top of page
This site was designed with the
.com
website builder. Create your website today.Start Now
A refelction on the use of technology in my classroom
With technology changing every day, I do my best to stay aware of the educational developments that could
benefit my students' learning.  Below, I've recorded some of the classroom uses for technology and a reflection of the integration of these technologies into my 10th grade English classroom.

Student Empowerment

 

I decided to begin the integration of technology in my classroom this year by talking with my students about how they would like to integrate technology into our classes.  One student recorded all of our ideas on a spreadsheet for each class as students shared their opinions.  They came up with the following suggestions:

  • iBooks                   

  • Socrative

  • Notability

  • Zite

  • Educreations

  • Flashcards

  • Ruzzle

  • Words with friends

  • Pandora

  • iCal

  • Remind 101

  • Dropbox

  • Blackboard

  • Edmodo

  • Conducting research

  • Pages

  • Study Island

 

  • iMovie

  • Keynote

  • Timer

  • Youtube

  • Lumosity

  • Schoology

  • Pulse

Talking with my students about technology gave me several new insights to how I can use digital advancements in my classroom.  It also gave them a sense of empowerment and voice as we discussed ways we can improve their learning.  They enjoyed the opportunity to teach me new things, and seemed proud to see me and the other students excited about what they had to say.  In the above list, I bolded any technology I hadn't previously used in my classroom.

iBooks

 

For the first time this year, I integrated iBooks into my classroom.  Since all but 6 of my students have iPads currently, I was able to distribute iBook codes to the majority of my my students for the novel we just started, The Book Thief.  I was surprised to find that my students like reading the novel in iBooks.  I explained to the students that when they get to college, oftentimes their books will be cheaper if they can read them electronically, which motivated many of them to give iBooks an honest try.  Additionally, I gave them a brief tutorial of the features available in iBooks, which also caught their attention.  

 

Along with the the many benefits we discovered through using iBooks...accessibility, highlighting, storing notes, cheaper prices per book...there were a couple snags that we ran into. 

 

One, the fact that once each ibook code was distributed to a student, it was associated with one student's specific Apple ID.  Meaning that unlike traditional books that can be passed around for years and years, once we give one student an iBook code, it can never be used again.  While the iBook codes are about a third of the price of traditional hard copies, this may be a deterent for some schools. 

 

And two, one student who didn't remember her Apple ID attempted to use another student's instead, lost the code she was assigned in the process and was delayed in receiving her copy of the book.  After logging in on her iPad, I noticed she had used the other student's code, so I was able to fix the problem by setting her up with her own code, but I was not able to recover the lost code.     

Zite

 

After learning about the app Zite from my students, I downloaded this app onto my personal iPad and fell in love!  Zite is a reading tool that allows a user to enter their personal interests, and then it combs the internet for interesting articles related to the interests the reader chose. 

 

I asked each student to download this app on his or her iPad and/or smartphone, and the results were powerful. The clean and easy to use interface appealed to every one of my students, and they had fun entering their personal interests and creating their profiles.  

 

After each student chose their interests and created their profiles, I noticed students eager to finish their class work so that they could read articles on Zite.  This app has helped me improve classroom management because students are less likely to play games or do something otherwise inappropriate upon completion of their classwork, and they are less likely to disturb other students.  Additionally, it has helped some students develop a new attitude about reading and their ability to improve reading comprehension.  With this app, I have seen struggling readers change their perspective about reading and take ownership of their reading comprehension skills.      

Schoology

 

I first learned of Schoology while I was doing reserach about a similar program called Edmodo.  Both of these sites are content management programs for teachers and students, but with a social media platform.  I stumbled across this great site to help me make the decision to use Schoology rather than Edmodo. 

 

Schoology engages my students in online discussions in a way that normal classroom conversations cannot.  Even my most reluctant students feel empowered to share their ideas about our learning concepts.  Much like Facebook, students set up profiles and participate in lively discussions. 

 

Schoology enables me to do several things: I teach students how to participate in academic discussion; I show students how to navigate social media and get the most out of it; and engage students in discussion that wouldn't otherwise participate.  My students love when I assign an activity to Schoology because they know they will be able to see other students' work and make positive comments about each other's work. 

 

I have seen many students expand their participation in my class and even developed more positive interactions with each other.  The sense of community in my classroom has improved significantly with the addition of Schoology because students are able to give each other feedback more often and frequently participate in discussions.   

Dropbox

 

Dropbox is a cloud-based sharing site that allows students to submit work to me electronically.  I am able to revise or comment on students electronic versions of assignments, and then send it right back to them over the Internet.  There are many challenges and rewards associated with using this tool, and I am compelled to reflect on them every day as my students experience them first hand.

 

Integrating Dropbox into my classroom is a constant challenge, but one that is definitely worth it.  Dropbox takes valuable class time to set up, can be confusing for students, and sometimes takes a long time to load on students' devices, but it is my belief that these challanges don't outweigh the benefits.  

 

With Dropbox, my students receive more timely feedback, learn important 21st century skills, and maintain an organized record of all of their classwork.  As a teacher, I transport less papers back and forth, spend less time grading student work, and maintain a clear record of student progress. 

 

The integration of Dropbox into my classroom has pushed my students to embrace technology in a way that many of them didn't think possible.  The challenges associated with this tool have given some students more patience and better critical thinking skills.  Dropbox has made my job ultimately easier in many ways and has cut down on paper costs, too.    

 

 

bottom of page