There’s no denying that we live in an ever-changing technological society. “Every technology is an innovation designed to solve problems and extend human capabilities” as referenced by ITEA (International Technology Education Association, 2000). Tech Tool 2.1: Apps for teaching learning gave me an insight of the many educational learning apps for students. The app that stood out to me the most was the math app
Mathboard. Mathboard is a highly configurable math app appropriate for all school aged children, the app allows students to solve math problems, providing multiple answer styles and having a switchboard that the students can work out problems out by hand. This app can be utilized in so many ways with students and also lets them learn and have fun. My second grade students are fortunate to have eighteen iPADS in the classroom with fun filled activities, lessons, quizzes, mathematical and reading comprehension apps that they work on every day in small group lessons. For an example, they are well familiar with a math app called
Math Facts Pro. Math Facts Pro is an intelligent tutor to help develop math fact fluency and very easy to use. My students love it and I love that they can print and see the progress they have accomplished. Finding new apps for my students helps my students to learn, grow and expand their learning possibilities.
Another informative passage was on “
Project Tomorrow.” Project Tomorrow is a national, education non-profit organization. The goal of this organization is to “collect views from teachers, students and parents through its yearly ‘Speak Up’ studies’ as referenced by Project Tomorrow (Project Tomorrow, 2006, 2011b). The Speak Up survey allows school administrators to gauge the students access, use and need for additional classroom technologies and supports throughout the learning process. It lets whomever taking the survey stay anonymous and can be accessed through a variety of different topics. If this organization can help provide district-wide focus to curriculum and technology then it should definitely be supported. Not only can my school benefit from this extraordinary organization but the community as well. This free resource would be a critical importance for changing students’ lives and how they learn.
In Chapter 3 ‘Transforming learning with unique, powerful technology’ it discusses “four learning theories educators tend to follow as they use technology in teaching: Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism, and Connectivism” as referenced by Maloy (2013 pg. 49). Out of the four I will speak about two that I can relate within my classroom and students. Cognitivism is a learning theory that focuses on how information is received, organized, stored and retrieved by the mind. While the teacher gives her daily lessons in my classroom she presents the lesson in a manner that is understandable and meaningful to the students. Every day at the end of the day my students are given a paper slip that reads “Exit Slip”. An Exit Slip are written student responses to questions teachers pose at the end of class or a lesson. These quick, informal assessments enable teachers to quickly assess students’ understanding of the lesson. It helps me and my teacher to know how well they learned and if we need to go back into the lesson so they can retain it. Some questions that is on my classrooms Exit Slip is:
1. Write one thing you learned today.
2. I didn’t understand…
3. Write one question you have about today’s lesson.
Behaviorism is a learning theory based on the idea that behavior can be controlled or modified based on the antecedents and consequences of a behavior. The most important aspect of teaching is to have classroom management. In our classroom we have a ‘Color Chart’ that has five specific colors. The students always start the morning on green and their name is written on a clothes clip. The five colors are: Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red. If they go up to blue and stay there for the remainder of the day they get 2 “Gator” tickets, Green all day and they get 1 “Gator” ticket. At the end of the week the students are able to buy prizes with their tickets. No ticket are given for being on yellow, orange or red. This color chart has rewards and it has consequences. Our chart is as follows:
Blue- You did it! (2 Tickets)
Green- Great job! (1 Ticket)
Yellow- Think About it
Orange- Teacher’s Choice
Red- Parent Contact
This helps students to try to be on their best behavior within and outside of the classroom. It teaches the students about accountability and responsibility and to show that there are consequences to every action whether it’s a reward or no reward.
After exploring both chapter 2 & 3 I can say I am more familiar with things that I already knew and didn’t know for students and teachers. Transforming learning with new technology is important. With all the fun features technology has to offer for everyone, it allows learning, problem solving, communicating and to express themselves actively. Tech Tool 2.1, the four learning theories teachers follow and Project Tomorrow helped me to get a better understanding of the many resources that are out there for education.
Try this cool quiz I created with
Kahoot!
Resources:
Portillo, N (2016, February 3). APP-ly It!. Created with Kahoot http://www.getkahoot.com https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/4b72402e-c8c4-40a3-aecc-ebc7cd7bafd7
International Technology Education Association (2000). Standards of Technological Literacy: Content for the study of technology. Reston, VA: Author.
Textbook, Maloy, Robert, O’ Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd edition. Boston MA: Pearson Education Inc.
Project Tomorrow. (2006, October). Learning in the 21st century: A national report of online learning. Irvine, CA: Author.
