In classrooms, there are students who need more support or different kinds of support to allow them to be successful just like their peers. Accessibility is the understanding that all students no matter their abilities can have equal access to resources that benefit the way that they learn. Accessibility has become a huge asset for our students who have higher needs because of the help of technology. Technology has allowed all students to participate and be active members in classrooms because of the resources that new devices have.
When I was doing some research on the topic of technology accessibility, I found some data that is helpful to understand this idea. University of Berkeley notes that there are between 15%-20% of people who live with disabilities. Technology has helped this people negative the world around them by providing accommodations to their everyday life. This article from Berkely noted that we need to make sure that everyone can understand material with using at least one of their senses. People should have interactive tools that make sure their world is simplified like buttons that can be used for people who struggle with using their hands. All individuals should be able to understand content that they are using by having the tools they need to understand the links they are on. Finally, all websites should have access to all assistive technology and should be able to be used on any device.
As I am a first-grade teacher and a many of my students are coming into the grade with little to no skills in reading. I have fallen in love with helping my students become better readers and helping them become confident readers. For this blog, I decided to look at tools that could help my struggling readers or tools that could help my students who have dyslexia. 1 in 5 students may be dyslexic. I know that struggling readers do not necessarily have dyslexia, but these tools can be incorporated in lessons to help address students' needs in reading, writing, and comprehension. Below I created a poster that has built-in accessibility tools and a couple extensions on the chrome that users can add to their device. These tools allow all students to understand the material in the way that is beneficial to them.
Image Source: Personal Creation on Canva
On this poster, I displayed five different accessibility tools that students with dyslexia, or our lower skilled readers could use on their Chromebook.
1. OpenDyslexia: OpenDyslexia is an extension on chrome that changes the font to make it easy to read for students with disabilities.
2. Word Predication Software: This is a tool for students to use that suggest words or phrases that helps with the spelling and word recognition to speed up the typing process.
3. Speak It: Speak It is a text to speech tool that reads any text out loud. There are options for students to pick the pace and voice of the speech to help students with the comprehension.
4. Dictation: Dictationallows students to speak into their Chromebook to enter the text from them. This help students with spelling, short answer questions, note taking etc.
5. Read Mode: This is a tool that is on chrome that simplifies what is on the webpage by removing all the distractions for focus.
Why is accessibility important?
In just my seven years as a teacher, I have watched so many of my students struggle with reading and writing. A ton of my students love to use their devices instead of using a pencil. These tools can provide my students resources on a tool that they love to use. Every student deserves to have access to support in the way that will benefit them. These will keep their stress level low because instead of continuing to struggle, students will feel that they are supported by their device. In my classroom, my students are given the option to either write their spelling words on paper or they can write them on their tablets. For some of my kiddos, they struggle with spelling and writing so I have given them access to these tools, especially the dictation one. They can use that to dictate the word but then they do need to copy it with either the keys or a drawing of the spelling. I also love to use read mode and word predication with them because at their level they are beginning to learn how to read and write. They should not have to struggle in typing or reading online materials because of the struggles they have already in the classroom. These are three things that I am very good at using in my classroom because I have seen the benefits that it has had on my students of all skill level. I introduce these tools at the beginning of the school year so students can practice using them. One thing that I would like to get better on is learning more about accessibility tools that devices offer. I have a student in my classroom right now who speaks only Spanish. I struggle to remember to talk into Google Translator so my student can understand in his language. I want to find a tool that dictates what I am saying in my students language without the constant pulling up Google Translator. I want to get better at exploring and using tools that will meet my student's needs.
References:
American Consortium for Equity in Education. (2023, November 10). Understanding the definition of accessibility.
Visser, C. (2024, August 1). Unlocking Potential: Assistive Technology for Dyslexia. Accessibility Checker.
Learning Ally. (2024, June 21). Dyslexia Awareness Strategies from Learning Ally.
