Kahoot! ... well gesundheit (bless you)

To those of you who are reading these wonderful reflections of goals that I have set for myself in my new role as model tech classroom, I thank you. I appreciate having an audience that I know is going through the same journey as I am during these last crazy weeks of school. With only 12 days closing in on the last day, I am looking for ways to engage my students even more now since they are becoming restless.

 My next goal that I am reflecting on came about when I went to a Waukesha One session one year that dealt with a neat little site called Kahoot! This session looked intriguing to me because it was so interactive for the students. It allowed them to instantly receive feedback on their answer, and me to see who still needed to work on a certain skill. However, like many of us at the beginning of the year, that plan quickly took a back burner to all the academic things I needed to accomplish. Little did I know that those academics could be easily incorporated into Kahoot!, but in an awesome game-based way.

 Speed forward to this past week when I actually used Kahoot! in my Literacy classes. I wanted to do word study with them, but not with them cutting stuff out that results in scraps everywhere (no good for a type A person).  ;-) Yes, I understand the importance of paper and pencil at times when students need to engage in that. However, this word study allowed me to combine so many skills that I had already taught but wanted to review with them. I was so excited to have found Kahoots related to the early literacy skills I wanted to review. With my Kahoot! set and ready to go off we went to review our word study skills. Even with preparation and warning, the students were still obsessed that it was a game and there was a winner. I guess my words meant nothing to them when I said I didn't turn off the points because I didn't know how at the time. Well, lesson learned for sure those points students can get really hinder their learning. I now know (after the third time) that the points need to be turned off before we start playing.

 If you are looking for an interactive and game-0based learning opportunity for your students, I highly recommend Kahoot! It's so easy to search for Kahoots that are already created you just have to tweak to your needs to create your own. The website is very user friendly and hopefully this blog inspires you to try it out. I used it with my K/1 students, however there are so many options for older students. I see so much potential in using this that I even considered having my high flyers who need extension to create a quiz of their own to use on other students. Kahoot! is a limitless resource that be used in so many creative ways. Just try it!

We Have Takeoff...

Going digital in anything is a scary process and sometimes people feel (including me) that they are moving at a snail's pace with integrating technology. There is so much information out there and so many resources for integrating technology, so some feel like being the snail is the way to get around that overwhelming feeling.

This opportunity has really helped me pick up my pace of incorporating technology. I am so excited to have this experience and time to bring my classroom to life with technology.

 My first experience with implementing my goal went successfully and no, I am not joking. When I signed up for this opportunity I knew it would sometimes be challenging; however, this goal went amazing. Being a Literacy teacher, thoughtful logs are a huge part of our teaching and of course ESAIL ;-). With this, I wanted to focus on students using the thoughtful logs independently during their read to self time.

 My main goal with my K/1 students is to help them learn independence and give them resources to meet their academic goals. Kids are in LOVE with their iPads so any chance they can get to use them is a bonus in their eyes. What better way to motivate them to use their thoughtful logs than with QR codes and scanning with their iPads. So in came my awesome tech coach who helped me create QR codes for all my anchor charts that we had co-created during Language Workshop. Then each student had their own set of anchor charts at their fingertips ready to be scanned when they needed a refresher on how to use a strategy.

This started when I would teach a mini-lesson about one of the strategies. Sometimes it was a refresher on the strategy we have learned about and adding on more ideas or a new strategy with a new anchor chart. I would ask the students to try out the strategy in their thoughtful logs and they would have that resource to use.

 Students were already so engaged in their books when reading, however I wanted to give them more purpose when we didn't have a mini-lesson to connect to their read to self time. So these QR Codes gave the students a way to show their understanding of the books. It has really helped them think critically about their books and slow down to understand the important parts of their book. Each time we create a new anchor chart they ask me if there is going to be a QR code that goes with it which makes me smile as a teacher. So now all the anchor charts that I have squished into my limited wall space are easily accessible to students! I highly suggest going digital with parts of your thoughtful log.

Don’t Stop Believing… Technology is a Good Thing

My teaching journey began six years ago when I started in this school district. I was excited to join a district that was moving forward with technology and personalized learning. However, I started full time teaching five years ago at the Waukesha STEM Academy-Randall Campus. When I first started at Randall STEM, we didn’t have 1:1 technology for the students. My technology journey began with the old school laptops that took a full day to start-up and then lost power within 1 hour of using them. However, I was determined to integrate the 14 of them I had into my Math classes. When I reflected on my teaching practice, I wanted to have the students more involved in their learning, so I decided to flip my mini lessons (I use the term flip lightly). I recorded and then put them on bb9 for students to access. Well, many long stories short those laptops started becoming my friend allowing the students to be able to go back to the lesson for further investigation, help, or resource.

Now having been a 1:1 school with iPads for 3 years now, I am still learning new ways to integrate technology into my classroom. When my coach, mentor, tech guru approached me about being the anchor technology classroom with her, I was a bit nervous. She had me pinpointed on my thoughts, “What am I doing that makes me the tech expert?” I learned very early on that it’s not about doing everything perfectly or even correctly especially on the first try. That made me confident I was going to be ok because many days I have looked back just to think, “WOW, that was a swing and miss for that tech lesson…”
What I am looking forward to on this journey is bringing to life all my crazy ideas about how to integrate technology. The ideas I receive from those wonderful Waukesha One conferences can actually be a reality now. I will have a resource to help me kick start my resurgence into technology integration with my students as the guinea pigs-hope they are ready too!

We all have a story to tell

Recently, I have begun working along side my first Model Technology teacher. Like many of us, she forgets that she has a story to tell. Often we hear, "I am not dong anything special, I am sure there are others doing the same thing," when it comes to technology. Regardless, people will listen to your story. People will learn from something you share. People will set course on their own journey having heard what you have to say.

Being a Model Tech classroom does not mean that you are the high flyer techno wizard. It means that you are willing to take risks, try things with the risk of failure, be willing to assess where you are and grow from there...and most important: Share your journey. I am excited to work with this teacher to provide quality instruction with embedded technology. I am excited to hear her tell her story of growth. I am excited for her students to be our guinea pigs! Please help me welcome Deanna Day to the Model Tech Family. Watch for journey, coming soon!