Interview

 

What technologies do you use with your students? 

I use a variety of technology with my students. Most of all I use Google Classroom. Our students (as in the whole school) each have their own computer, checked out to them at the start of the year. Everything we do is online and based around the use of their computer. Google classroom is an amazing! I use it for everything. I place all of my assignments (vocabulary, weekly reading, study guides, etc) online in Google Classroom. This allows students access to everything (as long as they have open wi-fi). Google Drive has a lot of features that allow student accommodation (such as a speech to text option for student's who have physical handicaps, or enlarged print and text to speech for visually impaired students etc). I can also upload modified assignments to individual students. Having everything online 

 

What are the advantages of using technology with your students?

The advantages are amazing. First of all it cuts down on paper and allows me access to student work as long as I have a computer and internet. No more "I'm out of copies,...or I lost that worksheet". It's online...and stays there. This also helps with student's who are absent. They simply need to log in and look at the day/week's assignment. The next advantage would be ease of modification (I can modify individual student assignments tailored specifically for their needs) without other student's knowing anything has been altered. Students can highlight words that they don't understand and it will automatically define them. I can collaborate in real time with my student's writing, providing immediate visual feedback, so that it often feels like we can "write together".

 

What are the disadvantages of using technology with your students? 

Students forget to bring their computers. We have "loner" computers but this usually takes up class time. The only real disadvantage is that sometimes technology doesn't work correctly. We have had intermittent internet issues at our school where the internet literally doesn't work.This doesn't bode well at a school that is mostly online. Those days typically turn into "movie days:". We also have students that are economically challenged and do not have internet access at home. This poses as a real problem because it makes doing homework for some students literally impossible. This means that we need to know which students do not have internet access so that we can print "hard-copies" for them. This gets confusing to keep track of and singles out students. 

 

Are there certain apps that you know your students use with their school work? 

The computers are not app based (they are web based) so I can't really answer.  If you consider Youtube an "app" then I would say that is probably the #1 used tool outside of Google. We link classroom video's to it, and there are a huge amount of books read allowed on Youtube (with guided/highlighted reading to go along with). We also use a lot interactive online programs such as "Kahoot", "Actively Learn" and " BSocrative". I use all of them extensively. I haven't used Kahoot, Actively Learn (that one requires a financial contract), or BSocrative, then I highly suggest checking them out. Kahoot makes learning fun. 

 

Does your school/district support you using technology with your students? 

Yes- Our school has invested a HUGE amount of time, money, and training to make sure that we are very technology oriented. We are continuing to invest in technology and integrated programs, and every year we will have more tools to use. This is our first year doing all of this and it has changed EVERYTHING!