Integrating Technology in the Classroom

The Evolution of a Teacher 

During this blog, you will be presented with the newly discovered evidence of the evolution of teaching with a focus on integrating technology in the classroom. The blog will share the evidence of a newly discovered species of educator through his evolutionary stages as he evolved and integrated technology into his classroom environment. We will begin the journey of this progress with the hatching of the individual in his primordial pond, where he needed the help of a mentor, and follow him all the way to a fully developed self-sufficient educator. I hope that you find it informative and interesting. Feel free to share any connections about similar species you have encountered that compare or contrast with these experiences and contribute some of your own evidence you found while reflecting on this topic as well. I would love to read some other personal archeological journals! And without further ado let’s get started… 

Evolutionary Stage 1: Technology… What technology?

Earth first bears witness to this species as a hatchling in the infancy of its teaching career in 1997 as a student-teacher seen here in this Polaroid picture. You young ones may have to google that ancient technology, but a Polaroid is a camera that can give you an instant physical picture. Now let's get back to our story.

Look at this young promising teacher. Filled with hope, excitement, and using a chalkboard. Yes, this species is me. In stage one of my teaching career chalkboards and teaching from textbooks were the norm. We did not even have state standards if you can believe that! The DSTP and state testing were still about 3 years from existence! So what was technology integration like in stage one of my evolutions? In a word – LIMITED. My first years of teaching included mostly pencil & paper. Most of my… dare I say…worksheets *Gasp!* were made with a ditto machine or mimeograph machine where you wrote on carbon copy paper and cranked it through the machine as seen here. Archaic! Medieval! Ancient! "Really, you’re that old?!" I know right!? "But you don’t look that old." – Ahh.. thanks all is forgiven. 😊 Such were the early years… I had just arrived fresh out of school a mere tadpole that does not yet know the technical revolution that is on the rise.  Needless to say, the technology was not a real thought or consideration in the classroom. The SAMR Model will not exist for another 13 years.

Personal computers were too big and too expensive to place at every student’s desk, and you were lucky if the classroom had one computer for all students to share. If you were lucky enough to have one computer in the class, then it wasn’t a practical tool to plan around. How do 30 students use and share a computer? The answer was Accelerated Reader. With this early digital tool, a student – one at a time – could log on and take an accelerated reader test to find out their reading level. This would give educators a diagnostic test to help us meet the students’ needs and differentiate instruction. This also helped usher in a new stage of development. As my tadpole tail started to recede, I also started to sprout some little nubs that soon wanted to start typing instead of writing.

Evolutionary Stage 2: Technology for the Teacher / Students, Not So Much.

As my teaching pedagogy evolved so too did technology, both in ability and affordability.  Long gone were the mimeograph machines I started on. These were replaced with XEROX machines. I no longer had to write on carbon paper. I was able to type my worksheets using a computer and then create my copies. This allowed me to use a rich text editor and have creativity with fonts, bold, italics, and more features. The chalkboard gave way to the whiteboard which soon gave way to overhead projectors. Now the rich text formatting on the worksheets could be projected for note-taking and teacher-led presentations. My teaching was elevated and enhanced, but it was not yet transformed. 

The digital tools helped me plan, create, and execute great lessons. 

    

Then the internet and online capabilities were ushered in. I could now obtain sources and videos from the web to enhance my lessons and provide stimulating videos and visual supports for my lessons. Things were definitely looking up for me and I was feeling comfortable in my growing abilities to present great engaging lessons to my students. However, there still was no real access to technology for students in the classroom. Rarely did the room have more than one or two computers for the whole class to share. Again, these were mostly relegated for diagnostic usage. Then as in nature, a mutation occurs that ushers in a new evolutionary story. SMART Boards had arrived in my room as well as a Chromebook cart that now enables students to have a 1:1 ratio of student to technology access.  I quickly adapted to the SMART Board technology! I gained access to more tools to drive and enhance my instruction. Students could even come up and use it to demonstrate their learning as well. It was great! What about the Chromebooks you ask? Well… I had never had 1:1 student accessibility to technology. What was I to do with it? Sadly, I had no clue. 😞 Every Wednesday in RTI class we did Achieve 3000, but that was basic and required by an administration expectation. Not what I would call transformative integration. I also had students play a few games throughout the year. There was a Jamestown Online Adventure for colonization lesson and The Oregon Trail for a westward migration lesson. Meaningful? – Sure. Great use of technology? – You bet! Consistent use of technology? A blended classroom where technology is seamlessly integrated into the students’ daily activities? – Hardly. My usage of technology in the classroom was mostly teacher-centered and only accessed occasionally by the students. 

