Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Reflective Teaching Challenge - Using Technology



I have started my first year as a 6th grade language arts teacher, and I know I have much to learn as I make way into the middle school environment.  When I read that Teach Thought was hosting a blogging challenge for teachers who want to reflect, I immediately accepted the challenge.  Because reflection is such an important part of teaching, and since I was teaching a new grade level, I thought this challenge would be perfect for me.  Find more information here on how you can join other teachers for September Refections.

September 2 - Write about 1 piece of technology that you would like to try to incorporate this year into your curriculum.

This summer I attended several conferences focused on technology.  By the time I left each one, my head was spinning with ideas to use and new tools to try.  Since today's prompt was to write about ONE piece of technology, I had to narrow it down.

Our school year began with arrival of Chromebooks for our English department.  Our previous experience has been on MacBooks, so this will be a learning experience for both students and teachers.

We also will be using Google docs for the first time, and I am so excited about using this tool as well. One of my goals on yesterday's post was to collaborate using Google docs.  I think this will be an excellent tool for students to use for the entire writing process.  Drafting on a computer adds excitement, and revising using Google docs lets me see the revision process because it automatically saves each change.  It will also eliminate carrying home 100 notebooks to read student writing.  Now, all I have to do is open my computer, and I will have the writing of all my students at my fingertips. 

If anyone has any tips for making our transition to Chrome easy, please share! 


2 comments:

  1. I enjoyed reading your post Leigh Anne and it's great to have you part of the challenge! I don't really have a lot of advice about Chromebooks but know there are some great posts and links out there.
    I am passionate about the use of Google Docs - and all things Google - in creating new learning and greater collaboration - both for students and teachers, so please let me know if I can help there in any way. :-) Looking forward to reading more of your posts. :-)

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  2. Google Docs are awesome & easy to learn, even for my 4th graders. We're excited to be 1:1 with Chromebooks this year. So the accessibility will be great!

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