Ed Tech in Our Classrooms

When I worked in a Kindergarten class in high school, the teacher had a class Twitter and Facebook accounts! The Facebook account was really just a way to connect with parents and to keep them updated. However, using Twitter, he was able to connect with classes across the country.  He would write the "tweets" with the students on the screen so they felt like they were participating. I think it is a very cool way to show what your class is doing and also you are able to share ideas with other teachers. I would definitely use a Twitter account in my future classroom.

I can remember many times when games were used in classrooms during my years in primary school. Some were incredibly effective but some fell completely flat. Upon reflection, the ones that fell flat were the ones that did not have any component of fun and were obviously designed with educational goals in mind instead of the game itself. The ones that I had the most engagement with were ones that managed to combine both areas. Physical games are also a valid option. For one class, we had to design a board game based on the material we were given in class, then we played the games in class. This was fantastic because it had a demonstration of knowledge and comprehension as well as a fun aspect that the students had agency in with their own creation. I think for games to work as assessments in a classroom the game must be built around assessment. Many games not built around assessment follow predictable patterns where simple trial and error can yield results which will skew data. Attempti...

Games like Minecraft, Roblox, and countless others have appealed to young students for years. What if you could find a way to combine these games into some sort of learning experience that is actually beneficial to students? That is the purpose behind integrating gaming into the classroom. It is no surprise that many students will enjoy gaming at some point in their life. Whether it is something on the computer, on a console device, or otherwise, they will find ways to play these games. Teachers need to find ways to combine gaming with curricular content. There are already so many skills taught through gaming such as problem-solving, teamwork, and critical thinking. When a teacher uses gaming in their lessons, it reinforces those skills along with other practical skills students will need.  Start introducing games in some of your lessons to see how students respond. You may find them to be more engaged in the content and excited for what comes next in the learning process. Use gami...

I think using Twitter now is kind of outdated. I've seen a lot of fun and great inspiration done on the new app TikTok . Teachers will post videos of themselves talking to their students, showing the audience a form of behavior system they have, and also some teaching strategies. I've been following a lot of teachers on  TikTok   and it's become a huge trend to hashtag #TeacherTok. I think this is such a great way to showcase inspiration to teachers all over the world and to show the public just a glimpse at what goes on in our classrooms. (Note: This is NOT a picture of Courtney.)

Many of you played Oregon Trail on your first school computer. Many of you also may have also questioned how accurate the portrayal of indigenous people had been. Well, what happens when you update a game and actually ask an indigenous historian to fact-check a beloved game? You get a much-improved version of Oregon Trail . Although there are no more bows and arrows, you can still die of dysentery.  For more information, visit  https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/57853/an-updated-oregon-trail-gives-native-americans-better-representation 

This year I asked my wonderful students to remove the backgrounds from their favorite selfies and upload them to a Jamboard page. The result was wonderful and funny. So nice to meet you all.  

The emoji set you see here was years in the making. Before reading this article by Molly McHugh-Johnson, I had no idea about the process needed for an idea to become an officially recognized emoji. I also did not realize that a team of volunteers reviewed applications for new emojis.