Let's Tech Out!

A Digital Presence Hi everyone! This week's focus is about research and statistics regarding educational tech. As mentioned in prior posts, my classroom has 1:1 iPads that are able to be taken home. This week, students were able to take home their iPads to review the digital guide book provided by the district to then sign and return their  Digital Guide  form. Within this book and form students are to understand the responsibility and goals of having an iPad. In addition, students are learning throughout the year about what it means to be a digital citizen. Our student objective for quarter one is " Students understand how to post appropriate comments, pictures, and information online ." Thus, students are learning how to think before posting and the importance of creating a digital identity.     Within reading  Teaching Digital Citizens in Today's World:Research and Insights Behind theCommon Sense K–12 Digital Citizenship Curriculum   I was surprised by the p

Let's actively learn!  Hi everyone! This week's focus is active learning. Active learning involves students interacting throughout the lesson and not just listening to a lecture and copying notes. As mentioned in previous posts, my elementary school was limited in technology. I cannot express to you how often I watched a PowerPoint and rapidly wrote Cornell notes as my teacher spoke. Unfortunately, some teachers still do this as a form of teaching and many students are  bored, confused, or not engaged. Active learning does not have to include technology, however it could be beneficial to create interaction.  In my classroom, I create active learning by the use of gallery walks to incorporating technology within lessons. I love incorporating Kagan strategies! One of my favorite strategies to engage my 1st graders is think-pair-share. Through this strategy, students are asked think about what they know about the question being posed, they then  pair  themselves with a frien

Visitor v. Resident on the web Prior to this week's post, I never heard of being a resident or visitor of the internet. When we enter Google or any other search engine, many of us enter with a purpose to get an answer. However, other individuals may go online without a purpose and just for fun. In simpler terms, a resident "lives" online. I can often times consider myself a digital resident when I use social media apps such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. I usually do not open these apps for a purpose, but instead stay on these social media apps to comment and view updates from friends and family.  Now, a digital visitor uses the internet or apps for a purpose. There is a present goal as to why someone is opening their phone, tablet, etc. to search and view something. I am a digital visitor throughout the school day. I use applications such as ClassDojo, SeeSaw, and Powerschool to connect with parents and my students. I open the application and then exit as soon

STEM in the classroom, but why? Courtesy of GIPHY Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math or STEM as people like to call it has been growing over the years now that technology in school and in the classroom has become more common. So, now that we have technology in the classroom why not use it to implement STEM?! As mentioned in my previous post, this is my first year teaching. These past few days have been incredibly overwhelming, but oh so rewarding! Teaching in the 21st century means implementing STEM into the curriculum and school day. Throughout my time student teaching, my 1st graders were given the opportunity to go twice a month to maker space. At maker space, students learned how to design, build, code, and use their imagination to create something through hands-on learning! Students as young as 5 were becoming involved in coding, something I thought was only possible in middle school! To see their involvement and love for STEM grow made me wonder, how can I, a

Technology in my district As mentioned, my school district is 1:1 on iPads, however, they have not yet been distributed out for the students to use or take home. This week, for my education course, we are exploring the different frameworks and how we implement technology in the classroom. Because my district is 1:1, we try to be green and limit our printing. Instead, we think: How can students use their iPads to view and learn the same way than in paper and pencil? One way through this approach is by using Google classrooms to provide students with important PDFs to download and use throughout the school day.  The Framework TPACK, or Technological Penological Content Knowledge is a framework used by educators to analyze how a subject is taught, how effectively it is taught, and how technology is integrated in their teachings (McGraw Hill Education).  Courtesy of McGraw Hill Education But how can we ensure what we are teaching is impacting the learning of our studen

Podcasting, what is it? Podcasts or "audiobloggling"  has been recorded since 1980s. However, with the technology to we are listening and blogging more and more today- even in the classrooms! Personally, I did not start listening to podcasts until this summer. Throughout these past months, I became obsessed with listening to podcasts on my commute to work. With a click of a button, I was submerged into my favorite podcasts! Let me tell you, the categories of podcasts can look overwhelming. People podcast and post about anything! There's podcasts about wresting, podcasts for teachers, random trivia, the list goes on!  I follow many teachers on Instagram and we share/post any ideas other teachers may find helpful. One of my followers is also a 1st grade teacher and implements podcasting in her 1st grade classroom as a part of centers. Now, these podcasts options are approved by the teacher in which students select from and listen to. From her posts, I've noticed