End of Semester Journal Entry

End of Semester Journal Entry 

Through out this semester, one key takeaway was how simple integrating technology in the classroom can be. Since my practicum was in a younger grade, I was worried that I would be unable to find ways to meaningfully integrate technology into my lessons. However, after completing the technology course, I have been provided with resources and strategies to effectively and consistently use technology in the classroom everyday. Some of these strategies have been as simple as playing a video on youtube as part of my hook for my lesson.

One of my burning questions from the beginning of the semester was how can I integrate technology while still providing hands on experiences to my students. Throughout this semester, I have learned that integration of technology does not have to be the students using Ipads and laptops. It could be a group lead activity thats completed on the Smartboard. While providing students with hands on learning is very important, with technology being such an important factor in todays society, I believe its also important to provide students with technology experience at a young age. 

In my practicum, I used several different forms of technology in my classroom, one being Scratch. During my practicum, I was able to share different resources with my MT and she shared many with me. This allowed both of us to expand our resources and gain new strategies on how to integrate technology into classrooms. 

Throughout this semester, I have been able to significantly increase my knowledge regarding technology and how to integrate it into my classroom. A lot of this new knowledge has been gained from peers, my MT and staff at my practicum school. By observing and communicating with my MT and other teachers in the school I have been able to increase my strategies to integrate technology into classrooms, specifically younger grades. For example, my mentor teacher using a math program called Splat. Splat is an online program that works on students number sense and fluency. It is a program that I hope to use in my future classroom as it can be used for all grades. 

My Digital Story- The Tsuut'ina Nation

 The Tsuut'ina Nation and Chiila Elementary School

My Digital Story

    In my digital story, I provide an overview of the Tsuut'ina Nation and their school systems. I go into depth about the Chiila Elementary school and how teachers, students and school staff are working hard to create a positive learning environment that integrates the Tsuut'ina culture, language and values. In my digital story, I provide a personal reflection of what I observed throughout the tour and provided different pictures and artifacts that I believe make the school such a positive and engaging atmosphere. 

Blog #4 Scratch Lesson

 Exploring Seasonal Changes 

Lesson Plan

    For my lesson, I decided to have my students explore the seasonal changes of a tree through a premade Scratch lesson. In this lesson, students draw their own tree on the scratch program and then click a button to watch their tree go through each of the seasonal changes. I believe this lesson is could be very beneficial to use as an introduction to grade 1 earth systems. I enjoyed this Scratch program as it allows the students to become more comfortable with technology in a safe and age appropriate environment. The Students are able to express their creativity and background knowledge through this lesson by being given the opportunity to draw their own tree. I believe this program provides students will a clear representation of what changes trees go through during each season. While watching the trees change, the students are able to make real world connections and spark interest for further learning. I believe that having a group discussion after this activity will allow students to share their observations and ideas. It also allows the teacher to observe and assess students learning and understanding. In my practicum, I have been given the opportunity to teach earth systems in my grade 1 class. As I plan for my first few lessons, I hope to include this Scratch program to provide students with a visual example of the changes that trees undergo during different seasons. 

Creation App Mini-Lesson

Health and Wellness With Tech

Lesson Plan

Smiling Mind App

    Our lesson that we created was focused on the Smiling Mind app to lead a meditation that would calm students, give them a brain break and have them using their 5 senses. Before playing the meditation video, we started off the lesson by asking the students how they were feeling today. Many of them said tired, stressed and burnt-out. By completing this hook activity, we were able to determine which meditation program would be most beneficial for the students. The guided mediation that we chose on Smiling Mind required the students to engage in the mindfulness activity by focusing on using their 5 senses. They would be asked questions such as "what are 3 things you can hear?". I believe that using this app and specifically this activity allows students to take a break and relax while also exploring their senses and learning how to use them. When we taught this lesson in class, it went well and the students overall really enjoyed the app. However, since other lessons were being taught at the same time, it was very noisy and hard for everyone to focus on their meditation. This lesson would have been ideal to teach in a classroom where everyone is participating to ensure that the room is calm and quiet. I also think dimming the lights during this activity would help the students relax and stay focused throughout the meditation. After the meditation, we were able to explore the website a bit more and have the students choose a meditation that they wanted to do. After the Smiling Mind videos, we went back to our hook question and asked the students how they were feeling. Many of them said they felt a lot more calm and ready to learn. 

