Technological Struggles, or “When the Internet is neither “inter” or a “net”….”
I work in a rural school, and the biggest challenge I face with technology is the reliability of the Internet. Living where we do, the Internet provides our students with opportunities to see places otherwise inaccessible and to do things that, while entirely possible in an urban school, are outside of the realm of resources for us. On more than one occasion, a lesson has been postponed, abandoned, or changed on the fly because our internet connection has failed. Teaching requires us to learn on the job, and so I have been able to come up with different safeguards so that the lesson can move forward regardless, but it really sucks when you’re standing there with forty eyes on you while the buffering icon spins round and round.
To that end, I have used software, some of it not exactly on the up-and-up, to download content from the internet so I can show it at my leisure. I’ve also been happy to find educational websites that take these potential difficulties into account and provide options for their content when the bandwidth loses its girth.
Why bother learning more about technology?
The reaction we had to the pandemic hurt my students quite a bit. I was given a room full of 3rd graders that were functioning closer to the 1st grade level, especially in mathematics. Using their textbooks, I worked through an introductory lesson with them only to find that they didn’t grasp many of the preliminary concepts required to do the first few problems. I found myself running around the room trying to answer questions while classroom management went right out the window.
We were eventually given access to some online tools that evaluated the students based on their NWEA RIT scores and their immediate performance. Every student ended up with differentiated and progressive lessons that allowed my aide and me to work the room, giving students one-on-one time and additional support. The added bonus was that all of their work was assessed and reported to me automatically, which allowed me to personalize my attention with surgical precision. Grading now took no time at all, because all I had to do was export what I wanted to our gradebook system with a few taps on my keyboard.
That technology lead to a 132.5% overall average improvement between my student’s first and last RIT scores. More importantly, I watched a little girl move from a kindergarten grasp to a 4th grade mastery of geometry almost entirely independently, and an autistic student move from the kindergarten level to a 3rd grade level in all four math bands. That technology enabled us to differentiate for every single student and allowed us to focus our instructional (and personal) time on things other than grading. It was an incredible win for us all.
So, for me, saving time, differentiation, and more one on one time were all reasons to learn more about technology.
The Value of Blogging for Elementary Students
I currently work with 3rd graders who are at the emergent level in their writing skills. Many of them are still trying to grasp the 2-dimensional nature of written numbers and letters and it is really common to see things written both backwards and forwards in their written work. Blogging, however, means that while they might spell a word wrong, their characters will all be facing the correct way, and that can be used to help with their handwriting as well.
Blogging also makes it easier for families to see their student’s progress in real-time. Grandparents in Mexico and Cambodia don’t have to wait for the random phone call or email to find out what their little ones are learning, and parents and guardians can either discuss in person or comment on their student’s work online, helping to foster that crucial communication within families. Blogging allows for more neural and less knee-jerk peer review and commentary, and leaves a signed record of the conversation, increasing accountability and responsibility. As a teacher, it allows me to observe the development of my student’s metacognitive processes while giving me another window to help shield them from bullying or other events that might require protective services. Plus, it’s fun, and they’re going to learn a lot more if they are having fun.