A Short Reflection on My Tango with Technology

I'm so proud of my little teacher's confidence, as he figures out the time. This was intended to be an assessment showing mastery. Even so, I (and others) have derived much enjoyment from this video. Showing understanding of time and the clock wasn't nearly as exciting, before we learned how to makeTouchCasts! Students love to teach! Writing wasn't as engaging, especially for students with disabilities, prior to digital books, various apps, such as ChatterPixKids and digital story boards.

After reading a blog posted by Dr. Laurie Friedrich, I've been reflecting on the fact that my accountability partners became my students, rather than colleagues. It took months before other teachers began asking, "How did you do that?" "Did the students create that?"

At the beginning of this journey, I was excited; trying to share with everyone around me. Quickly, I learned there were no listeners. So, my students and I ventured into the world of app smashing and chrome-books with only the support of my beloved 880J and our encouraging, Dr. Friedrich. Soon, I began to hear from parents. I began to share more with parents, via Seesaw. It's been a blast! It's crazy to think that this tango into tech wouldn't last without peers to hold me accountable! It has become just another facet of my obsession with teaching.

On a twitter chat last night, there were several comments about technology taking over pedagogy. Well, we are teachers, knowledgable about pedagogy, we know how to incorporate technology into our lesson planning and assessment. OK, I'll admit, there are educators who only think of games, when we talk tech. But, they are just where they are right now. We all start somewhere.

"What will I do if technology is no longer as motivating for my students?" I don't see it happening. My lessons were engaging before, so we will manage. My students and I will continue to be creative in how we use tech to learn and to show our learning.

The personalization opportunities with technology 
take individualization to a whole new level!

The Good, the Bad and the Pretty

The Good

Engagement

My small groups are loving Nearpod! When my Haiku vocabulary lessons, and Touchcast and Powtoon videos were integrated with Nearpod, my lessons were infused with "Woah! What just happened?" and "Cool! Is that your voice, Mrs. Michalski?"

Concentration~
He was the star of the lesson!

It was nice to be able to share student examples anonymously, in order to discuss what could be done to make them better and what was done well.

I particularly enjoyed how careful they were to edit their sentences, before submitting them to be viewed by the group!

I shared two Haikus on Meaningful Sentences and the Powtoon video on prepositional phrases with the classroom teachers. Two of them used everything I shared. This has been an exciting adventure; more engaging for myself and students than I expected.

The Bad
My Touchcast was pretty bad! I was tired and slow at using the app, and it showed in the lesson! I will definitely use it again, when I'm more alert.

Another bad experience is currently with ShadowPuppet. One of my reading groups worked hard on a readers' theater. They practiced reading with expression, took pictures of the illustrations and marked up their parts, so that they would be able to pass the iPad around to each other efficiently. Alas! the microphone is not working in the app. I get a message that says the mic is being used by another app. Blasted! I have closed all apps, checked settings for sound and for ShadowPuppet.edu; even restarted the iPad. No luck. Honestly, I will go into a depression, if I cannot use ShadowPuppet any more! Help 880j!

The Pretty

Students' First Map
~below grade level

Total Recall is a great app for reading comprehension and recall. An unexpected benefit of using Total Recall is that a student who has terrible speech patterns and intense stuttering, made an enormous effort to think carefully and focus while verbally filling in his bubbles! I was not prepared for how motivating it would be for him. He is not self-conscious at all about his speech, so he will stutter and blurt out frequently. He quickly learned, without feeling judged, that he simply will not be understood unless he slows down and forms the sentence in his mind before saying it aloud. Also, the maps are pretty!

Remember how cautious I was at the beginning of the semester? No more. I've embraced the technology I've been exposed to. Hopefully, this is just the beginning.

Students' First Map
~far below grade level

The next maps will be more complex. I think I will present them with the first bubbles that they can edit, and let them take it from there; something like this...

Follow Up: It worked beautifully! Here is the students' finished map...