Month: September 2019

Edpuzzle Exploration

Molly Sand on

Over the summer, I participated in a technology training and was introduced to Edpuzzle for educators. As I mentioned before, I had only used Edpuzzle in one online class and did not enjoy the entire experience. There were certain aspects I did appreciate, like the questions added to videos. I did not like the feature of not being able to move freely through the video. The presentation was locked in and this caused for issues with time. I would have to look at how long the presentation was in order to dedicate enough time.

In my classroom, I think I will be setting the audiobook videos to as unlocked because we will listen to the audiobook in class and i want my students to be able to move through the book and answer questions. There will still be the option to re-listen to the chapter and answer questions, but I want to make this lesson available to all learning levels. Some students will not need to re-listen, some might need to re-listen to a specific section, and others might need to listen to the entire chapter in order to answer the questions.

I believe Edpuzzle will provide more differentiation for all my students, both ELL and mainstream. As a teacher of ESL, i have to constantly revise lessons to make them accessible to the various abilities and technology will make this process a lot simpler.

Teachnology Reflection 6

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My rough draft was just that. Rough. I am still unsure of my exact goals of how I want technology to be incorporated into my classroom. Currently in one of my classes, the students are not able to use their iPads except strictly for their current project. We allowed the students choices for completing their speech project. The choices included:

  1. Google Docs
  2. Google Slides
  3. Notability
  4. Notecards
  5. Notebook

My co-teacher and I thought this would be better than assigning one form of completing the project. Unfortunately, the students have little experience with all of the above choices. To model how to write notecards, I utilized our DocCam and described the steps as I wrote out my own speech. This seemed to benefit them because they were able to see the model, listen to the steps again, and reread the instructions.

Then I showed them how to write their speeches using Google Slides. I clearly labeled my slides for each section (Introduction, Category 1, Category 2, Category 3, and Conclusion). I also included images to demonstrate the three items required for their speech. With the slides presentation, I gave them an example of how to give their speech using technology in the classroom.

I think as the year goes on, as long as we continue to model the behavior and set clear expectations for technology, we should be able to let the students be more creative with the iPads.

Teachnology Philosophy Reflection 5

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After reading “A Community of Voices: Educational Blog Management Strategies and Tools,” I started thinking about the relevancy and need of using Edpuzzle in a co-taught language arts classroom with ESL and mainstream students.

I believe Edpuzzle will be an asset to my classroom because of the features it offers and content available. The only set back I have currently is the amount of free storage. I have almost met the limit for free storage and as a teacher, I do not have the funds to create content outside of this current project. I was able to develop chapters 1 through 4 of the audio reading for Number the Stars. If I want to continue to use this tool, I will need to purchase more storage or figure out a way to save the video quizzes I have created and move on to more content.

The need for a technology that is easily accessible and is user friendly is important in an integrated classroom. The various learning styles and levels complicate many lessons. We do a lot of starting over from scratch with our co-taughts and this can cause frustration for mainstream students in a co-taught. With Edpuzzle, I am hoping to relieve some of those frustrations because the videos will be posted to their Schoology class page and they will be able to work at their own pace.

The Edpuzzle videos will allow students to reread (re-listen) on their own time and answer stop/check questions to gauge understanding of the story. I think using this form of technology is relevant for mainstream and ESL students to aid in individualized education.

Teachnology Philosophy Reflection 4

Molly Sand on

There is mainstream teaching and then there is co-teaching. Yes, they both have teaching in the name, but they are different approaches being used in many schools. I am a teacher, but I co-teach four out of the five classes i teach. According to the U of M, “Co-teaching is defined as two teachers working together with groups of students; sharing the planning, organization, delivery, and assessment instruction, as well as the physical space.”

Co-teaching can be difficult at times and other times i am grateful to have another adult in the room to back me up. One thing I have learned about my co-teachers is that I am the most tech savvy out of the two co-teaching pairs I am a part of. My co-teachers are older than me and have not used certain programs or software, such as Edpuzzle.

Since I share my language arts classes with a co-teacher, i will need to teach not only my students how to use Edpuzzle, but also my co-teacher. She gets lost when using technology and I have had to remake many lessons because formatting or software was not compatible or pleasing to the eye. I am glad I started working on my videos for Number the Stars ahead of time because I should have them all finished with enough time to teach my co-teacher the new content.

Teachnology Philosophy Reflection 3

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Reflection prompt: What theories, readings, and experiences have shaped your perspective on using technology in the classroom?

I am working in a school that is one-to-one and the technology available to students comes in the form of an iPad. Through my experience in this school I have come across many difficulties. Students have used their iPads for non-school related tasks and this has hindered their understanding of why the technology is important for their learning.

