Technology in the Classroom

 Reflection of  Technology Practices for Instructional Improvement Roblyer and Hughes (2019) suggest that technology can assist in moving “teachers toward instruction that is more student-centered, active, and relevant to the world in which they live” (p. 415).  Throughout this course I have been introduced to several technology options that are available to meet the various needs of my students.  Technology that has the potential to motivate and engage students while they are learning the content.  Although I have considered myself technologically literate, I have seen only a small glimpse of how much I do not know.  The textbook stated that with an increase of technology, “good teachers are more essential now than ever” (Roblyer & Hughes, 2019, p. 14-15).  Until this class, I had not given much thought to how essential technologically proficient teachers are to the field of education.  Textbooks are being phased out and Chromebooks and onl...

 

Roblyer and Hughes (2019) suggest that implementing technology into the classroom also serves as a way to implement student-centered instruction (p. 415).   Whereas assistive technologies are commonly thought to help students with special needs, Grabiec (2017) has noted that “students without learning disabilities (are) learning more effectively using text-to-speech and speech-to-text tools—they read longer, write longer, and show a great improvement in spelling” (para. 1). A common misperception is that “assistive technology is primarily for students with significant or severe disabilities” (Sullivan, 2019, para. 12). However, technology and assistive devices can be utilized in the classroom to meet the needs of all the students.   These devices can range anywhere from low-tech to complicated technology.   In my classroom over the years, some of the assistive technology that I have commonly utilized has been graphic organizers, post-it notes, graph paper, and bookmarks...

  Lesson Plan The topic for the lesson is classifying quadrilaterals.  This lesson is intended for fourth grade.  After being shown the Nearpod assessment on classifying triangles, the students will be asked to create an assessment for classifying the five quadrilaterals: trapezoid, parallelogram, rhombus, rectangle, and square.  The students will use three activities on Nearpod to present the content.              Nearpod is a web-based assessment tool that has various ways to assess students.  It allows for students to interact with the content and implement resources from the internet.  Nearpod offers reports that record the students results on each activity.  The also offers premade lessons and virtual field trips.  Accommodations for students with special needs will take on various forms based on the individual student.  The students will be paired in groups.  The stu...

Lesson Plan             Within my reading curriculum is a list of vocabulary words that the students are to know each week.  Each day throughout the week the students work at familiarizing themselves with the words.  Although the there is an online component to study the words, after completing the same activity each week, the games lose their effectiveness.  In this lesson, Kahoot! will replace the daily vocabulary review. Reflection The program utilized in this lesson is Kahoot!.  It is an internet based program that allows teachers to engage their students in the lesson.  Through Kahoot! teachers are able to create review activities and share them with colleagues.  I have heard nothing but good about this program and it seems to motivate students.  In RATifying this lesson, Kahoot! replaces the independent studying that would take place before the assessment (Roblyer & Hughes, 2019, p. 66)....

  Farber suggests “for young people to be truly media literate, we, as educators, need to contextualize how and why games function and how they can be transformational to learning” (2020, para. 14).   Gaming in the classroom has become more popular as technology in the hands of students has increased.   Roblyer and Hughes (2019) have noted that benefits of using games in education can increase student motivation, give instant feedback, and reward students for their achievement (p. 179).   Some of the challenges with utilizing educational games in the classroom is having the money to have the necessary equipment for the games and the “school’s emphasis on standardized test results” (Roblyer and Hughes, 2019, p. 181). In order to make gaming productive in the classroom, the smaller the group sizes, the better individual involvement from kids.   Students should be actively engaged in learning.   In games where taking turns is required, it is best to limit wa...