Supporting Students Through Strategic Tech Resources
The time is now to adapt to our new world. Our ever-changing post-pandemic world has truly put a spotlight on the importance of providing strong technology resources to our students. For the first time in a while, our classrooms were forced into fully remote environments seemingly overnight. We had to adapt to new ways of teaching, thinking, and learning to adapt to multiple different learning styles. In actuality, there is almost a surplus of resources available to students & educators alike on the Internet currently. I could write pages on pages highlighting all the different technological resources available to educators. From video based resources to collaborative team resources, the possibilities are truly endless, as the list of what is accessible continues to grow and grow and grow.
As mentioned in the book Read the World by Kristin Ziemke and Katie Muhtaris, they highlight the important of being strategic with the resources. “Our work is also about helping our students see technology as a tool to be used strategically…it is common for students to come to school with the impression that technology is a tool for entertainment” (Page 16, Read the World)
I found this quote extremely interesting, as we all know even before our COVID world, technology was primarily used as an entertainment resource rather than supplemental to education and learning. I want to focus on some strong resources we have that are intentional and strategic for guiding classroom learning online.
Padlet has created an awesome collaborative hub that shows a meaningful benefit for both students and teachers alike. Padlet allows you to create an open shared board where students can include text, video, images and websites to share their ideas. Padlet allows you to comment on peers posts and creates a visual experience allowing the whole class or small group to collaborate on a specific idea or theme for each unique Padlet created.
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| A fun way to ask the class "This or That" questions and allow students to see other responses & reply |
Example Use Ideas: Morning Meeting for each student to share something fun they did the past weekend, collaboration board for students to comment and share on upcoming writing project ideas, compare and contrast board on a class read-aloud book
FlipGrid has created a wonderful resource by allowing students to record short videos of themselves that can be watched by the class and allows students to reply back to the individual videos left by students. Another great resource to build and support collaboration in all ways
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| Using FlipGrid as a post read aloud activity to ask students what their favorite part of the story was |
Example Use Ideas: Using for post read aloud to discuss what their favorite part of the book was and why, Use in math for explaining how you got a specific answer and even showing the camera their work on a whiteboard allow students to learn different ways to do things
Resource #3: Google Docs/Google Slides
The Google Suite of products has been extremely helpful even before Covid. It allows you to easily create documents, Powerpoints, and more in a quick and easy format saved directly to the cloud. Additionally, it allows multiple users to be editing and working on the same document to allow for increased collaboration and support
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| An example workbook page on Google Slides that could easily be used as a collaborative resource |
Example Use Ideas: Allow students to partner write a story, alternating every other sentence, have a group create a presentation sharing what their book club talked about in their meetings and sharing what the book was about
While the goal of the resources are still focused on being strategic to support students, differentiation through resources is another way to make sure all the students are engaged. Creaza allows you to create anything from cartoons to videos created by you
Example Use Ideas: Summarizing an end of unit lesson and what the students learned from beginning to end of the unit, creating a comic strip demonstrating the beginning, middle, & end of a class read aloud
While this spotlight may be small on a few of the many resources, the most important takeaway is focusing on how to use resources to be strategic in learning and growth for all students in your classroom. Taking a few extra minutes to consider if the resource you are using will help drive home the goals and objectives is important towards building a strong classroom, for every single student who is lucky enough to be apart of it.
Hi Lauren!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your insight on the first chapter of our new book. So far I was really impressed with the different structures they explained. I think this relates to your post because there are so many great resources, but how we implement them is most important. So many of our students think of technology as entertainment and can't keep their hands off. It is a challenge for me and I know other teachers at my school to find ways to teach this new digital age. I'm hoping this text will guide me towards creating a learning environment that is incentivezed by technology. Creaza is new to me, can't wait to check it out! My students love comics and graphic novels, this would be great. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Lauren and Kate,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your great blog on supporting students with technology resources. I do agree that the technology that the kids have access to today is very powerful, and we do have to be very strategic in the resources we give kids. I think that after last year, kids are really getting the hang of using technology on a regular basis, and my experience is that they really view any integration of technology as "fun." The text "Read the World" describes this so well by saying that, "Yet, in our students' worlds, there is no line between the tech world and the nontech world." Technology is just part of who they are! The things that seem so difficult for us our students' pick up on so easily. They are naturally curious, and I think that we as teachers should take advantage of this. I love your ideas for using Padlet for morning meetings, or weekend reflections! I can't wait to use that idea, especially on the days when time is running short for having the whole class share. I am curious about Creaza. Have you ever used this to have the students create comic books? Please let me know. Thanks! Laura A
Hi Laura! I haven't personally found it, but when researching some different resources, I heard about that one, so I'm also excited to check it out in my own future classroom too!! :)
DeleteBest,
Lauren
Hi Lauren,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your thoughts and for sharing your tech resources with us. Creaza is also new to me and will definitely check it out. Out of all the structures the book explained, I can relate to #3 the most "strategic use of technology," hence the quote you used in your blog from page 16. As we all know, when COVID first hit back in March 2020 we were inundated with a plethora of free tech apps and then had to decipher through them and choose wisely. I do remember how kids thought it would all be fun to be able to learn through tech games. My first app I decided to delve into was "Quizlet." I partly chose it because my daughter was using it and she thought it was fun and I thought I could 'make' my curriculum fit the app. when I should of chosen an app. to fit my purpose and curriculum instead. In the end, I ditched the app. and became zoom savvy instead. Thanks. - Marlene
Hi Marlene! I love it. I was a huge Quizlet gal in high school and it is another awesome app to use as a study resource. Love it!!
