technology

Hello and happy Tuesday!

One thing that really has changed in my twenty-four years as an educator is how technology affects student learning.

Today, I’m sharing a bit about some of the procedures I’m using this year to ensure students are giving me their full attention. haha!

Kentucky has a new law, House Bill 208, that requires school districts to create policies that ban student cell phone use during instructional time.

In recent years, cell phones have been a constant battle. I will say that middle schools have always been somewhat strict about phones, so teaching ninth graders, they come into high school with the expectations that phones should be put away. So, as a teacher, if I’m strict with my expectations, they know that they shouldn’t be on them. It really hasn’t been a huge issue for me through the years, but I’ve had to be strict about it.

I appreciate that now there’s a law and a school wide policy. Last year, one of Hayden’s teachers started using pencil boxes at her tables for students to put their phones in during instruction. That way, the phones are nearby in case they need them, but they are put away. This year, my school gave every teacher an over the door calculator pouch, but I started using bins that I got at the Dollar Tree to start the school year.

Honestly, these have worked fine. I have one for every two rows, and students place them in there before the bellringer to start class. Again, I have freshman four of my six classes, so they are used to limited phone use thanks to middle school.

With my two English 2 (sophomore) classes, I told them that I will treat them with more trust and responsibility, and their phones shouldn’t be out. Truly, I figured there would be a honeymoon period and then I’d have to have them use the bins. Well, we’re in week 10 of school, and it’s truly been the easiest start to the year in terms of not having to fight with students about technology. As a teacher, I’m good about sticking to my expectations, and I think they know that by now.

My previous district was smaller, and students were 1:1 with technology my last few years there. My current district is much bigger, so I never thought we’d be 1:1 with students and computers. Well, of course, Covid changed all that. Chromebooks are so beneficial in regards to learning. I post everything on Canvas, so students know what we are working on. I still do some assignments on paper, but I actually prefer grading online. I’d say 75% of what students submit is on Canvas and the other 25% is on paper.

We have Go Guardian that we set up at the start of the year, and it blocks what students have access to during class. On my end, I can see what is on their screens at all times, and the sessions are recorded. So, for example, if I think a student cheated, I can go back and view the session to see what screens they were on during that time. It really has eliminated students being on random websites when they should be learning.

Technology is a blessing and a curse, that’s for sure! I tell the students we’re trying to teach them how to use technology responsibly since it will always be a part of their lives.

Hello and happy Tuesday!

Well, as the school year winds down, I wanted to get in at least one more “Teacher Talk Tuesday” for the year.

…via…Talking About it Tuesdays with Joanne.

This was a WordPress prompt a while back, and it had me taking a trip down memory lane…

Look at me in 2002 in my classroom my first year teaching…that’s a big ol’ computer, printer, and floppy disk holder!

Through the years, technology has really changed how we teach. All of my classrooms from my first fifteen years of teaching still had an overhead projector.

My first few years, the kids mostly learned a from textbooks and worksheets.

My previous school was in a smaller district, and they did incorporate more technology before a lot of the larger districts. After my first couple of years at that school, they added on to their building, and my classroom was in the new wing. My classroom had an electronic (Smart) whiteboard that I used pretty often. Also, students had chromebooks before the Covid days.

Now, I’m in a larger district, and through the years, most of the classrooms had the Smart boards, and then last year, we all got interactive flat panels, and it’s another thing to learn!

I still love my regular white board, and still write on it most days.

During Covid, most (all?) districts became 1:1 with technology, and we all became acquainted with Zoom.

We still have some meetings and professional development opportunities on Zoom. Today, I actually have a PD on our new textbooks via Zoom.

Because of their computers, students have easy access to be able to type their papers, do research, and turn in assignments.

Many online resources include:

Canvas
Google: classroom, docs, and slides
Online textbook (I still have a class set in my room which is my preferred method. That being said, at least online is available for students who are absent or who didn’t finish a class assignment) Another thing I appreciate about online textbooks is that students can use the “read” feature to have the text read to them. Honestly, as a teacher, I appreciate that feature…especially when reading Shakespeare!!
No Red Ink – checks for plagarism
Students can easily access and check their grades (even though they don’t do that often)
Email to correspond with teachers

There are so many benefits to what we have thanks to technology that help keep our kids engaged.

Unfortunately, students feel like they have to be entertained all the time. As a teacher, we can plan engaging lessons thanks to sites like:

IXL
Blooket
Newsela
Kahoot
Nearpod
Flipgrid
Quizlet

There are also downfalls to technology, and students being off task because of chromebooks. Don’t even get me started on AI!

Post Covid, many teachers still relied on online learning, but now I’m seeing most teachers split the difference and have some online assignments and some paper assignments.

Overall, teachers do spend less time having to make copies these days which is nice.

I’m still “old school” when it comes to planning. I look forward to buying my new desk calendar and lesson plan book every year. The past couple of years I’ve used Happy Planner stickers to spruce up my calendar pages.

Looking back on my 22 years in education, many things have changed. I think I started teaching right as technology (computers, anyway) started being classrooms.

My first couple of years teaching, I still received a phone call via the phone tree for a snow day. Of course, for years, that information has been on the news, but now we all receive automated phone calls and texts…even the students.

We now have digital hall and tardy passes, there are cameras all throughout the building, we can document parent contacts easily, submit paperwork and so much more now that we have greater technology. As teachers, we can share resources easier as well.

Students now take the ACT and other standardized tests online.

I run my school’s after school tutoring, and just this month, stipends became electronic. I used to lose about thirty minutes every other Friday tracking down paper stipends, getting them signed, scanned and submitted. Now, I can approve everything in a few clicks.

Honestly, most everything I listed is just the “tip of the technology in education iceberg.”

I do think that technology has many benefits in education and technology sure has changed my job. In some ways it’s made it easier, and in other ways, we have other battles now because of it. (Like AI, don’t even get me started on cellphones). I have at least eight more years left in education, and I’m sure more changes in technology will come. They’ll have to continue to “teach this old dog new tricks!”

I like when topics turn in to a “stroll down memory lane.”

Tag: technology

Teacher Talk Tuesday: The Tech Battle

Teacher Talk Tuesday