We are very fortunate here at Mercer Elementary to have a technology coach, Tracy Sevin. For the last year and a half, she has conducted Learning Lunches to teach technological possibilities for teachers to use in the classroom. Not only that, but Tracy has met with me individually at my every request to help me implement her suggestions. I don’t think that she has suggested one project that I did not try.
My students truly enjoy being creative with technology. It makes learning fun for them. Once they learn a new type of technology project, they think ways they can use technology whenever possible. Below is a list of ways of I have incorporated technology in all subject areas.
Reading: My students take the Storytown weekly reading test on the computer. This method allows the students to receive immediate feedback and to see what the correct answer is to any questions they missed. I can create graphs on any student for progress monitoring. Not only do they like taking the test electronically, but it saves paper as well. Another benefit of ThinkCentral is that the students can read their story at home online. In fact, ThinkCentral will read the story to them if they choose. They can also download workbook pages and print them if they forget to take their workbooks home.
Vocabulary: In small groups, my students make vocabulary Power Points or Movie Maker movies each week. This allows the students to comprehend the words better because they need to know and understand the definition to act the word out.
Math: My student wrote fraction questions and made them into a Power Point in which we used for a quiz. Part of their score was from writing the question and part of the score was from answering all of the questions. This forced them to really understand what a fraction is.
Social Studies: (Explorer Power Points) Students were given the choice to create a paper format or an electronic format for their final explorer project. One hundred percent of my class chose the electronic format.
Social Studies: (Who Am I?) For this assignment, students are to research a person and state ten facts about that person. The rest of the class tries to guess who that person is. Some of my students took it upon themselves to create an electronic version of this project.
Science: Wiki: My students are comparing and contracting items in the ecosystem thematic unit. They created a Venn diagram on Power Point and uploaded it to a Wiki page.
Writing: (Blogging) My students love to write and respond to prompts when they get the opportunity to write on the blog. They can also comment of other students' work while blogging. By using technology, the students have fun writing.
The only stumbling block with using technology in the classroom is the effort that it takes to reserve the computer lab or the mobile lap top cart. Sadly, Tracy will not be here next year to assist us personally, but I hope to continue using technology in my classroom regardless. The more my students create with electronics, the better they get. I believe this will help prepare my students for the competitive world they will step into six years from now.