World Health Organization: WHO. (2024, January 2). Assistive technology.
Let's look back to March 2020 when the whole world changed. As I was just in the middle of my second year as a teacher, I remember getting an email that stated we would be at home for two weeks. As teachers around the world would say, it was the most hectic Friday trying to get packets ready for the students. However, the world was determined to make this change easy by providing our students with one-to-one devices. Now, this did not happen at all schools, but it happened at a lot of districts. This made it easier to connect with each other in an unforgettable time. Not only did kids use their devices for school, but they also used it to stay connected to everyone who was going through the unknown just like them. This is when the market for influencers on TikTok and Instagram became so huge that influencers were influencing the whole world and increasing the growth by almost 50% more than the year before. We as educators need to use this information to better educate the students who are growing up in a time that influencers are the normal.
Image Source: Influencing Market Hub
As I was doing my research, I came across an article from the Pew Reasearch Center that discusses how adults sharing that they get their news from TikTok, has increased from 3% in 2020 to 17% in 2024. The article states that about 4 in 10 young adults now regularly get their news from TikTok. This is a huge increase; however, I am not shocked by this at all because this is where my peers and I get our news from. When my friends are discussing the world around us, we share what we have "read". Most of the time what we have "read" came from a TikTok video. No longer is reading the news actually "reading". As a teacher, I need to take this information and use it when I am creating an engaging learning environment. I can create activities based on these statistics to engage my students in the world today. An activity that I would love to do if I was teaching an older grade would be for my students to use their social media platforms like TikTok and research a current event that is happening via the videos that they are watching. I then would have the students create their own videos or posts that represent the information that they have learned. This way we can see the impact that social media is making for our students based on the information that they are learning. This would also help our students stay engaged with the content that they are learning as they will be using their platforms that they already spend time on. Research like this is so important for educators to explore because we need to change the way we teach as the way technology is used keeps changing for our students. Our students are already using the applications whether we like it or not, they might already be getting their news from these platforms. These students grew up in a world that technology is so advanced that students of any age can understand/use it more than some adults do.
Image Source: Pew Research Center 52% of Tik Tok users regularly get their news from TikTok in 2024. In 2020, only 22% of users got their news from TikTok
Pandemic Funding Supporting Technology:
As I mentioned above, the pandemic created funding for our students to have access to one-to-one technology. One-To-One technology means that all students have a device provided by the district. This could be iPads, tablets, computers etc. Now teachers need to figure out how to continue to adapt new technology into the classroom as the pandemic created such a strong relationship with it. In the article Beyond the Homework Gap: Leveraging Technology to Support Equity of Learning Experiences in School, it discusses that 60% schools and district administrators agree that technology when used well in the classroom will benefit our students in the classroom. However, we need to make sure that all students have the opportunity to have access to these technologies to create future successes for all students no matter where they go to school. Since the pandemic, there have been a ton of fundings to help the increase technology in the classroom. Below is a chart that shows how districts are using their funding for technology investments from 2019-2021.
The article says that there are five goals that should be looked at when collecting funding for new technology investments. Those goals are improving home-school-communication, improving the quality of instructional materials, increase teachers understanding of how to implement technology within lessons, increasing student engagement, and providing new and equitable educational opportunities for all students. The Spectrum Enterprise who collected data for this article, looked at how districts are already benefitting from using the funds to better our technology usage. There have been huge increases for all five goals from 2019 to 2021. With home school communication it has increased to 74%, improving the quality of instructional materials and enhancing teachers' skills with technology went up to 61%, increasing student engagement improved to 52%, and providing new opportunities for students increased to 51%. I was pleasantly surprised when I was reading the increases in percentages, as I see these goals declining in my district. Ever since Covid, we have a had a hard time creating strong relationships with our families. This even causes a ton of our students to have chronic absences. If students do not come to school, we surely can't increase any academic goals. I am happy to see that around the United States, schools are benefiting from the increases in funding. However, like this article has mentioned we need to make sure that every kid is given the same opportunities to get the same results. I will be sharing this data with my school, as I believe this might help us in our goals. We can come up with plans to increase our communication with guardians and improve our instruction materials as we are a one-to-one district.
