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Getting My Feet Wet
When I first started at Williamsville High School, we had very limited amount of computers that worked properly. I resorted to printing out the majority of the materials that I needed for class. -
The 1st Round of Research Papers
The first several years at WHS students used seasoned laptops to compose their research papers on Microsoft Word 2007. The batteries would often die so students would lose their unsaved work. Most students struggled to save their paper properly in a place they would be able to retrieve their most recent copies from. -
The Advent of Google Chromebooks and Goolge Drive
When the district bought several mobile Chromebook labs, my use of technology changed fairly quickly. Students could now work on a presentation or on the same word processing document at the same time. I also had the ability to see what students were working on and I could answer any questions they had in real time while looking at their work from my device. Better yet, Google Drive saved all changes automatically and students became far less likely to lose what they had previously worked on. -
Reviewing with Kahoot
Prior to using Kahoot, I used to use a Jeopardy! Review Game in my classes. However, since the class was split into groups, I discovered that typically one person would immediately answer the question which gave no time for other group members to think about the answer. With Kahoot, each student gets the opportunity to participate. Since students can pick their own username, a student is not identified if they answered a question incorrectly. -
Using Google Forms Anonymously
Recently, I've started integrating Google Forms in my class discussions so students can anonymously and thus truthfully post their opinion regarding societal issues without facing any social scorn from their classmates. This technology lets me quickly and accurately determine how the class feels about a specific issue. -
Reacquainting Students with Vintage Technologies
For the first time, I am going to to require students to checkout a book from the library with the intention of using this book for their research paper. I have found that students only seem to understand how to use Google and other search engines to find information. As a result, I am going to force students to use a book to synthesize information. Being able to use an index and successfully extract desired information from a book is slowly becoming a lost art. -
Technological Constructionism
Now that I have had the opportunity to facilitate some technological redesign, I have integrated technology further in my classroom to have my students make presentations with various technologies including: Smore, PowToon, Lumen5, ThingLink, Padlet, Adobe Spark, Storyboard That, Prezi, Google Slides, PowerPoint, Screencastify, Screencast-O-Matic, Vocaroo, and Timetoast. -
Incorporating More Student Driven Learning
Now that I have become more familiar with the various ways to integrate technology for educational purposes, I have started allowing my students to choose their own paths of educational discovery which allows me to help guide my students learning as opposed to directing it. -
Flipping the Classroom
Learning how to create well designed screencasts and other presentation tools has given me the confidence to begin flipping the classroom so students have more of an opportunity to engage in hands on learning and inquiry based learning in my classroom.
