Over the course of the last 4 months, I have struggled with finding a balance between my teaching life and my own personal academics. The challenge has come from numerous sources. Time management has been a particularly difficult thing to figure out. It seems as though I could be spending twice the amount of time on the actual teaching part and yet a lot of that time has gone to other places. Incorporating technology into the mix has seemed like an entirely unnatural and invasive process. I mean, teachers successfully did their job for years before the first laptop was even invented, right?
But, I have to concede that even with the limited amount of technology available at the school and my classroom's stunning lack of cellular service, there are things that would be entirely impossible without the use of technology. Here is a list of technology tools that I could not have done without this semester. 1. Translating documents: In a school of 80% ELL students, along with many students who have very little comprehension of English, it is important to be able to provide materials in other languages. Mapleton School District uses Microsoft Office 365, which has had its own learning curve for me, but I will admit that the translate feature is accurate, reliable, and easy to use. Please head to my lesson plans page for examples of work that I have translated using Microsoft Word. 2. Showing Videos: Let's admit it. As a science teacher, you are going to show a lot of videos. It is inevitable and very helpful, and admittedly, far more convenient than talking and giving notes. I haven;t had much success with a flipped classroom model, perhaps because of the age group I work with, but I think that older students who have a longer attention span could be very successful with this model. 3. Sharing classwork with students and parents: It is hard for me to imagine a world before email. It has been invaluable when communicating with students and parents about work that is missed in class or work that needs to be caught up on. Students often share their documents with me on google drive, email me late at night if they have questions about homework, or inform me that they will be sick ahead of time. In the future, I would like to implement a classwork page which students can use to reference assignments and additional resources and slideshows. 4. Teacher Absences: Recently, I have started implementing youtube videos to give instructions to students on days that I am absent. It is important to me that I utilize every hour of class time efficiently, and so when I record direct instruction in the form of a youtube video and have the substitute teacher play it for my class, it gives me a higher level of confidence that the students will understand the task and be able to complete it without the primary teacher there as a guide. I have only implemented this a few times and am excited to refine this practice as much as possible. Please go to my Lesson Plans page for examples.
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