References:
Chavda, J. (2024, September 19). More Americans – especially young adults – are regularly getting news on TikTok. Pew Research Center.
Influencer Marketing Hub. (2024, June 24). The State of Influencer Marketing 2020: Benchmark Report.
Perez, E., Manca, S., Fernández-Pascual, R., & Guckin, C. M. (2023). A systematic review of social media as a teaching and learning tool in higher education: A theoretical grounding perspective.
Project Tomorrow. (2024, September 11). Special Report #1: Beyond the Homework Gap - Project Tomorrow. Project Tomorrow - Preparing Today’s Students to Be Tomorrow’s Innovators, Leaders and Engaged Citizens.
Toness, B. V. (2021, July 14). Millions of kids are missing weeks of school as attendance tanks across the US.
In this blog you will see that I took three different personality tests. The first personality test was the 16 Personalities assessment. After I took the test, it showed that I was an executive type meaning that I am a leader, and I approach life with a sense of duty and responsibility. It noted that I do not waste time on problems and complete them with efficient steps. On the test, it also tells you how your personality shines in the workplace. This was a clear indicator that I chose the career path that was right for me as I am organized, and I thrive in environments that have clear expectations where I can have my own structure. This personality test is definitely describing me as a person as most of my families and friends would describe me using these words. I have always been the person who gets things done right away and does not waste time in deciding how I want to do something. I am organized with calendars and lists of what needs to be accomplished in my work, and I am a leader when it comes to how I take on challenges with my coworkers.
Image Source: 16 Personalities
Image Source: 16 Personalities
The picture above is my percentages when it comes to extraverted or introverted, intuitive or observant, thinking or feeling, judging or prospecting, and assertive or turbulent. As you can see, I am 75% extraverted, which is my strongest trait. I am energized in social events, and I love to show my excitement when I am with others. I believe this has helped me become the teacher that I am. I do a great job with showing my personality with my students and try to make their school year exciting through my excitement. My two highest percentages that I am observant more so than intuitive and I am turbulent versus assertive. What does this mean? I have a strong understanding of what is going on, I focus on the now with myself and others. I know things before they happen because of what I have observed beforehand. The other high percentage that I scored was that I am turbulent. After I scored that high in turbulent, I had to look up what that means. The 16 personalities define it as being eager to improve but has a hard time accepting that they are doing what they can and try to do or be more. The negative of being high turbulent is that I respond poorly to stress. Boy oh boy, this is me and has been me since I was little. I have a very hard time dealing with being under pressure and things around me happening in the negative. For example, when I am teaching, I feel that I get stressed out easily because of the behaviors and the students who might not be where they should be academically. I work a little too hard to get them to be where they need to (which is a positive but can be tiring,). As I mentioned before, I am organized and I plan before doing anything, this defines the 75% of my judging personality. Finally, I am almost in the middle of thinking and feeling. This means that I focus on making decisions due to the facts/information, but I also focus on the feelings of the individuals that will be involved with the decision. The ones that I connect the most with are that I am an extravert and that I have a high level of emotions that causes me to be eager to improve.
Second Personality Test:
The second personality test that I took was the Personality Type Indicator. This test again showed that I am extraverted and that I am halfway for feeling and judging. The personality type test noted that I am organized and extremely aware of my surroundings understanding how others are feeling before they express it. Both tests seem to be very similar in my results. There are some negatives to being an ESFP or the Extraverted Sensing Feeling Perceiving in me. To start, I am living in the now instead of looking at my responsibilities that I have in the future. I also am always seeking excitement and if I can't find it, I get bored very easily which leads to not a constant lifestyle, or risky life because my thrill for excitement. When I was in college, my roommates would say "Why can't you ever just sit down?", or "How do you get bored so easily?". These results help me understand myself in that aspect. Finally, I am very overemotional and tend to get upset with criticism and disapproval. If people express to me that I have things I need to work on, I overthink and work to become better at the task. I am more so driven by criticism to prove that they are wrong.
