Technology Use in the Classroom - Past Ideas that Have Worked and What I Will Do in the Coming Year

     There are two particular programs I have used in the past involving technology in the classroom that have worked well for me.  The first was a Mission to Mars.  It was a distance learning situation.  We used the distance learning center but you could do it in your classroom.  It was an e-mission through this website,  http://www.e-missions.net/.  Two classes prepared for this mission together, studying graphing, decoding, and multiplication and division story problems, along with a study of outerspace.  The students were broken up into groups who would be navigators, transmission officers, communications, and cargo officers.  The SmartBoard was used for part of this study.  During the actual mission the groups each had a laptop and information from mission control was relayed to the laptops.  The groups of students had to figure out the data to save a team of astronauts.  The communications group relayed the information from each group to mission control through microphones.  The students could see mission control on the large screen.  This particular project used distance learning and computers and the students worked collaboratively to solve a problem and learned a lot of math and science concepts along the way.

    

     Another site I have used successfully in the classroom is worldmathday.com where the students compete by performing math problems against other children from around the world.  They prepare for this day by practicing on the computer.  On the actual day itself they compete and can see on a globe on their screen where the other students are who they are competing against.  This is another site where I have found technology beneficial to learning in the classroom.

     A new technology that I will try this coming year based on the readings is digital storytelling.  I will also have the students videotape with a flipcamera each other acting out their stories in writing workshop, the actual writing workshop celebrations of the students reading their work, and current events in the school and have these posted online so that parents can view them, as well as other classrooms and administration.

     I will connect with parents and the class through a new class website as well as class current events blog.  I will add technological components to reading and writing workshop with the student's work online as well as discussions.

     For immigration presentations, state reports, and Newbery award projects I will add new options for their reports including podcasts.  I am going to have each student create their own wiki or blog to add to the class wiki or blog so they learn how to use these tools.  This will also bring out each student's individual creativity.  This year I will also save their work in e-portfolios on our school's intranet for future use and for use at conferences.  It is also possible then for the student to be at the conference and present their work to the parent.