    Overall, I believe that this app could be used effectively in a classroom for students to work on their mindfulness and other skills like using their 5 senses. However, in order for this lesson to be beneficial for all students, you must create a calm and relaxing environment for the students to work in. 

Blog #2 Twitter

 

My Twitter Account

My Twitter Page

I believe that twitter could be used in many ways in a classroom. Twitter is a very accessible app that can be a great resource for communicating with parents, other teachers, and schools. In my previous field experience class, my mentor teacher used twitter as her method of communication with parents. It was a very useful resource as all parents were able to easily access it as long as they have a form of technology. The parents were able to comment on the blog posts to demonstrate that they were involved in their students learning. Twitter is also a beneficial resource because teachers are able to show their students learning and classroom culture in many ways using text, photos and videos. 

Twitter can also be beneficial for teachers connecting with other educators to share thoughts and ideas. Since I have created my Twitter account, I have been able to follow several different educators and explore their different teaching resources and ideologies. 

As I continue my degree and get a job as a teacher, I hope to use twitter to collaborate and share ideas with different educators. I also hope to use twitter or a similar app to communicate with parents and provide them with an opportunity to become involved in their students learning.  

Blog #1 - Beginning of the Fall 2023 Semester

Previous educational technology experience:

Throughout my past field experiences and volunteer work in classrooms, I have become more familiar with different types of technology within classrooms and how they can be used to benefit the students and teachers. I have become very familiar with technology such as SMART boards, document cameras, Ipads, laptops and desktop computers. My first year of field experience, my mentor teacher did everything on her SMART board. This allowed me to increase my knowledge on SMART boards and how they can benefit students learning. I found that students were more engaged when completing an activity on the SMART board rather than on the white board. I also discovered that they also benefit the teacher significantly. My mentor teacher was able to pull up all different kinds of materials on her board such as a notepad, google slides, google and youtube. Last year, my mentor teacher did not use the Smart board as much. However, when she did, she often used it with a document camera.  This technology was very beneficial for reading stories to the class or showing examples of students work. Due to some of my high school experience being online because of Covid, I have become very comfortable using devices such as my laptop or Ipad. 

Technology in my year 3 practicum: 

During my short time in my practicum class, I have observed a couple different types of technology used within the class on a daily basis. The most commonly used device is the classroom SMART board. My mentor teacher uses the board to teach lessons, listen to stories, watch videos, show examples of students work and complete brain breaks for the students. I believe this device is very beneficial for the class as it allows all students in the class to see the board and it is very accessible for my mentor teacher to use. She no longer has to go out and buy expensive books because she can search one up on youtube and play it for the students to listen to. The past two days, my mentor teacher has used the smart board to review short vowels with her students. First they will write the letter down on the whiteboard, then they will brain storm words that start with that sound. The class also used the SMART board to read a story. This allowed my mentor teacher to pause the story when she chooses to ask the students comprehension enhancing questions. Using the board also allowed for each student in the classroom to see the pictures in within the book. Another type of technology that is used in my practicum class is a document camera. Although I have not seen my mentor teacher use the device, she explained to me that it is used to show students work and pictures in books.

Burning question and why it is important me:

One question I have about the use of technology in classrooms is, is there a time when you would want students to use hands on materials like writing a story instead of typing it, reading a book instead of listening to one, or playing math games with a dice and cards instead of playing them on an ipad. This question is important to me as I have noticed a lot of students who struggle to maintain engaged with an activity when it does not involve technology. I also often wonder if students' abilities to write and read are decreasing because of the use of technology. I have never been a strong reader and whenever I get the chance to listen to something instead of reading it, I choose listening every time. If I were forced to read more, would that make me a better reader? If students weren't given the option to type on computers or listen to stories on an device, would it increase their abilities to read and write?