Image Source: Personality Type Indicator
Third Personality Test:
The third test that I took was the Five Thirty-Eight test. This test had me answer questions with disagree strongly or agree strongly and have options for in the middle like somewhat agree and somewhat disagree. The test gives you scores in five different traits. The five are extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, negative emotionality, and openness to experience. The test scores them with percentages out of 100. For extraversion, I was 75% out of 100%. This stated that I am a happy independent that has a lot of energy and enjoys social outings. The next trait was agreeableness which I scored 58% out of 100%. This does not mean that I am not agreeable but that I have a little less tendency towards others empathy and compassion towards others. For conscientiousness, I scored 88% out of 100%. This again notes that I am organized, well planned out, and a very hard worker. Negative Emotionality is the next trait that I was scored on. I received my highest score with 96% out of 100%. With such a high score, this means that my anger, frustration, and anxiety cause some tension in my relationships. The final trait that was scored was openness to experience which I scored at a 75% out of 100% which means that there is a high chance that I am actively seeking new adventures or hobbies. I really enjoyed this personality test as I felt like a lot of my high percentages reflects who I am and the percentages that were in the middle-made sense as I do tend to agree with people but also do not hold back when need be.
Image Source: Five Thirty-Eight Personality Test
Reflection:
Image Source: Slide Show Torrey Trust
I have a very strong personality that everyone can see through my actions. When I was done taking these tests, I shared the results with my siblings and they all said, "Yes that is 100% you." The ones that stuck out the most was the fact that I am an extravert and that I am observant. I believe that these tests are accurate as most of them reflects who I am as a person and as an educator. Understanding myself so well before and after these assessments helps me understand what I bring to a professional learning network or a PLN. A PLN is a group of people that you can connect with to increase your understanding of an idea. PLNs usually happen on an online database. As an educator, PLNs are a great way to gain knowledge on subjects that you are teaching students and ways to better yourself as an educator as these kids now a days need constant support. There are four types of people that participate in a PLN. They are an encourager which is someone that keeps you going and continuing with your learning. These people appreciate your participation to learn new techniques. The next is a challenger which these types of people will challenge your thoughts and ask you to really think about your answers or your thought process. Advocate is the next trait when it comes to members of the PLN. An advocate is someone who will speak up for you and share with everyone your strengths. Finally, the fourth trait is a technical advisor. which is someone who is extremely good at the subject that you are trying to learn more about. These are your peer-relationships that are in a professional learning network. I do not think that I fall under one specific trait but sometimes I think I can fall under all of these traits depending on the networking I am in. My biggest trait from above is my ability to give off a positive energy. This definitely helps me be the encourager in a PLN. I would really like to become someone who is a challenger or an advocate for others. There are times that I am a technical advisor, and I need to be better about sharing what I know. A PLN that I would be a technical advisor in would be phonics for students who are learning how to read. I have found such a joy in that.
Action Plan based on my Personality Traits:
Image Source: Darbi Blogs
As I mentioned above, my strength is that I am an extrovert and that I enjoy showing others my excitement when I am around them. However, with that strong positive emotion comes my strong negative emotions too. I believe that this is my biggest weakness when it comes to being under stress. Sometimes this means that my negative emotions come out like my frustration, and anger when I am stressed. I am creating a 3-step plan that allows me to strengthen my skill level in controlling my negative emotions.
