to be part of a distrcit that believes that, too. 

Creating Lessons and Crafting Learning Experiences 

Every educator eventually gets to the point where the millions of little choices they make in a single lesson start to feel natural. When we step back and give ourselves opportunities to reflect on these choices, we not only give ourselves a chance to celebrate the incredible work we do, but we also make the lesson more effective than it already is. 

Intentionality is something you will see show up frequently in my blogs, and for this one, I want to give you a peek into how purposeful each learning experience is crafted. I want this to be a great resource to examine your own process of reflection and iteration when you craft lessons, too! 

While this lesson is fun and engaging, the main event of this post isn't the lesson itself but rather the process of creating it that was so special. In my graduate learning opportunities, I have the privilege of receiving feedback from a range of individuals with different identities, backgrounds, and teaching expertise to really help me in my process of lesson creation. Some challenges they gave me in this lesson were accessibility for all students and the importance of choice in the learning process.  These two things work incredibly well together, and so I began the process of iteration. 

While there were also some suggestions I did not implement (hello, trying to teach 2nd graders to use new software and a new circuit system- out of my patience level!), feedback is a really incredible tool. If you don't already have someone to help you in your lesson planning process, this experience has taught me a quick trick to check my lessons that I want to share with you: The Rule of Three.

Are there 3 different ways my students can demonstrate an understanding of this measurable objective? 

Are there 3 different ways I could group students to support their needs? 

These two quick considerations can help make sure lessons are accessible and there is built-in choice, which further supports student engagement and positive learning outcomes. 

References 

Basham, J. D., & Marino, M. T. (2013). Understanding STEM education and supporting students through Universal Design for Learning. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 45(4), 8–15. https://doi.org/10.1177/004005991304500401 

Curry, C., Cohen, L., & Lightbody, N. (2006). Universal Design in Science Learning. Science Teacher, 73(3), 32.

Jav, H., Hussain, M. A., & Tufail, M. (2024). Effect of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Embedded Project on 5th Grade Students' Academic Achievement in Science Subject. Bulletin of Education and Research, 46(2), 93.

Jay Silver and Eric Rosenbaum. Makey Makey.  JoyLabz LLC.  https://makeymakey.com/pages/plug-and-play-makey-makey-apps?srsltid=AfmBOoq92zmD2RN0y_0Y57Q_2BcFKKBj1MCAaxKiOx8LmwVPl_4V5JNF 

Silver, J., & Rosenbaum, E. (2012). Plug and play Makey Makey Apps. Makey Makey Plug and Play Apps. https://makeymakey.com/pages/plug-and-play-makey-makey-apps