Friday, February 12, 2016

The Journey Continues - More Technology Integration in the Classroom

My third year teaching began the same way as my first two - meeting after meeting, set up my classroom, making tons of copies and updating lesson plans.  As I was doing the beginning of the year activities, I was mental analyzing the new district policy of technology incorporation in the classroom and the new changes to the district wide policy.  This year, the district wanted teachers to start incorporating Schoology into the classroom.  Once again, I had a mini panic attack thinking about incorporating this new technology and the changes I would have to make to fulfill this new district goal.

As luck would have it, my mentor teacher and follow English teacher, had spent part of the summer attending multiple state sponsored training on Schoology and have multiple activities already completed that I used as a reference, in addition, to the videos and articles I read about using Schoology in the classroom. As I slowly developed activities and learned how to use this new technology, I kept referring back to the following three resources...


1. Teaching Hub Article about using Schoology in the Classroom: http://www.teachhub.com/schoology-learning-management-system-overview

2. This youtube video that helps teachers set up their Schoology classroom




3. The help guide located right on the schoology website - https://support.schoology.com/hc/en-us


I did not feel comfortable introducing this technology in the classroom until November of my third year teaching.  The very first students assignment I tried was a discussion board.  This type of assignment was picked for a number of reasons.  First, because my school is so small, I often teach the same group of students for two years, which meant the students were familiar with online discussion activities.  Secondly, the students, for previous experience enjoyed doing discussions posts.  Finally, this is one of the easiest assignment to see up on Schoology.


The very first discussion post I created on Schoology last year. 

After creating this practice assignment and giving the students time to fiddle and learn how to use Schoology, I began to make and incorporate more Schoology based activities, I continue to have the students response to discussion post and occasionally complete writing activities.  This year I feel more comfortable using Schoology and plan to have the students take their first Schoology based test in March.  A snapshot of the test is featured below.


The Green Cities Test the students will take in March. 
I am excited, yet nervous to try this new Schoology tool in March.  Overall, Schoology has had a very positive affect on my classroom environment and the students look using Schoology.  Schoology has made test modifications for my special education students easier, helps to eliminate excuses from students and allows me to track student participation and assignment competition in a more efficient and reliable way.
With Schoology firmly under my belt, I was feeling adventurous enough to incorporate more technology in my classroom. In January I attended a district training on new 
technology based educational tools that could be incorporated in the classroom. Some of the technologies highlighted during that session, including Google Drive, Schoology and a tool called Plickers. As I was already familiar with Schoology and Google Drive, I was most intrigued by this Plickers tool. Little did I know that day, that I would use Plickers as much as I use Google Drive.



Plickers in a nutshell, is a website and mobile application tool, that allows the teacher to ask review questions and get almost immediate student data.  This application, when using it for the first time, can seem a little overwhelming, is ridiculously easier to learn, teach and use in the classroom. as per my usual tradition I research and watch videos about this new tool before implementing it is the classroom. The video inserted below become my guide to setting up Plickers before trying it in class.



After setting up my classes, creating some test questions, printing the student cards and making sure the mobile application worked, I was ready to implement this new tool in the classroom.  Quoting an email, I sent to a parent and fellow teacher interested using Plickers in her classroom, how it works in the classroom is as follows:
When you want to use it in class, you turn on the smartboard, go to the Plickers website and hit live view - in the top right hand corner and hand out the cards.  Then open up the Plickers app and click on a question.  The question will then pop up on the smartboard for the students to see.  Have students think about their answer and when they are ready, have then hold their card high in the air with their answer choice in the top portion of the card - so if they think it is A, the portion of the card with the letter A should be at the top.  Because of the nature of the cards, you can only create True/False or Multiple Choice questions. Make sure that their hands are nowhere near the black portion of the card or else it will not scan.  Then click the scan bottom on the mobile app and begin scanning the room. As you are scanning the room, data will begin appearing on the Plickers app - number of students who answered, number of correct answers, etc - which you can then keep for your own use or show the students on the board.