Step 1: I will find a PLN that deals with people working through their emotions. I need to seek PLNs that have technical advisors in this subject area, this way I can learn from them on how they have improved handling their stress or how they have helped others improve. I think online networks would work best for me because of how much downtime I spend on the internet. I would use TikTok, Instagram, or Facebook. On this step, I am truly just learning from others and finding a safe space to explore my peers' experiences. Step one should take about a week or two to find the right network for me. Each day I should be looking for new connections.
Step 2: On this step, I would like to try a technique that I learned from networking. The technique should be mentioned in the PLN that I found the most beneficial. This could be a coping mechanism while I am working (where I am the most stressed) or an activity that others have done when they are under high levels of stress. I believe that this step should take some time as I need to find out what works for me.
Step 3: My final step would be to comment on the PLN. The comment should be something that has been a positive about joining the PLN and maybe even a compliment towards someone who has given me good advice. On this step, I want to be a contributor, and I want to become either someone's encourager to keep following along or an advocate for others by sharing how being apart of this group has helped me. This step will be my end goal, and each step will start over as I want to continue my involvements.
Being a part of the internet for such a long time, I never realized how many PLNs I have been a part of. These can range from education to health to activities to do in different areas. I am always a watcher instead of participating. I want to become someone that is an active member in Professor Learning Networks for not only my career but my everyday activities. As mentioned in one of the articles above, these networks are a great way to find a place where you belong.
References:
ESTJ. (n.d.). True You Journal.
Free personality test | 16Personalities. (n.d.). 16Personalities.
Hurt, K. (2023, December 26). How to build a better network of peer relationships. Let’s Grow Leaders.
Limited, N. A. (2015, November 28). Identity: Assertive (-A) vs. Turbulent (-T). 16Personalities.
Lynch, M. (2017, August 13). What is a Personal Learning Network? The Tech Edvocate.
PsychReel. (2022, January 8). Thinking vs Feeling (A Complete Guide) - PsychReel. PsychReel.
Test, M. P. (2020, August 3). Personality Type Indicator. My Personality Test.
Do you remember when you were in school, and you constantly would ask the teacher if we could do something fun today? Or you might be a teacher, and you have your students constantly asking to do something fun. I know that I have had this happen to be several times in my seven years of teaching. We as teachers need to change that. We need to teach our students in an engaging way that they want to come to school and that they understand what they are learning. No more standing in the front of the room and reading the material without any time for the students to apply what they have learned. This can change with the idea of using active learning in the classroom.
What is Active Learning?
Active learning is an approach to teaching that allows students to actively engage with the material that they are learning. It is not just about what they are learning but it is about how they are learning the material. This process has students learn through student led discussions, projects, open-ended questions, technology, hands-on learning opportunities and so much more. There are many benefits to having students actively engage in the learning. It gives the students time to have a deeper understanding of what they are learning, creates positive connections with the material and their peers, allows students to increase cooperation and communication skills through group projects, and gives time to let the students create a higher level of thinking by having them do the learning. Active learning is not just about getting the students up and moving, it's about having their brain be actively engaged in school. Below is a video of the process to start using active learning in your classroom.
Video Source: Challenge Innovate Growth
Beach Ball Bingo:
Beach Ball Bingo is an actively learning activity that can be used for any topic and any grade level. In this activity, teachers will need to get a beach ball. With a sharpie teachers will write different questions or problems that goes along with the learned material on each part of the ball. A lesson that I would use this for in my first-grade classroom is reading comprehension. The students and I would read a story together, then I would write on the beach ball open ended comprehension questions for the students to answer. Open ended questions are questions that do not have the students answer with yes or no but rather have to explain their answers. If we were reading Jack and The Beanstalk, some questions would be "Why did Jack have to sell the cow?", "How do you think his mom felt after Jack came home with the Beans?", "Why do you think she felt this way?" etc. The students would then get into a circle and safely throw the ball to each other. Whatever question the students thumb lands on is the question that they are answering.
How is this Actively Learning?
