The Impact of Routines

This  past week, I visited some schools to meet with principals, visit classrooms, and make recommendations for how to move technology integration to the next level. My goal is to highlight some of the best uses of technology I saw during my visits. 

Kelly Parks' 4th grade students at Keith Elementary School were using Chromebooks to access a Khan Academy video to demonstrate 2 digit by two digit multiplication. Students watched the video, pausing it to practice on scratch paper when needed. Each student had a stack of sticky notes for this purpose. When they felt like they had a good understanding of the process, they responded to a discussion forum prompt on Edmodo. In their responses, they included an example of a problem and explained the process in their own words. 

When students finished, they used IXL Math to practice 2 digit multiplication problems. I asked a student to explain it to me.  She showed me the home page and explained that her teacher tells them what category to select, based on the day's learning target. This takes them to a page with math problems. Students solve the problems on paper or on a small dry erase board and submit answers. She said "I like using this program because I know right away if I'm doing problems right. And the reports let me see how I am improving with practice." Yep, a 4th grader said that. 

Kelly has established routines for how technology is used in her math classroom. She shares a cart of Chromebooks with the other 4th grade teachers in the school. They have a standing schedule, so she knows that once a week she can count on having access to the Chromebooks. Students know what to expect on the day the Chromebooks are used: video tutorial, Edmodo response to a teacher prompt, and IXL Math. On days when the Chromebooks are not available, students rotate between four stations during math workshop, and she makes use of the limited technology she has available (one ipad and a Mimeo). The stations are: 1) Problem Solving (facilitated by teacher); 2) Practice; 3) iPad - This station has one iPad; students watch a Khan Academy video and respond to an Edmodo discussion board prompt; 4) IXL Math using Mimeo. 

Effective technology integration occurs when the use of technology is routine and transparent and supports curricular goals; Kelly's math classroom is a good example of this. Students are actively engaged, participate in groups, and receive frequent feedback - a perfect environment for learning.  

Using a Google Site as a Blog

This  past week, I visited four schools to meet with principals, visit classrooms, and make recommendations for how to move technology integration to the next level. My goal is to highlight some of the best examples I saw in classrooms during my visits. Here is the first.  

Lori Sparks' 4th grade students at Commerce Elementary School were using Chromebooks to write book recommendations on a class website. Mrs. Sparks set up a Google Site, using the "Announcements" template for the pages, which is a format that is much like a blog. Each student had their own page and wrote about a book of their own choosing. 

The level of engagement was high; I did not observe even one student being off-task. When they were finished writing their own recommendation, they read their classmates' book recommendations and made comments. Mrs. Sparks remarked that she finds the comments feature to be very motivational to the students and is a quick and easy way for her to provide feedback, because everything is linked up in one place. I noticed that her feedback included clarifying questions and encouragement. She told me that setting up the web site, which is protected and only available to her class (at least for now), only took her about five minutes to set up. 

The use of a Google Site, like in this example, could be used in similar ways at any grade level and subject. It saves time, makes it easy to provide feedback (no files to find or papers to haul), is engaging, and allows for collaboration (which tends to be motivational). Also, when students see their work published online, they want to do their best work. A WIN WIN WIN WIN!

BookFlix Added to MeL

Scholastic's BookFlix has now joined the other excellent early literacy eResources available to all Michigan residents from the Michigan eLibrary (MeL). BookFlix is an online literacy resource that pairs classic video storybooks from Weston Woods with related nonfiction from Children’s Press and other trusted Scholastic sources.

All the fiction/nonfiction pairs in BookFlix are categorized according to nine themes: Animals and Nature; Earth and Sky; Family and Community; People and Places; Music and Rhyme; ABC’s and 1, 2, 3’s; Adventure; Imagination; and Celebrations. 

Books are paired - a fiction and nonfiction book. The Read Along option 
displays the audio portion of the story, with word-by-word highlighting, as it plays. The audio is a real person reading the book, and Spanish versions are available. The read-along option can be turned off, too. 

Access Bookflix and several other excellent resources for kids at http://mel.org/kids

Access ALL the resources on the main Michigan eLibrary at http://mel.org.  

Moved Blog from Edublogs to Blogger

My blog, Yes Tech! has been  hosted on Edublogs for the past seven years. My district has moved to Google Apps for Education and therefore it now makes sense for me to use one of the Google tools as my blogging platform. I believe that using Blogger will help me to better support teachers who also wish to use it. Additionally, it's free (I have been paying a yearly subscription fee to Edublogs), so continuing to pay for something that I can use for free just doesn't make sense.

I've lost some of the navigation, but the content has moved over without issue. I"m glad that I am not starting from scratch, because I like being able to scroll through history (and my professional growth) by browsing older posts.

I have neglected my Edublogs blog, so hopefully I will post more regularly here! Subscribe to new posts if you are interested - see "follow by email" to the right, or scroll to the bottom of this page for the RSS feed.