Vera Teschow.ca
  • Home
  • About
    • Overview
    • Education & Diplomas
    • Consulting & PR
    • Teaching Experience
    • Workshop Facilitation
    • Volunteer Experience
    • Extra-Curricular Leadership
    • Writing
  • Learn
  • BLOG
  • Contact

Integrating technology - beyond "research"

3/22/2015

0 Comments

 
One of my professional goals this year has been to become more confident with technology, and in particular, the growing concept of "BYOD" in schools ("Bring your own device").

As I've discovered, BYOD is a bit of a mixed bag: In one of my classes, about 70% of students have a device; in the others, it's closer to about 15%.  So, the ideal I had imagined of 2:1 correspondence is not a reality.  Also, I myself was having trouble envisioning use beyond quick access to online resources, so how was I going to sell the concept of BYOD to families were themselves not convinced of its value?  For starters, I'd not seen technology modeled particularly effectively in any classroom context, other than possibly the use of an Interactive White Board, which my colleague and I spent most of the year learning to use as part of a math and tech research project a few years ago, and which I would not say we've become experts in (and also, my current classroom does not boast such an one).  And when I took some online classes this year, I could not seem to move myself beyond the "wow, cool" mindset and into the "hey, I could actually DO this in my classroom" frame of mind.

Finally, though, I partnered with my instructional coach to build a short Kahoot into a data management lesson we co-taught a few weeks ago.  Student engagement was extremely high, and through the emotional connections made to the limbic system, retention was also high; I was able to refer back to that lesson often as an example to illustrate a concept relevant to the unit.  So I made sure to build a Kahoot or two into my upcoming unit on Fractions (to be posted soon -- still putting on the finishing touches).

But I wanted more.

I wanted to use technology to collaborate on mathematical thinking.  One thing my colleague and I discovered during our "Smart Bansho" research project a few years back was that the document camera/Smart Board combination we had cobbled together did not allow for the sort of student solution sharing we had hoped for.  Could other technology possibly be more effective in this regard?

One of the apps I am learning about through various workshops and self-directed PD I am participating in this year is called "ClassFlow".

I decided to create a ClassFlow lesson to share a fractions problem I hope to do with my Grade 7 and 8 students in the coming weeks.  My plan is to share the problem through class flow, have groups work on it on their devices (only one per group needed!), and then share and debrief solutions as a class.

I have to say, the darned app is not intuitive, at least not for an old crow like me!  Creating a pretty slide deck was easy enough, but figuring out how to get "students" (in testing my girlfriend and a mutual friend of ours) to be able to annotate slides and for me as the teacher to be able to access and see said slides became a problem that boggled my mind for a good three days!!!  In the end, though, I think I have figured it out.  We shall see what transpires....

I know students are engaged with their devices.  Although it's slow slogging for me to learn how to do so effectively, I know it's part of my job as their teacher to show them how these tools can be used to foster collaboration and thinking.  Integrating technology has to be more than just quick access to the Internet -- we've got to re-imagine instructional possibilities and redefine the pedagogically possible as we use technology not for babysitting, but for new learning opportunities.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    About Vera...

    Vera & her Sons, April 2021
    After writing for several teacher and multiple birth publications, including ETFO's Voice Magazine, Multiple Moments, and the Bulletwin, Vera turned her written attention to prolific blogging for some years, including BiB,  "Learn to Fly with Vera!"  and SMARTbansho .  Homeschooling 4 was her travel blog in Argentina.  She now spends more time on her Instagram (@schalgzeug_usw)  than her blog (pictures are worth a thousand words?!) 
    DISCLAIMER
    The views expressed on this blog are the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the perspectives of her family members or the position of her employer on the the issues she blogs about.  These posts are intended to share resources, document family life, and encourage critical thought on a variety of subjects.  They are not intended to cause harm to any individual or member of any group. By reading this blog and viewing this site, you agree to not hold Vera liable for any harm done by views expressed in this blog.
    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Argentina 2013
    COVID 19
    COVID-19
    Cycling
    Family
    Flying
    Geocaching
    Honduras 2011
    Lakeshore
    Lgbtq
    Math Eyes
    Music
    Other Stuff
    Prince Edward Island
    Teaching And Learning
    Teaching-and-learning
    Travel

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    March 2022
    January 2021
    September 2020
    August 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010

Vera C. Teschow, OCT, M.Ed., MOT
Toronto, ON & St Peter's Harbour, PE
www.verateschow.ca 2021
Photos used under Creative Commons from Sean MacEntee, Studio Paars, Bengt Nyman, zeevveez, GoodNCrazy, CJS*64, Accretion Disc, CharlesLam, Courtney Dirks, CJS*64 "Man with a camera", Accretion Disc, Bobolink, Ian Muttoo, BioDivLibrary, Alaskan Dude, IsabelleAcatauassu, runran, Transformer18, jglsongs, Create For Animal Rights, david_shankbone, Paul J Coles, foilman, Newport Geographic, Photo Everywhere, kevin dooley, Claudio , Alex Guibord, Tscherno, f_mafra, Terry Madeley, musee de l'horlogerie, BobMacInnes, wwarby, jonathangarcia, amboo who?, chimothy27, Elin B, cliff1066™, Grzegorz Łobiński, Rennett Stowe, Farhill, Phil Manker, Guitarfool5931, airguy1988, dierk schaefer, Rob Stemple, katerha, StockMonkeys.com, Ramotionblog, andrewk3715, charlywkarl, AJC1, rachel_titiriga