By having the students participate in Beach Ball Bingo, students are having to have a deeper understanding of the story. They will not only use their own words to answer the questions, but they will be engaged with the story and each other. Students will have to actively use their brain in this activity by connecting what they heard in the story with what they know. Beach Ball Bingo creates a memorable activity that will create deeper connections with the story allowing students to be ready for any comprehension assessment. With this activity, students need to make sure that the person they are passing to knows that they are the next to receive the ball by looking at them or calling their name. This is working on communication skills. Students also need to remember to pass to everyone in the classroom, so they all get a turn. It also
How have I used this in the past?
I always start the school year off with a beach ball activity. I write get to know you questions on the beach ball for students to answer. This is a great way to get to know students and for students to get to know their classmates. Students are listening to each other and have a better chance of remembering information about their peers because they are actively engaging in the process. By starting the school year with this activity, students will have an understanding with the activity to use it throughout the school year.
Image Source: We Are Teachers
Other Ways I would use Beach Ball Bingo:
-Math problems (addition/subtraction, word problems, place value etc.)
-Word Families for rhyming or reading
-Sight words
-Science questions to go along with the topic
-Vocabulary words
-Simple sentence reading and writing
References:
Challenge Innovate Grow: Teacher & Learner Centre. (2023, May 2). What is Active Learning? [Video].
Jack and the Beanstalk questions. (2021). BLS School.
Lynch, M. (2023, October 11). 13 fun beach ball games and activities to pep up your classroom. The Tech Edvocate.
Richland, K. (2024, March 22). Multisensory reading activity: beach ball toss. Structured Literacy | Pride Reading
What is Active Learning: Benefits and How to Apply It. (2024, June 26). SC Training
Have you ever seen the movie Nerve? This movie has two sides to it; either you are player that is completing tasks, or you are a watcher and simply watching the players complete the tasks. While I was listening and reading about David Whites Visitors and Residents idea of how individuals engage with the applications and digital tools that the internet provides, it reminded me of how the two types of characters behaved in the movie.
Below is a quote from David White, "The digital environment is as much where people live as the physical environment," (David White, Podcast Episode 312). As I was doing my research, this quote stuck with me because today everyone with access to internet is on the internet and everyone is somehow living digitally as they are physically in this world. Whether they are on the internet to simply do research or if they are on the internet to connect with others, they are somehow using it.
Image Source: David White; Teaching in Higher Ed
Let's get back to the idea of being a Visitor or a Resident while using applications and digital tools on the web. First, let's define A Visitor and a Resident.A Visitor leaves no trace on the tool that they are using, they are simply using the tool to complete a function. A Visitor is not using the tool to connect with others. A visitor would be like a watcher in Nerve.A Resident is a user that is looking to leave a trace on the tool and looking to connect with others while they are using the tool. When a person is a resident with a digital tool, they are using it to create relationships with others who are engaging with it similarly. A resident would be a player in Nerve.
The chart above shows characteristics of a visitor and characteristics of a resident. These characteristics can be used to evaluate where you fall for each application or digital tool that someone is using.
My Digital Map:
As I was doing my research, I looked at all of the online applications that I use throughout my day. I looked to see which ones I used to simply complete a task and which ones I used to communicate and leave my digital footprint. I placed my usage of applications into four categories: visitor, resident, personal, and professional. Some of my tools that I use daily can be placed in two of the quadrants.
Image Source: Personal Canva
Personal Resident and Personal Visitor: While I was doing my placing, I was extremely surprised, that I could not think of many personal applications that I am a resident in. I feel like I spend so much time on the internet throughout my day, but a lot of the digital tools are simply to complete a goal. I noticed that I am frequently a visitor while using my digital tools during the weekday evenings. During my weekday evenings, I find myself on Netflix, Google (searching random questions that come to my head), watching TikTok videos but not posting, and scrolling through Instagram but not leaving any trace behind that I was on them. Some other tools that I use as a personal visitor are Amazon, Lapse, Spotify, and Twitter/X.
