Stephanie Jerrick described the 6 C’s of motivation as “better classroom management because the students have ownership.” The two scariest things about being a teacher candidate and possibly having your own classroom one day is having excellent classroom management and being able to reach all of your students using differentiation. To me, it is still overwhelming to imagine differentiating every lesson for every student in my class. I want to ensure that I reach every student in my class to make sure that they succeed.
Using technology is a great way to differentiate with students. It is possible for students to move through activities at their own speed. After watching a video on Tech2Learn about using technology to differentiate I learned about some good techniques. The teacher started out by giving each student their own white board. This helps them learn the basic techniques and vocabulary. One point that the video brings up is that if students use their own devices and play the games at their own speed, they receive immediate feedback for their work. If the teacher were to give them worksheets, the feedback would take days and would be hard to give students the direct feedback that they would need to set their next steps. With video games, they are able to have individualized instruction depending on their skill level. He also differentiates by allowing students to solve the questions in whatever way works for them. He allows students to answer their math problems using their fingers or whiteboards. An important point that he brings up is that on a worksheet they would be bored a lot faster and there is are no levels. With the computer game, this keeps students engaged and can keep them progressing rather than stuck on one worksheet.
Using the computer also saves the teacher time in marking. He is able to test students every few weeks and have all of the results sent to his computer. This makes it easier to compare data so he knows how fast they are improving. This saves time and allows the teacher to spend their time working one on one with students rather than grading worksheets.
The piece of technology that is the most foreign that is used in classrooms today is the Interactive White Board’s. I was able to take a two part SMART board course through Lakehead University. Unfortunately, I still feel like I was only about to dip my toe in the SMART board pool. There is an endless amount of possibilities when it comes to the SMART board and its capabilities. Due to the amount of work that comes with teacher’s college I have not been able to use the techniques that I have learned. I look forward to my placement where I might be able to try the SMART board once or twice. My first placement did not have a SMART board or much technology at all. I hope that I am lucky enough to have more technology in my second placement. I have slowly been collecting a repertoire of apps on my tablet. If I learn to use them slowly, then maybe I might not be so overwhelmed. This class is helping me become more comfortable with technology.
Using technology is a great way to differentiate with students. It is possible for students to move through activities at their own speed. After watching a video on Tech2Learn about using technology to differentiate I learned about some good techniques. The teacher started out by giving each student their own white board. This helps them learn the basic techniques and vocabulary. One point that the video brings up is that if students use their own devices and play the games at their own speed, they receive immediate feedback for their work. If the teacher were to give them worksheets, the feedback would take days and would be hard to give students the direct feedback that they would need to set their next steps. With video games, they are able to have individualized instruction depending on their skill level. He also differentiates by allowing students to solve the questions in whatever way works for them. He allows students to answer their math problems using their fingers or whiteboards. An important point that he brings up is that on a worksheet they would be bored a lot faster and there is are no levels. With the computer game, this keeps students engaged and can keep them progressing rather than stuck on one worksheet.
Using the computer also saves the teacher time in marking. He is able to test students every few weeks and have all of the results sent to his computer. This makes it easier to compare data so he knows how fast they are improving. This saves time and allows the teacher to spend their time working one on one with students rather than grading worksheets.
The piece of technology that is the most foreign that is used in classrooms today is the Interactive White Board’s. I was able to take a two part SMART board course through Lakehead University. Unfortunately, I still feel like I was only about to dip my toe in the SMART board pool. There is an endless amount of possibilities when it comes to the SMART board and its capabilities. Due to the amount of work that comes with teacher’s college I have not been able to use the techniques that I have learned. I look forward to my placement where I might be able to try the SMART board once or twice. My first placement did not have a SMART board or much technology at all. I hope that I am lucky enough to have more technology in my second placement. I have slowly been collecting a repertoire of apps on my tablet. If I learn to use them slowly, then maybe I might not be so overwhelmed. This class is helping me become more comfortable with technology.