DeleteHello Lauren,
ReplyDeleteGreat job going first! There are lots of useful resources here. I have used Padlet, Flipgrid, and Google Docs and Slides, but I have not heard of Creaza!
The shift to virtual learning happened so suddenly. It's amazing how many of these resources were around before virtual learning, and how underused they were. Before the switch to distance teaching and learning, my district did not have one-to-one devices. There were carts of Chromebooks in the schools that teachers could reserve, and I remember hearing plenty of complaints with some teachers never getting a chance to use them. Many students did not have laptops or tablets at home either. Unfortunately, these projects were not viable. Now that every student has a device, and some students are fully remote, these resources are not only possible to use, but necessary.
Thank you for finding and sharing these resources with us. It can be overwhelming to try to find resources to fit our needs as teachers with the entirety of the internet to search through. Getting recommendations from other teachers on what works for them is extremely valuable!
Best,
Kate
Lauren- Great job on your blog post! I really resonated with the quote in the beginning of your blog, about how technology can be used strategically as a tool, not just for entertainment! I think that was a big shift between last year to now. Before technology was seen as an "added bonus" during indoor recess, for Raz Kids during Reading or Dreambox for Math. Now, it is an expectation that students are using technology, not only for the majority of the day, but they also need to be fluent in their technology use.
ReplyDeleteHey Lauren thanks for sharing. You did a really great job on your blog post. It's clear, concise, and also practical. I liked how you incorporated the example use idea. It's a great way to help us think about how we can incorporate technology into the classroom in an effective way. I also found it interesting when you said that its "common for students to come to school with the impression that technology is a tool for entertainment." I agree with this and I also wanted to add that a lot of teachers also use technology just for entertainment or to use up time. I think it is important to know how to use technology and integrate it into the classroom appropriately.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with in so many ways! If you asked a teacher at the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year if they could teach solely from home I think they would have laughed, but as you said, we were forced into remote learning overnight. Teachers consistently rise to the occasion and help each other out by sharing tips and tricks of what is working for them but I do agree it becomes overwhelming. I loved the quote you chose from the Read the World book. That quote strongly resonated with me as well. We do assume our students come in knowing more than they do and I look forward to changing my perspective with the help of this book and using explicit instruction to support students in using technology in a more meaningful way. I like the way you suggested using Padlet for Morning Meeting. I haven't tried it with my students yet but after reading your blog I look forward to giving it a try.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Lauren! I think you did a really great job not only highlighting the different digital resources there are available, but in providing examples of how to use them in the classroom as well. This even models what teachers do everyday in showing how to turn an idea into action, as well as how to be creative with demonstrating knowledge in different formats. I definitely feel that the idea you mentioned around technology moving past an entertainment stage is accurate, as its use for schoolwork has expanded, such as with writing papers and doing research often being required among a lot of student work now. Although someone may have heard of one of these resources before then too, you then have given another lens and way of utilizing them that someone may not have thought of, and I have a few new ideas to try myself now to encourage more student engagement that crosses over with technology!
ReplyDeleteHi!
ReplyDeleteThe resources that you included in the post are some of my favorites...and what I have found to be the most useful through out this year. Like you mentioned, We really saw education transform this year and dive deeper into the world of technology than ever before. its amazing how quickly we've all adapted but I remember how daunting it seemed at the beginning of the year. Padlet, Google Slides, and FlipGrid are all so versatile, the possibilities for how to utilize them in instruction are endless! I especially love using FlipGrid for formative assessment data and alternative assessment. One of the appeals to all of these also, are that they are very user friendly. This was a really well organized and helpful post. Nice job!
-Grace
Hi Lauren!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this informative and incredibly helpful blog post! I enjoyed reading about these tech resources, especially Creaza which I am unfamiliar with. I can see how this would be a helpful tool to allow students choices in how they may demonstrate their learning; I imagine many students would enjoy creating cartoons. I have used Flipgrid, Padlet, and Google Applications before and agree that these are beneficial tools for enhancing learning. I look forward to incorporating these more when I am a first year teacher in the fall! Great job!
-Shawna Zeisner