I would like to help my students to understand how to use their technology appropriately and effectively for their learning. I have started reading New York Times Articles about technology in the classroom. They wrote a series of articles about this topic in 2012 and in the first article they prompted students to comment about the following:

“Students:Tell us about the ways that the teachers in your school use technology, and how well you think it enhances what and how you learn. What mix of traditional teaching and teaching with emerging technologies do you think would be best for you as a learner? Why?” (The New York Times)

Some students preferred digital note taking because it eliminates messy handwriting. Others expressed how older teachers have difficulties with using technology and incorporating it into their lessons. The comments were interesting to read through and I suggest you do to learn what some students think when teachers use technology.

The NYT prompt can be used during the technology expectations review most schools participate in doing each year. It can be used as a way to receive feedback from students and how a teacher can incorporate more or adjust how they currently use technology.

I expect through this class and these reflections I will be more comfortable using the iPads more often in my classroom.

Teachnology Philosophy Reflection 2

Molly Sand on

As a first year teacher last year, I was overwhelmed with the opportunities technology provided my classes. I admit I did not use technology as much as I would have liked to, but I first needed to be a “regular” teacher before I introduced more media into lessons.

My overall goals as a teacher using technology include the following:

  1. I would like to incorporate assignments to be completed online only. This would teach my students not only how to save paper for when it is absolutely necessary, but would provide a new learning space for them to grow.
  2. I would like to instruct a mini lesson on how to Google properly. I have noticed many of my students do not know how to use this search engine to their advantage yet and I want to help them get there. There are times when they will not be able to get help on an assignment or project and may need assistance from a Youtube video or an image from google images. Without the proper tools to search, their assignment might might be incomplete.
  3. I will be introducing Edpuzzle videos into language arts and will be tracking the progress of my students ability to comprehend the novel Number the Stars. I have started adding ‘stop and check’ questions to the audio readings of the chapters. Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 are works in progress, but I think you will be able to see the benefits of asking clarifying questions while using an audio reading.

Over this next week, I will be looking at new ways to introduce technology into my language arts and reading classes. This will include apps for reading books, watching videos for further understanding a concept, and creating a speech about themselves to share with the whole class.

Teachnology Philosophy Reflection 1

Molly Sand on

Reflection Prompt: What were your earliest experiences with a writing technology? With a digital writing technology? What do you remember about them? How did you use them? What did you write/create?

My earliest memory of writing technology is using Microsoft Notepad on a Gateway 2000 computer with Dial-up Internet. I remember anytime I wanted to do something using internet I would have to make sure no one was using the cord telephone because the internet connection was established through the phone. If I remember correctly, I wrote a lot of lists, short (extremely short) stories, some journaling, and silly poems or cards. I remember using word processing software in my elementary school to type projects, add photos to stories I wrote, and make books. My parents still have some of the stories and books I made as a child and I will try to get copies of them to add to this post later on.

After a brief phone call with my mom, I discovered that I used Reader Rabbit and Bookworm from a young age. She thought my sisters and I played these games as early as three or four years old. Both games were used for reading and learning how to spell. I did not realize how dated these games were until I was searching for links to their websites or for any information. Reader Rabbit does have its own website, but by looking at its design it clearly has not been updated.The graphics are not visible and the homepage is cluttered with links to other websites with similar edutainment games. I was only able to find a download software link for Bookworm, but not its own website. It is available on a few game sites catered to young learners. Bookworm is similar to scrabble and a word search. The player has to spell words using adjacent letters.

While reminiscing on my own experience, I decided I could do an exercise like this in my Language Arts and ESL classes. I am planning to do an activity called “What comes to mind?” This activity is used to help students discuss a specific topic. The first discussion we will be having will be on reading. I will hold another discussion on writing. The activity asks students to describe facts, feelings, questions, and anything else that comes to mind about the topic. The activity is adapted from Tools for Thoughtful Assessment.

Welcome!

Molly Sand on

Well hello, I’m Molly! This is where I will be sharing my ideas and experiences with using technology in my classroom. I do have a personal blog on WordPress and enjoy sharing my experience with teaching, traveling, and a variety of other topics on there. I will be adding my postings from here onto my personal blog as a series called “Technology Exploration in the Classroom” or “Tech for Teachers” or something else.

This semester I will be focusing on how to incorporate Edpuzzle into language arts. I have briefly used this technology as a student and as a teacher at a training. I plan to adapt new materials with this technology for my various learners. As a teacher of ESL, I strive to open my classroom to new ways of thinking and teaching because differentiation is needed for both teachers and students.

In my 7th grade language arts class, we will be reading Number the Stars. Because we have a variety of reading levels, we will have books to follow along with an audio reading. With Edpuzzle, I have begun adapting the audio readings into reading checkpoints or quizzes. In middle school, we like to call these questions “Stop and Checks” because we stop reading and check in with the class to see if they have been paying attention. I like how Edpuzzle offers this feature to be added to videos. I have made video quizzes for chapters 1-4 and need to make them for chapters 5-17. In this class, I will keep updating on the progress of creating and the experience of using Edpuzzle.