Lindsey Hancock Warden
Technology Integration
Technology integration forms the base of my instructional strategies. Integrating technology with my teaching not only allows me to support my instruction with useful and exciting apps, resources, and activities, but also encourages my students to practice skills, to publish their work, and to think globally as they make connections across content areas through web resources and online communities.
My current teaching placement has 1:1 technology, meaning that every teacher and student has access to an iPad. I use my iPad to create presentations, to assign classwork and homework, to communicate with parents, and to assess mastery of skills and objectives. My students use their iPads to turn in classwork and homework, to research, to read, to create and collaborate on projects, and to complete formative and summative assessments. In many ways, technology integration has elevated my classroom because it allows me to be creative in my planning and to create lessons and activities that are not limited by the confines of a textbook, worksheet, or even the four walls. Rather, my students are able to use technology to develop deeper understandings of the content areas I teach, and to apply their knowledge in meaningful ways as they explore, discuss, and publish online.
Table of Contents
Skills Practice & Assessment
One method of encouraging my learners to develop deep understanding of content areas and their connections is through using technology for skills practice and assessment. As an important part of our daily classroom life; my students utilize a variety of websites and apps to enrich their learning experience. Some of these, such as Renaissance Learning Accelerated Reader, help me assess my students' proficiency in everything from independent reading growth to grammar skills. Other websites, such as Vocab.com, allow me to enrich lessons across subject areas by assigning vocabulary practice and games to my students. Please click on the slideshow below to explore the various ways that my students use technology to grow their understanding, make connections, build skills, and apply knowledge.
Organization & Procedures
Aside from technology that assists with skill-building and assessment, we also utilize technology for classroom organization and procedures. Streamlining daily classroom activities through technology integration has proven an excellent method of prompting my students to "buy-in" to classroom activities that they might normally view as boring or unnecessary. A high level of student investment is critical to their understanding of my content areas, and to their ability to make connections, build skills, and apply knowledge in meaningful ways. Please click on the slideshow below to view some of the ways that technology integration in our classroom procedures supports these outcomes.
Creating & Publishing
Another way that I integrate technology into my instructional strategies are through mediums that encourage my students to explore, create, and publish. Out of all the ways that I integrate technology in my classroom, these strategies most directly support my students' application of knowledge in meaningful ways. These are the methods and final products that allow my students to demonstrate that they possess a deep understanding of content.
Slide 1. Accelerated Reader (n.d.). Screenshot of Accelerated Reader (AR) passage opening From Slavery to Poetry: The Story of Phillis Wheatley. Accelerated Reader. Retrieved November 3, 2018, from [insert link]. Screenshot by author.
Slide 2. Accelerated Reader (n.d.). Screenshot of Accelerated Reader (AR) passage body From Slavery to Poetry: The Story of Phillis Wheatley. Accelerated Reader. Retrieved November 3, 2018, from [insert link]. Screenshot by author.
Slide 3. Accelerated Reader (n.d.). Screenshot of Accelerated Reader (AR) test question 2 of 4. Accelerated Reader. Retrieved November 3, 2018, from [insert link]. Screenshot by author.
Slide 4. Accelerated Reader (n.d.). Screenshot of Accelerated Reader (AR) test question 3 of 4. Accelerated Reader. Retrieved November 3, 2018, from [insert link]. Screenshot by author.
Slide 5. Vocab.com (n.d.). Screenshot of Vocab.com vocabulary list. Vocab.com. Retrieved November 3, 2018, from https://www.vocab.com. Screenshot by author.
Slide 6. Vocab.com (n.d.). Screenshot of Vocab.com vocabulary practice question - adulation. Vocab.com. Retrieved November 3, 2018, from https://www.vocab.com. Screenshot by author.
Slide 7. Vocab.com (n.d.). Screenshot of Vocab.com teacher dashboard. Vocab.com. Retrieved November 3, 2018, from https://www.vocab.com. Screenshot by author.
Slide 8. Vocab.com (n.d.). Screenshot of Vocab.com trouble words ranked list. Vocab.com. Retrieved November 3, 2018, from https://www.vocab.com. Screenshot by author.