Resident Personal and Professional: The applications that I am a resident in throughout my entire week are Outlook (my work email), Teams, ClassDojo, Instagram (if something exciting is going on to post), FaceTime, Facebook, and Facebook messenger. On my digital map, I have some of these applications listed twice. Once in my resident personal quadrant and once in my resident professional quadrant because I use these in different settings. I use Outlook, Teams, ClassDojo, camera, Instagram, and Zoom for professional communication. Instagram, camera, and Zoom are listed in both professional and personal because I have two different accounts one for personal use and one for professional. I use the camera for school and for personal. Above I mentioned that for my social media accounts, I am not a resident on the weekdays. However, if something is interesting or exciting happening, I will post during the weekdays. On the weekends, is when I really become a resident with my social media applications like Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, and Facetime. The weekends are when I have more time to express/post what is going on in my daily life, my thoughts, and my opinions through my internet connections.
Visitor Personal and Professional: If you take a look at my digital map, you will see that I have many applications in my visitor professional quadrant. These are applications that I use daily with my students, to better myself as a teacher, and keep my students engaged. However, when I use these applications, it is quick and to the point, they are not used for a long period of time. These applications are YouTube Kids, BrainPOP, Kahoot, Blooket, and TeachersPayTeachers. I have a few tools that I put on the line for both visitor personal and professional. These are the Weather Channel, Google, and USAToday. We use the WeatherChannel website every morning to see what the temperature and weather are in our area, but I also use it for my own wonderings. Every time my students have a question that I do not know the answer to, I will use Google to learn together. As mentioned above, I also find myself searching the web with my own wonderings. Finally, USAToday gives me news and stories about teaching and the classroom, but also, I look at the news that is happening not involving my career. My quadrant that was easiest to fill was my visitor personal as I described all the applications I used in the personal resident and personal visitor section.
Visitor Professional and Resident Professional: There are no over lapse when it comes to me visiting professional tools or being a resident on the tools professionally.
Am I a Resident or a Visitor:
In the movie Nerve, the players and the watchers could not be both at the same time. If you are a player, you have to be a player and if you are a watch you have to be watching. You can't switch halfway through the game either, you have to stay with your first choice. This is different for being a resident or a visitor when it comes to using internet outlets. I believe that I am both. I have many applications that I use to visit, and I have applications that I share my whole life story on. Personally, I think that it depends on how busy I am. In the summer, I am a huge resident on social media but during the school especially the beginning, I am a visitor.
Additional Videos and Articles about Resident Vs. Visitor:
What is a digital footprint? | IBM. (n.d.). https://www.ibm.com/topics/digital-footprint
OCLC Research. (2012, January 17). Digital Visitors and Residents: What Motivates Engagement with the Digital Information Environment? [Video]. YouTube.
Seitzinger, J. (2013, July 3). Culture mash [Slide show]. SlideShare. https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/culture-mash/23892382
Stachowiak, B. (2020, July 7). Digital Visitors and Residents, with David White – Teaching in Higher Ed. Teaching in Higher Ed. https://teachinginhighered.com/podcast/digital-visitors-and-residents
Every school year, I wonder to myself how can I get better as a teacher. Never has it crossed my mind that I could get a better understanding of technology and how to use it to strengthen my teaching and my students learning. My first graders are like sponges, they absorb MOST of everything that they observe/learn. This would be the perfect time to introduce, incorporate, and assign lessons using technology. I want to do this by looking closely at the TPACK theory when I am creating my lessons. The TPACK theory stands for Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge. I too saw this long name for the theory and got overwhelmed. However, this theory can be explained in easier words. The TPACK theory overlaps three different components of learning. To start, we will look at the content knowledge, that is the background understanding that the teacher has within the content of the curriculum; for example in a first grade classroom that would be understanding of addition and subtraction. The pedagogical component is how teachers do the teaching of the content using specific teaching methods that is effective for student learning; if we are looking at addition and subtraction, the teaching method could be using manipulatives to visually show them it works. The third component is combined with the other two and adds the use of technology to enhance learning; the technology for addition and subtraction could be the students creating a Canva, that uses the white board option for them to example and show their work on how they solved the problem. The video below created by Common Sense Education, does a good job of explaining TPACK and how teachers can use it in their classroom.