         Snapshot of my library on Plickers - this is the area were teachers can make
 and store questions to use in class

Snapshot of one class on Plickers

A snapshot of the live view feature on Plickers
Like implementing most new technology in the classroom, it took a couple of tries and lots of demonstrations before the students became experts at using Plickers. A year later, the students become very excited when we use Plickers on test and quiz review days. While Plickers is one of my favorite technological tools to use in the classroom, there is one drawback to using Plickers - because of the nature of the students cards, the teacher can only create multiple choice and true/false questions. With this in mind, I believe the positives significantly out number the negatives of using Plickers. Plickers is a tool that is easy to learn, easy to implement and is a great activity if you have a few minutes left in class.
If any one is interested in trying Plickers in your classroom, here is the website : https://www.plickers.com/.
As I sit here finishing up this assignment, halfway through my fourth year teaching, I can definitely conclude that technology has dramatically improved my teaching practices and classroom environment.  I now have a grab bag of different technologies I know how to use and can easily implement in the classroom in a variety of situation.  While I do not have any technological goals for the remainder of the school year, I look forward to exploring and implementing more and more technology as I continue my teaching career.







Thursday, February 11, 2016

References

Catapano, J. (2016). Schoology: A learning management system overview. Retrieved from http://www.teachhub.com/schoology-learning-management-system-overview

Cunningham, J. (2013). How to use edmodo in the classroom. Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/how-educators-can-use-edmodo.shtml

Google Help. (2014, December 11). Share with other in drive, docs, sheets and slides. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25CtYkqamIA

Martinez, M. (2013, July 25). ISTE 2013: Three easy ways in use google drive in the classroom. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uuofqvUOSI

Rao, Aditi. (2013). 7 reasons to use edmodo in your classroom. Retrieved from http://teachbytes.com/2013/10/06/7-reasons-to-use-edmodo-in-your-classroom/

Reese, E. (2014, October 28). Plickers. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xgz0c0s_w6A

Schmidt, E. (2013, August 8). Edmodo in the classroom. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSuwnX9rdQw

Schoology. (2016). Schoology support. Retrieved from https://support.schoology.com/hc/en-us
Swanson, T. (2013, August 11). Schoology tutorial. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9D4xaRQSS4

Friday, February 5, 2016

The Journey Begins - My First Two Years Incorporating Technology in a Middle School Social Studies Classroom

I remember my job interview like it was yesterday.  It was my fourth interview of the day and I was exhausted and nervous.  It did not help that there was an issue getting through the security gate on base, which almost made me late. When I was driving home later that night, I keep thinking I had messed up on the interview.  You can imagine my surprise, when two days later, I received a call from the Human Resource director of the Caesar Rodney School District, who offered me the job as an English and Social Studies teacher at Dover Air Base Middle School.  I was beyond excited, since it was my dream job.  The next year was a blur - moving and adjusting to a new city, making and implementing lesson plans for five different classes and beginning my district's required three year mentoring program.  While I certainly used technology that first year teaching - smartboards, computers, video clips, audio clips, etc - I did not seriously use new technology or technology for a specific purpose or goal until my second year of teaching.

As with most school district - as far as I know - the first days back are filled with in services and meetings. My second year of teaching started in just the same way as my first, with one key difference.  During the summer holiday, at one of the administrator meeting, it was decided that the number one district priority for the next few school years, including the current one, would be dedicated to implementing technology in the classroom at all academic levels.  Upon reflection, when I first heard this news, I was terrified.  The first school meeting, my second year of teaching, the school year of 2013 and 2014, was filled with references to technologies and websites I was clueless about and was expected to institute in the classroom. Fortunately, the district provided plenty of training and support that school year to help teachers adapt and institute the new technologies.  By the third month of school, after watching some videos, including "Three easy ways to use google drive in the classroom" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uuofqvUOSI and "Edmodo in the classroom" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSuwnX9rdQw, talking with my fellow teachers and looking over my lesson plans, I comfortable slowly instituting Google Drive and Edmodo in my classroom.

Over the next few months, until early January, I experimented and fiddled with Edmodo and Google Drive.  I practiced sharing files and folders, uploading my lesson plans on Google Drive, created lesson plans on Google Drive and finally created my first student activities on both Google Drive and Edmodo.  By the Winter holiday season of 2013, I felt confident enough to create and implement a Google Drive based project in my classroom. The pictures below are some snapshot of the documents created on Google Drive for the project.

