As I have previously mentioned, my first grade classroom at Noble Elementary has sufficient access to technology within the classroom. In my classroom, the hardware used includes a classroom computer and SmartBoard as well as a class set of iPads. The teacher has a clicker that connects to the SmartBoard so that she can flip through her slideshows and lessons from anywhere she is standing in the room, without actually touching the computer or the SmartBoard. Over the past few months, I have seen these various types of technology used in many ways. Some ways are used far more often than others, but nonetheless, my cooperating teacher has demonstrated useful ways of incorporating technology effectively into her classroom.
The computer and SmartBoard are typically used for whole group instruction in math or English/language arts. During these lessons, the teacher often pulls up objectives and slideshows to compliment her teaching. She will also pull up workbook pages in these subject areas as the students follow along in their own books. She will call on students to come up to the board and write their answers or help the teacher determine the answer as the other students in the class follows along on their own workbook pages. Additionally, she uses the SmartBoard and computer every single morning as she conducts her morning meeting with the students. They flip through a slideshow that begins with the Pledge of Allegiance and school pledge and finishes with interactive activities that discuss the days of the week, the current month, the special classes of the day, and the number of days that they have been in school. Additionally, on occasion, the teacher will show educational videos on the SmartBoard to the students. I have seen her show videos about important or influential people in the world, including Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Tubman, and Louis Armstrong among various others. She has also shown the students videos of stories being read aloud as well as short videos about animals or habitats to compliment their science learning. Additionally, she utilizes a website called GoNoodle daily in which she gives the students ‘brain breaks’. GoNoodle has an assortment of fun music videos that allow students to get up and get moving as the videos show lyrics and dance moves for the students to follow along to.
The iPads are used by students individually during centers. During centers, one group is assigned to work on the iPads at a time, and during this, the students are typically able to work on an application called Reflex Math or on an application that corresponds with their reading textbook called Superkids. Sometimes, they use other educational applications but I am unaware of the names of them. Reflex math allows the students to practice their math facts at a pace that is differentiated for them through the software based on their performance. The questions grow progressively more difficult if the students are doing well and if the students are struggling, the application remains working on those facts. The Superkids application helps students improve their comprehension and reading abilities. There is an option to use the audiobook for the story of the week or the option to answer questions and play games that correlate to key concepts, key vocabulary words, or key spelling words that are presented in the week’s story. These two software applications in particular help to prepare students for the lessons of the week and for their learning over the course of the year. These help them to improve in certain areas in which they are specifically struggling so that they can work to improve and further their learning and knowledge.
One last way that I have observed technology at Noble was when my teacher was giving assessments to students and took her class to the computer lab so they could play educational games while she was assessing students. This has happened twice over the semester. During this, the students knew exactly what they were allowed to play and use as well as how to act in the lab. They followed directions perfectly, and as soon as they logged on to the computer, they clicked on the icon for the CHUH Symbaloo, which is an icon that connects directly to the internet and allows for students to work with certain applications such as Raz-Kids, BookFlix, PBS Kids, Storybird, Fun Brain, Think Central, National Geographic Kids, Kahoot, and Math Expressions, as well as many others. It was clear that the students knew expectations immediately as they entered the lab. I never saw a single student disobeying directions. They were all very intrigued by and interested in what they were playing and working on. Therefore, I feel that when students have the opportunity to go the the computer lab, because it is so rare, they really enjoy it and make the most of it. I feel that they really do learn from the educational software applications that they are permitted and required to use on the CHUH Symbaloo because they would tell me about what they were doing and loved to show me when they succeeded!
In addition to these software applications, Google plays a great role in the way Noble Elementary uses technology. Noble and all of the schools in the Cleveland Heights/University Heights School District are “Google Schools,” meaning that all students and teachers have Google accounts by which teachers, principals, and other faculty and staff can communicate with the students and parents. School personnel are able to share documents and spreadsheets to inform the parents and students about things going on at school or send out specific reminders. Because everyone has a Google account, this is an easy and effective way for students and parents to communicate with those at school. Google is another software that the district and students at Noble use and are very familiar with. This is a very effective feature of the school and district and helps ease communication between school and home.
Based on my observations and a conversation with my classroom teacher, the students are not working with any software applications that are specifically impeding student learning. The applications that are used correspond primarily with the classroom learning in math and English/language arts but sometimes compliment other subject areas as well. If the students are using the technology as desired, which they usually are, they should benefit educationally from the technology. I do not think that the technology often impedes student learning in my classroom and neither does my classroom teacher, except when the students are not using the devices properly or when there are technological difficulties. In my observations, students rarely are using the devices inappropriately. Additionally, there are rarely technological difficulties, but when the technology is not working, time is wasted trying to fix it, and this can distract or impede student learning, which is something that I have observed twice and something that my teacher did mention to me. For example, one day, the bulb on the SmartBoard was running low, so the SmartBoard would shut off every ten minutes. Whenever this happened, the teacher had to pause her teaching to restart the board, which would take two to three minutes each time. Additionally, one or two of the iPads are not able to use headphones, and when these devices are placed out for students to use, students must take time from their learning to switch devices. Typically, the teacher and students try to avoid this by not putting the broken iPads at the media center, but sometimes, the students or teacher forget and accidentally put them out. Overall, these technological complications do rarely occur. In fact, I have only seen something happen twice, one being when the bulb went out and one being when a student set up a broken iPad. Therefore, based on what I have observed, the ways that technology is used are not impeding student learning but rather benefitting or facilitating it.
Students typically respond well to the use of technology in my first grade classroom. It is obvious that students enjoy working on iPads and enjoy having turns writing their answers on the SmartBoard. They become more engaged in the learning when they know they have the possibility to be called on to come write on the SmartBoard. I also believe that incorporating technology in my specific classroom provides a way in which students can engage themselves with their learning and work at a pace that is right for them, especially when working individually. Students can choose what they enjoy or what they need to work on and personalize it so that they can make the most of their experience. Therefore, I feel that from my observations, technology is facilitating student learning, especially because it keeps the attention of the students far longer than hearing a teacher lecture.
Lauren O'Malley ED386 