On October 3, 2019 we had a presentation given to us via the BlueJeans app from Sally Song—a grade 7 teacher from sd63. ( @MsSallySong ) Sally discussed several technology tools that she uses including Office 365 and the Remind App.
Office 365
- Platform for kids to have their own voice
- App called sway
- Can make videos
- Language translations
- Connecting teachers and learners just like google docs would
- Interactive and both can work on it at the same time
- File sharing
- Creating teams or groups for learning
- Navigating and creating a digital footprint
Remind App
- Generates a phone number for you and pushes out text messages to all devices
- The goal is to get all parents/guardians and students to sign up and use it like a planner
- Opens up a communication—clear and succinct
- Keeps kids accountable for homework and other reminders
- Parents/Guardians want to be in the know and we must help them navigate all the different tech
- Can set up one-way communication
- Use as well as daily planner
A big message that was incorporated into Sally’s presentation was that new teachers tend to experience a lot of pressure to do new things and be innovative. Sally’s message was to know your limits within the technological mind frame.
Not only will you burn yourself out by overdoing tech in the classroom, but your students will also be exhausted by too much exposure. Students should still build skills beyond tech like thinking for themselves and building external critical thinking skills. Technology should be used as a tool to assist with these skills rather than replacing them.
As an emerging educator, I think it’s important to be aware of and understand Sally’s message on overdoing it with tech in the classroom. I have felt the pressure of embracing all of the new ideas in education and I think it’s important to master a few things rather than trying to take on too many new projects and being unsuccessful in all areas. It’s important to try new things but also realize that you should set a pace for yourself and not overwhelm both you as the educator and your students.
Jessica Erickson
October 20, 2019 — 10:47 am
This is definitely an important takeaway from Sally’s presentation. I think one of the most important things to remind yourself is not to try and “master” too many things at once. I believe if you try to focus on one area of improvement for tech (for example, blogging) you will reduce your burnout. Once you get good at that one thing, you can continue to explore new areas.
I liked how you included Sally’s twitter handle in this post. It encouraged me to go check out her account!
bellisomo
October 22, 2019 — 2:40 pm
“Technology should be used as a tool to assist with these skills rather than replacing them.” I really respect how you relate technology as a tool to assisting with the building and honing of students’ core competencies such as critical thinking. Implementing technology appropriately would do this organically but too much technology, as you say, may be detrimental and have a negative effect on students’ learning.