One thing that I love about working in this district is that the opportunity to incorporate cool technology in the classroom is always there. Sometime I wonder how people taught before technology was available!
Today, I am feeling overwhelmed with all the technology that we have access to. In my classroom, my students use Lexia, Study Island, Math Expressions, Fusion, and Education City, Benchmark, and Tumble Books. While I love having all of these options out there for my students to stay engaged and excited about learning, I am having a hard time managing all of these resources so that they will benefit my learners.
I am wondering if anyone has advice on how they are finding the time to into some of these resources to assign things, or make it individualized for each student in a class of 23+. I feel like I am letting my students down because not every resource is personalized for their level/ability/skill. Any ideas would be appreciated!
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteIt certainly can be overwhelming! Last year, I joined twitter for tech purposes and found more resources than I could ever find the time to digest. I think it is important to bookmark and sort resources into categories. I separate resources by unit and if it's a big topic, by concepts. And as I mentioned in my google post, I sync my bookmarks so I can access them on any device. It always calms me down when I know I'll be able to find resources later!
I think it's pretty tough to individualize these resources to each kid. One thing I want to research more is online adaptive testing. It is the idea of having students take an online test and then the questions get progressively harder as the student demonstrates their ability. As the name applies, it adapts to the test taker. Not sure if that's helpful but it sounds like a cool idea!
Good luck organizing your tech stuff! So many resources, so little time.
Hi Sarah, I am a second grade teacher who has also struggled with managing the wide array of technological resources that are available to us. I think that I have fairly strong technology skills, but it takes time to really explore the tools and programs available to us, so that we have the knowledge to use them effectively. I would rather know and utilize a few programs well, than to try to use every resource without really understanding it. This year, I set a goal for myself to learn 3 new programs to use with my students - Lexia, Study Island, and Xtra Math. On workshop day, I went to classes about those programs. Each year, I will have a goal to learn about more programs. I’ve looked to my colleagues, who are more experienced teachers, to help me prioritize which programs I’m learning and implementing.
ReplyDeleteIn second grade, we have 8 computers in the cluster outside our classroom. This year, all second grade teachers chose a 30 minute window to use Lexia in the morning. I send some of my students out to Lexia each day while I work with a smaller group on literacy skills in the classroom. The next day, I rotate students so everyone has access to this resource. I use the data collected through Lexia to help me plan more individualized small group lessons during my literacy block. I’m finding that Lexia is a terrific tool to help me individualize my literacy instruction.
I chose Study Island and XtraMath as tools that would help me enhance my math instruction. My HP math students use the cluster computers to access Study Island when they are finished with their classwork. Study Island is particularly useful because it can also be used by parents to work with students at home. I made it a priority to learn about this program so I can field questions from parents. All students use Xtra Math to help strengthen their fact fluency during our scheduled computer lab time.
There are so many wonderful technology opportunities to use in our district, and I would love to be proficient in all of them but I recognize that there is a learning curve. For me, it has been important to prioritize and focus on a few at a time so that I can feel I had some level of competence with them.
Thanks for raising this topic. I would love to hear how others are managing their technology resources.
Beth