Integration of Technology in my Unit

           

           At first, I was very nervous about integrating technology into my unit. I created a first grade unit on community helpers, and I did not think that there was much technology first graders would be able to do. After working on it, I created projects first graders would definitely be able to accomplish. I started by getting an idea for a lesson. Then I would start to write that lesson, while thinking of how to integrate technology. By the end of the lesson I had a great lesson with technology integrated.

            In my unit, seven of my lessons include integrated technology. Each of my technology integrations are created to benefit student learning. The reasoning behind my technology is to enforce concepts that the student learns in the lesson and have them practice with the material. The students will be doing all of the technology projects by themselves except for one which they create together as a class.

            My unit is community helpers which is very broad so I was able to do many things with it. My class is first grade so that became a challenge because I wanted to create more complicated technology projects, but I had to make them simpler for first graders. Once I started thinking more like a first grader it became easier to create the technology.

            The eBook I created from my unit was about helpers in the community. In this lesson, the students will read my eBook on their own. Since there are first graders who cannot read yet, I recorded all the words in my eBook so if a student cannot read something they can click it to hear it read to them. My eBook is very colorful and has real pictures of places the helpers work. This technology was meant to help students learn about the places community helpers work and also a characteristic that most common with that helper.



            In another lesson in my unit, I teach the students about rules in the school and community. Also the students learn how community helpers enforce rules in the community and how they help people if their broken. The students will be reading the comic I created about two kids breaking a fire rule and what happens when they do. After the students read mine, they will create their own comic about someone breaking a rule in the community and what happens. Also they will include how a community worker would help in that situation. The integration of this technology lets the students create their own story. In Bloom’s Taxonomy, the highest level of thinking is creating and that is what I wanted my students to be doing with the technology projects. Having them create something with the information I give them, helps them remember it and relates it more to them because they get to make it.  

            I had both good and bad experiences with integrating technology into my unit. I am still getting comfortable with some technology programs that I have not mastered yet, which caused me to struggle with my unit. I would get a good idea for a technology project and then try to make it, but was unsuccessful and had to scratch the idea. This only happened a few times before I was able to create seven technology integration projects that I wanted to use.

            When I start teaching I am going to request to have as much technology as they will allow me to! I am hoping I will have enough technology available to me to create technology integrated lessons for my students. I want to have a Smartboard in my classroom so I can create interactive lessons where my students take charge. I want all the technology I use to be meaningful and beneficial for student learning. I do not want my students sitting at a computer playing games. Teaching students 21^st century skills is a very important part of teaching today. Technology is a huge part of 21^st century skills because today people use technology for everything! I want my students to be exposed to as much technology as possible when they are young so it is not so “scary” as they get older. Technology will be very important in my future classroom!



PBS Teacher

   PBS Teachers is an awesome website for teachers. It is not like other websites teachers use. PBS Teachers gives teachers resources that they can really use in their classrooms. The website PBS Teachers is a place where teachers from around the country can go to find lesson plans, collaborate with other teachers, or even learn new ideas and material to enhance their classroom.
   One of the greatest resources on their website in their lesson plans. Every teacher needs lesson plans and sometimes they will struggle to come up with an engaging and fun lesson plan. Sometimes teacher will just search for lesson plans on any website but by going to PBS Teachers you know you will be getting concrete and interactive lessons. Lesson plans are one of the most important pieces of teaching. Without good lessons teachers do not have anything to go off of and will not teach the students what they need to know.
   Another great part of the PBS Teachers website is the discussions you can have with other teachers. Teachers still need to learn new things and the only way they will is by talking to other teachers. All teachers can learn from each other. On PBS Teachers they have a teacher discussion area. This is where teachers can share and comment ideas, questions and thoughts. This is just like a blog for only teachers! It is a safe place for teachers to talk to one another and help from across the country.

   The last part of PBS Teachers that is so great is all the links to other helpful websites! There are great websites out there but sometimes finding them can be hard. PBS Teachers makes it easy to find and use other great sites. On their website they have links to PBS Kids and PBS Parents. These are both such helpful links for teachers to use for students or to suggest to parents!

   PBS Teachers is a resourceful site for all teachers from Pre-K to 12th grade. It is a place to go for ideas, help, and lessons, and the best part about it is that it is free!!

The students will read the comic and learn about a firefighter and how they help in the community. There are many community helpers who help and do other things in the community. After the students read the comic they will make their own! The students will use the comic space given to make their own comic. They will choose a community helper and create a story about that community helper.

Formative Assessment in Kindergarten

Formative assessment can be challenging especially for the younger grades. Kindergarten is usually the first time kids are in school and they need to be assessed appropriately. The teacher cannot expect the students to come to school reading and writing, while some might be able to, most students cannot. The teacher should assess the students right away on what they know and teach students all year to reach a goal and then be assessed again to see if they reached that goal.

            There are so many ways to assess students in the classroom. There is no one way to assess students. There are so many great tools to help teachers assess their students. With upper grades the teacher can give their students more tools to assess them with, but with kindergarten there are not as many tools. There are still some great ways to use formative assessment in the classroom.

In my research I found a school's plan for assessing kindergarteners. It is a 78 page packet that explains what assessing, evaluating, and reporting student's work. The school has laid out what they expect the teachers to do to get the most valuable information about the student's learning. This is the whole idea of formative assessment. It is the way teachers find out how much the students learned from a lesson.

    Formative assessment is not the only kind of assessment there is. There are other kinds such as diagnostic assessment and summative assessment.

    Formative assessments are done everyday in school. Standardized tests are a big assessment that most people think of when they think of assessing students but they are not given in kindergarten. Teachers need to have something to assess the students on. There are two things that help teachers know what to assess students are. The first is the national standards for kindergarten and then the state standards. In North Carolina they use the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. All teachers in North Carolina need to follow these standards and make sure their students learn what they need to.

    There are many important tools for formative assessment. Such tools can be observation, interaction, and listening. These are all tools that the teacher and the student can use to get the most out of formative assessment. The teacher can observe the student and take notes about their progress. The teacher and student can interact with each other which gives the teacher a better idea of how the student is doing, and also how the student thinks they are doing. It is important for the student to be a part of their own learning. And last is listening. The teacher should be listening to the student and really understanding what they are thinking and why they are thinking that.



   Formative assessment is very important in all grades, and can be made into more student and teacher friendly activities other than standardized tests!