My pedagogy was growing by leaps and bounds my tail is completely gone, my limbs were fully formed, but my gills still existed. I was bound to the water and unable to live on dry land. The water was my safety blanket – so there I stayed. However, the land was calling me. I longed to get on the land and hop around. I felt like other teachers were getting out of the water and hopping around. Am I getting left behind? I decided it was time to leave my swimming hole and explore the world. I decided it was time to put this technology to use. I felt guilty seeing the cart in my room go unused for so many days. I decided to go for my Master’s Degree in Applied Technology in Education. I want to blend my content and pedagogical knowledge with technological knowledge and reach the sweet spot in education. This is known as TPAK - Want to know more? Here is a video that can explain it in two minutes. Enjoy it and I'll see you on the other side.

This decision to get my Master's Degree would usher in my third stage of development.

Evolutionary Stage 3: Technology Everywhere! Teachers & Students

Just as in nature, a big jump in evolution occurs with an Earth changing event. For mammals and dinosaurs, there was an asteroid. The event that would exponentially progress my evolutionary change would be the COVID-19 pandemic! It didn’t matter that I decided to take my Master’s in Applied Technology and hadn’t finished my classes yet - too bad! My water hole has dried up. I had to either grow lungs and evolve or suffocate and die! Such is the harsh reality of natural selection and the evolutionary process. However, I was not prepared to die. I had to adapt quicker than I planned, but I was determined to survive! My TPAK capacities evolved and my technological knowledge was growing exponentially in mere weeks and sometimes days out of necessity. 

I created my first Schoology course. I learned to create online assignments. I learned to incorporate and assign YouTube Videos. This year I learned to incorporate Google Drive assignments using Google Docs, Google Forms, or Google Slides. I had students corroborating inside the same Google apps. The technology was no longer enhancing or augmenting my lessons instead it was transforming my lessons based on the SAMR Model. Want to know more about SAMR Model? You got it. Take two minutes and I'll see you on the other side of the video.

Great, you're back! Let's continue the evolutionary tale. My growth continues still - My Google Slides are now more engaging with the addition of the Pear Deck add-on. And now my graduate classes are teaching me even more ways to use and apply technology. I created an interactive game using Deck.Toys. In this game, students try to solve a Scooby-Doo mystery while learning about the concepts of Federalism and the Separation of Powers in the US Constitution. YouTube videos have also evolved from passive videos into Edpuzzle videos. I have had students create Flipgrid videos. One of my favorite examples was after learning about the French and Indian War. See the screenshot below of the assignment.

I have enjoyed and had a great deal of success with integrating technology into my classroom. However, It is important to be mindful when integrating technology into your classroom and you should read up on it here. For those of you who would also like to weigh the pros and cons, you can read this here before you begin. While I reflect on my incredible growth just in the last year, I also am aware there is more to come. This blog will continue to chronicle my evolution and growth as an educator. Looking to the future, I would like to see the next stage of growth include Gamification. Come back in two weeks and see how this frog can turn into a Frogger! 

(Get it? Frogger = Gamification) 😉

I look forward to reading your comments. Do you use some of these technologies I have integrated? Do you use technologies I didn't mention? What technologies not mentioned in this post should look at and learn about? I look forward to reading your comments and hope to share my growth in gamification in a few weeks from now.