Google Drive created worksheet used by the students
during the Supreme Court Case Project.


Google Drive created instruction sheet referenced by students during
the Supreme Court Case Project.

The week after the winter holiday in early January 2014, I was ready for the students to starting using Google Drive in my Social Studies classroom and the newly purchased Chromebooks. Since this was the first time the students were using the Chromebooks and completing this project electronically, I expected there to be some technologically issues, but I was not prepared for the severely increased stress level and frustration that would follow in the next two weeks. The troubles began on the first day of the project, when the students struggled to log on to the Chromebooks,which lead to panicked emails back and forth with the Caesar Rodney District technology coordinator. Once that problem was fixed, the next day more problems emerged - internet connection was out, work was disappearing, students did not have the required documents in their Google Drive.  On the second day of the project, there were some many individualized issues with different student Google Drive accounts, that the project had to be temporary suspended and an entire class period was dedicated to working individually with students to fix the problems.

Day three was the turning point for technology integration in my classroom. All of the technology issues had been solved, the students had all the documents they needed in their Google Chrome accounts and they were ready to jump into the research portion of the project.  Day three and four of the project went well and stress levels decreased dramatically. Day five proved to be a bit of struggle, as the students had to send their first Google document back to the teacher for review. After some quick research, I had the students watch the following video, which gave them step by step instructions on how to share documents on Google Drive - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25CtYkqamIA. Once the students learned how to share documents on Google Drive, the rest of the project and technologies become easier and easier to navigate and the students were sharing and teaching the teacher how to use some features on Google Drive!

While the incorporation of Google Drive in my classroom via the Supreme Court Case research project was one of the most stressful and frustrating points in my teaching career, I am glad that I implemented and continue to use Google Drive in my classroom. The next time the students completed a project on Google Drive, I was a year wiser and was able to explain and demonstrate the skills needed to successfully navigate Google Drive in a more efficient manner.  The next year the project went much smoother and was more enjoyable to institute.  This year, due to sickness and snow days, the students will be completing that Google Drive based project later in the year than normal - in two weeks to be specific.  I hope that the project continues to improve every year!

     My Google Drive Homepage. This is without a doubt my most
treasured and useful teaching tool at the moment
.


With Google Drive firmly under my belt, I felt confident enough to institute another new technology in my classroom.  This time, my focus and efforts turned to learning the educational advantages and useful applications of Edmodo. As is tradition, I did extensive research about Edmodo before having the students use it in the classroom.  I was most interested in the discussion post aspect of Edmodo. After reading the following articles - http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/how-educators-can-use-edmodo.shtml and http://teachbytes.com/2013/10/06/7-reasons-to-use-edmodo-in-your-classroom/ - I started to make some simple assignments that would help the students learn this new technology.  Thanks to the newly purchased chromebook, the students had plenty of opportunities to figure out Edmodo before I started using it as a formal educational tool.   

Edmodo, during the rest of the year, become a forum for students to ask clarification questions, a place for the students to practice their writing skills by answering fun, but content specific questions and a place for students to continue discussions started in class. While I did not use this technology in the classroom as much as Google Drive, it is still an important part of my classroom environment. 

Some of the many discussion questions the students
answered on Edmodo throughout the school year. 


As a child who grow up during the technology revolution of the early to mid 90's, it may seem unusual that I was worried about incorporating technology in my Social Studies classroom, but by the end of this first journey I was very, very glad that I incorporated technology in my classroom. While it can be a rewarding experience, it is important to do your research and give the students plenty of time to adjust.

By the end of my second year teaching, I was feeling good - really good - about using Google Drive and Edmodo in my classroom and was already excited to use them again the following school year.However, in teaching you never know what each day will bring, and more surprise and suggestions were in store for me, but that is a story for another time!




Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Digital Textbooks Infographic

https://magic.piktochart.com/editor/piktochart/10666871#

Introductory Post


Welcome Everyone to my Blog!

This blog will be used for my Wilmington University EDT 6020 class.

Look forward to working and communicating with everyone!



Reference for Picture

People working together (Online image). Retrieved January 26th, 2016 from http://road.issn.org/en/file/business-people-working-together-istock000017346252mediumjpg