Video Sourced from Common Sense Education on YouTube
Students now a days know how to use technology without even being taught. In my classroom, my students help me with technology problems all the time. This is because they have grown up with it and they have a strong understanding and positive relationship with technology. Whether that means their tablets, the TV, the internet, or video game consoles, they know how to use it and they want to use it. As a teacher, I need to know how to incorporate their love and knowledge of technology with their content. This is exactly what the TPACK model does. It is important to remember the why when conducting lessons using the model. In the article, What is TPACK Theory and How Can It Be Used in the Classroom, explains the importance of TPACK because it allows teachers to combine technology with the content and pedagogy to create a learning environment that is effective for all our students.
Quick Look at a Lesson Using TPACK in a First-Grade Classroom:
After diving deeper into the TPACK Theory, I decided that I wanted to create a reading lesson that I can use in my classroom. To start, I need to make sure that I know the content that I am teaching. In this lesson, the students will be learning the sequencing of a story. In our curriculum, it has many lessons retelling a read aloud from beginning, middle, and end. This is a huge struggle for some of my students. The pedagogy of this lesson or the how, that my students will be participating in many sequencing lessons using stories that they are very familiar with like The Three Little Pigs or The GingerBread Man to become familiar with why it is important to give details about a story in order by beginning, middle, and end. The students will then be listening to four different stories throughout the week. They can pick one of the stories that they felt most comfortable with and create a Padlet to sequence their story using pictures, words, videos, or audios to show their understanding of the order of the story. As I have only been teaching for seven years, I know that this will take time for my students to have the skill to do this independently but once they do, it'll be a project that they will never forget. While creating lessons that follow the TPACK theory, I will keep this picture nearby as it has all the elements that need to be included shown. The picture of the kids, the target, the teacher, the telescope, and the positive attitude about using TPACK will guide me towards success.
Photograph sourced from Discovering the TPACK Model on YouTube
Where I as an Educator fall using the TPACK Model:
Every year I ask myself "How can I be a better teacher?" and every year I end doing the same exact thing that I have done in the past. Now, for me that works but I want to BETTER. By reviewing the TPACK model, I realize that my weakest component is the technological knowledge. In my earlier blogs, I mentioned that I am very good at understanding technology, but I lack in it when it comes to incorporating it in my lessons where the students are doing the creating. I feel that I have a good understanding of the content and how to teach it to all of my students no matter where they fall academically. I never try to teach them because I am scared. Well, I am not scared, I am more so worried that my students will struggle so much that they will shut down and immediately never want to try it again. The technology component is usually always a video or game like Kahoot that my students are not truly using technology to express their understanding. Already, just being two weeks into school my students have watched many videos and played many Booklets or Kahoots. Now, from these I can see who gets the correct answer to questions, but I am not giving them the chance to create on their own. Today, we were learning about animals protecting their young. We played a Blooket that asked students questions about adult animals and baby animals. Instead, I could have had them create Nearpod using videos, pictures, words, or drawings to show what they learned about animals protecting their young.
I want to be the teacher that creates engaging lessons that my students will remember forever and share how they learned through activities that they love.
GIF source: Capital FM
References:
barristars. (2017, January 15). Discovering the TPACK model [Video]. YouTube.
Canada, M.H. (2021, May 13) What is TPACK Theory and how can we use it in the classroom? McGraw Hill Canada
Kurt, S. (2019, September 16) TPACK: Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Framework-Educational Technology
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