Technology in the Classroom

For this week’s blog post I wanted to do some research about what apps, tools, and websites we can use in our future classrooms! I am in the early years stream so some of these are tailored towards K-4, although I do think that we can adapt most to any grade level. This a very small list considering the vast amount that are available out there, but these are the ones that I have used or would like to use in the future. Please comment below to share more!

Teacher tools:

Instagram:

the_active_educator

naturally.elementary

I find that if I follow hashtags then I am exposed to a huge number of educators and can then follow the ones I choose

#teachersofinstagram

Pinterest:

I find that I use Pinterest a little less often then I used to, but when I am looking for something specific such as ideas for teaching fractions, then I can narrow my search down a little. I find this is useful because I can easily get sucked into spending countless hours just scrolling and saving pins to only later forget I had them.

Teachers Pay teachers:

Of course, this made the list of tools I use to find teaching resources. I always go to the free section first, but I know that as soon as I am teaching and making the big bucks I will be able to afford the paid section... 

Blogs:

I was introduced to Alison, a literacy specialist in my ELA course last year. She offers great information and resources on literacy development. Check out her blog:

https://learningattheprimarypond.com/category/blog/

Symbaloo:

A great tool to use to keep yourself organized with all of the social media platforms and websites that we use!

https://www.symbaloo.com/home/mix/13eOcLj6h4  

Coding:

Minecraft:

Using video games in the classroom is a genius idea to engage students in their learning! Students gain valuable skills such as collaboration and problem-solving while playing Minecraft. This Minecraft website also allows you to customize the subject areas you are teaching including an option for coding.

https://education.minecraft.net/

Tynker:

During my creative activities class, a colleague introduced us to Tynker. It was a great and easy app for beginner coders like myself to test the waters and see what coding is all about. I will for sure be introducing this to my future class.

https://www.tynker.com/hour-of-code/

Augmented reality:

I stumbled upon this website for educators who have introduced AR in their classrooms and have had great responses from their students. Check it out at:

https://studio.gometa.io/landing

This is a video about what teachers had to say about using Metaverse.

Student apps:

Kahoot:

This app allows students to become engaged in their learning by playing a game where you have to answer questions that you created. You could use this as an activating tool or as a formative assessment to guide your teaching.

Click for source of picture

Plickers:

This can be used as an assessment tool to check for student understanding. We used this a lot in our ELA course last year as well. It was a fun and engaging way to record answers without having to write them down. 

Click for source of picture

Chatter Pix:

This app is super fun and so versatile. Here is a video clip on what my grade one students did during our shapes and space unit.

Skype:

As we have learned, we can use skype in our classrooms to expand our knowledge outside of the classroom by exploring different parts of the world in an authentic way.  If you are interested in learning more about using skype in the classroom visit http://kathycassidy.com/book/ . She talks about the benefits of Global learning by actively using skype and blogs in the classroom.

Math:

Sumdog:

This website was used in my last placement as a math centre to help build math skills. It can also be used for spelling and for reading, although I have not seen it used in that capacity before.

Prodigy:

My son always came home talking about math prodigy. He still plays it at home, 3 years later. Enough said. It is an interacting math game your students will love!

https://www.prodigygame.com/

Click to follow source

Reading:

Epic:

Epic is always a great place for teachers and students to access free books. Users are able to create folders that allow them to keep organized as well. This is great for using in the Daily 5 Centres!

Social Media:

Twitter

YouTube

Snapchat

Instagram

Blogging

I have only used YouTube in my classroom as far as social media is concerned, but I am interested in using Instagram for future classrooms. Benefits to using them with students is to help teach them to communicate with their peers in a respectful manner. It is a great way to introduce positive digital citizenship, online safety, and about how online behaviour has real life consequences such as cyber bullying.

Communication Tools:

Seesaw:

This app is a great tool to use in your classroom to increase student and parent engagement. You can set up folders to add materials and assignments too. Students and parents are also able to upload to those folders.

https://web.seesaw.me/ 

Class Dojo:

Okay there is so much you can do with this app. I have seen it used for classroom management, communication with parents, and creating groups for activities in your class.

https://www.classdojo.com/about/

So there you have it. A compilation of the apps, tools, and websites I use as an educator. Please share some that you like to use or if you use ones that I have listed differently than I do.