A Day in the Life
My life regarding technology has changed drastically as I have become a mother of two little ones. Where I once spent hours researching new technology, trends, and topics; I now use Yoto players, Youtube (heck yeah Ms. Rachel) and Tik Tok to find activities for my toddler. Reading carefully gets disrupted by the whims of a toddler wanting to play with his new train set… and you tend to miss important information from time to time.
As a Connected educator, I am always looking for new and exciting ways to explore the curriculum with my students. I have found interactive maps, comic creation platforms, Canva, WeVideo, WriteReader, and many others in hopes to engage students in learning. I attempt to balance the curriculum I must teach, with the technology skills they will need in the future. I have had students complain about how I am constantly varying the platforms I required the students to use. They wanted to continue using Powerpoint because they knew how it worked and they felt it was easier. Of course it is easier. They have been using this platform for 3-4 years now. I feel that being aquainted with only one productivity suite, one platform, one specific software is doing a disservice to their capabilities to learn new processes and exciting capabilities other programs have. They weren’t too enthused when I relayed this reasoning to them. As far as they were concerned they didn’t need to be anymore technologically adaptable.
One area I have remained hesitant to introduce into my classroom is AI. While I can see the benefits this technology can have, I have also seen the damage that online translators have done to French Immersion and the students willingness to let the computers do the work for them. I have attempted using AI once for a AI image generation lesson, where I taught the students the importance of clear and concise descriptions to create the image they desired. It had limited success. While our Ed Tech team has worked with us attempting to show ethical ways to introduce AI in the classroom, I still remain uncertain. I can see the direct benefit AI has regarding my professional duties (ex. finding or creating resources) and it has saved me hours of hair pulling work either finding resources that are the appropriate reading level, or creating resources for my students. I have also used AI checkers to double check students work for plagiarism or AI content. These programs have saved me time while marking.
As a teacher at my school, we are constantly using Office 365 to better communicate not only amongst the staff but also between the 7 & 8 teachers. We all teach subjects in each others classes, and OneNote allows for seamless coordination of class materials. It also ensures parents can easily access all of their students class information when needed. There isn’t a need to be connected to 4 different OneNotes and become lost in all of the data. As a staff, we use OneNote for all professional and administrative information. It has limited the number of mass emails, and ensures everyone has access to all information regarding students and school events and procedures.
Just as I left for my first maternity leave, the mandatory introduction of EDSBY was in place. At first, I was quite hesitant about the platform. However, when I returned, I was able to see the benefit from this program. All of a sudden, I was able to create groups for different subjects (I teach Social Studies to all 7&8 students) and the volleyball team I coach. Parents were more likely to interact with EDSBY and not ignore the notifications, unlike the mass emails we sent to parents previously. The grade book section has also increased parental interaction and motivated students. Students were able to access their marks at all times and were inspired to improve their output in class (for some students, not all).
As a professional, I tend to use a few different platforms to keep myself and my classroom organized. I use digital class timers, name randomizers, classroom engagement platforms, and class music programs. I also am continuously researching different programs other teachers are using. I follow teacher influencers on Instagram and Tiktok, I am a member of a middle years ed tech group on Facebook, and I have learned from a number of my fellow classmates in other classes.
While I embrace technology and a lot of what it can provide, I do remain open to evaluating my use of technology in the class. As different students with different abilities enter my classroom, I reflect on the needs of the students before I determine the amount of technology I include in my class. Some years, we use computers exclusively, trying new programs, experimenting with different projects, and exploring what was beneficial for them. Other years, it is more controlled and strict with project assignments and timelines. We meet our students where they are at, even if that means teaching them the importance of turning off computers properly, how to save a file with a name other than “Document 124”, or working on complex coding platforms.