Assistive Technology in the Current Classroom

 

Web-Based Assessment Explanation - Wixie

 

    Wixie is a program that can be used by primary and younger learners to create electronic projects through the use of writing, drawing, recordings and videos. My formative assessment for my reading class is an interview project of a main character from a story we read in class. The purpose of this assignment is to see their comprehension of the story and the main character from “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Rose.” 

Here is a video to explain the project and how to complete the project based on the rubric and required criteria. 

Technology Lesson Demonstration

Technology Lesson Demonstration Explanation

The program I selected to use in my lesson is called Nearpod. Nearpod is a program that allows for presentations to become interactive through the use of open-ended questions, matching, quizzes, drawings, collaborative boards, and polls. These different activities can be plugged directly into the lessons to give students formative assessments with immediate feedback and collaboration. Nearpod gives students live participation to keep them engaged during a lesson and to do check-ins to insure understanding before moving forward. Nearpod has been beneficial in teaching lessons in all content areas. I have been using the Nearpod program to teach base ten blocks. This has been helpful and added to lessons. Nearpod gives me the ability to break up my lesson into different sections and also allow the students to participate in the instruction. I found Nearpod to add to my lessons on base ten blocks and not take away from it. Nearpod gives students some ownership over what they are learning and motivates students to participate without the pressures of speaking in front of the class.

Nearpod offers many different opportunities for differentiation and access to content. Nearpod offers different options for responses. As I know my students and that they may not be able to type out an answer, I can set up drawing and picture matching options for them to complete formative assessments through Nearpod. Nearpod also offers two different presentation options. Presentations can be live with live responses, or can be student-paced with a turn-it date to have the interactive slides completed. When using the live presentation option, I can control the pace of the lesson and can assist students through reading the questions and guiding them through. I would use this especially when first introducing a new concept. When using the student-paced option, students can access nearpod during scheduled times throughout the day and work at their own pace. This is beneficial for both high achieving and lower ability students to focus and answer questions. There is also an option to pre-record the directions and slides of the presentation to help students who are beginning readers. As a teacher, this helps me to assess my students on the content being taught and not their reading ability. I have found Nearpod to be very effective for all learners' engagement. It also allows me to see the areas we need to revisit in real time and find focus points for future lessons.

Check out Nearpod: https://nearpod.com/ 

Personal Philosophy of Technology in Education

 Personal Philosophy of Technology in Education

    Education is ever evolving through the different aspects of curriculum, teaching methods, and standards for grade levels and benchmarks throughout the thirteen years of public school education. The incorporation of technology into the classroom is essential to the growth of our current learners. The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) standards have been created to give teachers a framework to follow in the incorporating of technology in lessons.

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Personal Philosophy of Technology in Education

About Me - EDUC 630

 

 About Me

Hi everyone! My name is Elizabeth Walden and I am an educator of special thinkers in Seneca, South Carolina. I am in my 4th year as a public school teacher and am currently working on my masters in Early Childhood Education: Curriculum and Instruction.

 Learning about technology to enhance the classroom allows for different learning opportunities for students. I use many different websites and programs in my classroom to supplement my lessons. Among my favorite program include iexcel (iXL), SeeSaw, Everfi, and XtraMath. 

iXL: This program can be used to monitor student progress in the areas of reading, writing, and math. This program givens practice and assessments to determine what areas have been mastered and what areas to address with the students next. I use this program to help create small groups based on ability levels. 

SeeSaw: SeeSaw is a program I use to supplement lessons in all different academic areas. SeeSaw can allow students to work with one another and create through the use of drawing, typing, and recording their voices to explain their creations. 

Everfi: Everfi is a program that brings cutting edge technology into the classroom. In my classroom we use the program "Word Force" that is provided by Everfi to work on Phonics and Phonemic Awareness. Students are given real world experiences through this program without realizing their are learning new content.

XtraMath: XtraMath is used to help students with math automaticity and quick recall. I use this program to help students strengthen their basic math skills to then grow upon with lessons and stacking of knowledge.