When Randy sent out his "welcome back" e-mail to all of us last week, I had a moment of panic (and embarrassment) realizing that I had totally forgotten this blog and was supposed to be posting here regularly. I had every intention of doing this throughout the summer when we met in June and then I walked out of Ames and apparently I completely blocked it from my mind.
The good news is that I did not completely block out everything we did that day. I spent a lot of time this summer and through our first month back at work focusing on integrating technology in meaningful ways into my classroom. I went to TIE this summer and learned about a number of resources I can use with my kids. So far we've used VOKI, SMART record, and Educreations. I also learned a lot about Google spreadsheets and I have been creating a student data sheet. I shared my data with my principal and she was so excited she set up a meeting with me to learn how to make them and use them with the whole staff. This gave me the idea to set up meetings with other staff members who wanted some technology support, now staff can request time with me and I can help them integrate technology into their classrooms or practices more. I am excited about all of these things but I am most excited about my classroom website.
I have made BIG changes to my classroom website (check it out with this link) so that students and parents can use it as a hub for communication. When making decisions about the site, I thought about how and when I wanted kids and parents to use my site. I really wanted my site to be a place where parents could go to find out what we are working on in the classroom and where students can get support and reminders about assignmnets. As a specialist, sometimes its hard for me to connect with parents and I know they wonder what it is that I do with their children that qualifies as "GT" work and I know they can find it hard to support their kids with assignments at home. To help with this, I made sub pages for each of my math and literacy classes.
On the math page I made a sub page with for "Math Help Videos" where parents and kids can view short videos that I (or hopefully my students as the year progresses) make to review what we have been doing in class. My hope is that this way parents can have a better understanding of the methods we are using to explore math here in the classroom and kids can get a reminder of strategies as they do their homework. I also made a sub page for Khan Academy. I learned a lot about how to use Khan to enhance math instruction at TIE this summer and the more I explored the site the more I realized I had to use it in my classroom. The Khan page of my site has links to the "playlists" I make for each unit of study so kids can practice and deepen their skills.
On the literacy page of my site I made a sub page for each grade level class. On the sub page, I've outlined the first 2 topics we'll explore in these classes. I included the Common Core Standards we'll be addressing and put links to Google Docs and other resources that will be helpful for students as they work through assignments. Eventually, I'd like to have students update this page with reflections about their learning from each topic.
I think I am off to a great start this year. While planning lessons, I try to ask myself "is there a way to use technology to enhance this lesson or make it easier?" this way I am trying to avoid the trap I often fall into of teaching technology rather than using technology to enhance my curriculum.
