A Mid-Year Checkup: Tech Goals I've Met, Missed, or Abandoned Completely

While it may feel a little late for resolutions, today's post is one I promised to do when I reached the halfway point in my year. I began the schoolyear sharing a list of tech goals for the year ahead.  Today we'll see where I've succeeded, fallen short, or given up completely. Then, check the section entitled "Round Two" to see where I plan to go from here.

Goal #1: Going Deeper with Kindle Fires

My goal was to find ways for kids to produce content and use our classroom technology within a lesson as part of learning rather than as an independent experience or as isolated practice. I thought this might include creating a google doc, accessing websites on their own, utilizing google maps, or recording themselves saying their Bible memory.

Progress:

I've made progress here, but I have room to grow. We used maps often during our maps unit at the beginning of the year. I've also used Seesaw to have kids record themselves doing math algorithms, saying Bible memory, and sharing finished writing samples. As far as google docs are concerned, I'm realizing it's a lost cause. Our Kindle Fire screens are just too small to have them produce in any real way. There isn't enough room to fit a keyboard and the document without the text being microscopic. So, for this goal, thumbs sideways seems right.

Goal #2: Clean Screens

My goal was to clean the kindles more regularly - not only to reduce smudges on the screen, but also to keep kids from transferring germs by using the devices.

Progress:

Nope. Other than cleaning them maybe twice in the first semester, it just hasn't happened. This one seems too easy to be doing this poorly. The simple solution is to add a job to my weekly student job list.

Goal #3: Green Screens

My goal was to find ways to use the green screen in my classroom.

Progress:

While I haven't used this often, we did enjoy taking pictures our first week of school and at our Christmas party. I've met this goal, but I think it would be fun to use one or two more times this year. 

Goal #4: A Kahoot a Week

My goal was to use a Kahoot at least once a week with my class.

Progress:

Fail. I think I did 2 Kahoots the entire semester. I have to set aside some time to sit down and go through my curriculum. Once I have a list of found or created Kahoots to use, integrating them should be a breeze. I'm hoping having a student teacher will allow me some breathing room to find this time.

Goal #5: Coding 2.0

My goal was to introduce and incorporate coding into our schoolyear.

Progress:

This December, I took advantage of many of the resources published by code.org. Students spent time in the computer lab playing a Moana coding activity, played Lightbot, and were some of the first students to use a set of ozobots in our school. Later this year (likely in May), I'll continue some of this work. I know my students will also have an opportunity to do further coding during a "Maker"/STEM week that will be happening at our school at the end of March. While I've met this goal, I'll seek opportunities to go further with it.

Goal #6: Student Photographers

My goal was to have students regularly capture images and videos as a part of instruction.

Progress:

This has happened, but not in the way that I originally imagined. Students have taken and shared images using the Seesaw app, and I look forward to continuing this into the second semester as well. I think that the investigations we are doing in science (erosion, plant life, STEM activities) will lend themselves to snapping images more than Social Studies did the first semester.

Goal #7: Making the Most of My Chromecast

My goal was to make the most of my Chromecast. This would include playing games, streaming, and projecting my kindles instead of showing kids the actual device.

Progress:

Ok. This one is not my fault. I tried to use some of the games available through the Google Play Chromecast app store, and it was horrible. Though I have had some success projecting the kindles through the Chromecast, ever since the last update, I've been experiencing some issues. (I think Amazon is catching on and making it harder for people like me to run google apps on the device). I am, however, using the Chromecast almost exclusively to stream content through my classroom projector.

Round Two

I look at the list above and almost laugh.
Oh, hopeful summer Brandon, such big dreams...
​Frenzied winter Brandon wonders how this list could have gotten so long...

With the first semester and its successes and failures behind me, I think it would be best to pare down the list above to see what my next steps should be. Here is what I'm hoping to accomplish before summer:

• Clean Screens: Create a schedule where students are assigned to clean them.
• Green Screens: Find at least one more way to use this in the spring.
• S'more Seesaw: Have students use Seesaw once a week. 
• ​Coding Continued: Continue to give students opportunities to try various types of coding this spring.
• Kollecting Kahoots:  Set aside time before spring break to find 5-10 Kahoots for each content area, make a list of links, and share them with my colleagues.
• Diversifying My Library: From now until the end of the year, make a concerted effort to introduce greater diversity into my classroom library by only purchasing books with a minority as a main character. (This goal comes from what I discovered and shared in my post last week).

At the end of the year, we'll once again see what progress has (or hasn't) been made.

Still Looking...

When the schoolyear began, I was looking for a few things. Here is what I've found so far:

• Spell Checking Software: To be honest, I stopped looking. The Alexa app was included with one of the updates this fall. Instead of asking me or a friend how to spell a word, students ask Alexa. This works great, especially when we turn down the volume and they can see it on the screen. Placing one device between every two students seemed to be sufficient. 
• Typing Software: I haven't spent much time on this, and I am going to stop looking altogether. There really isn't anything out there and for good reason. The screen is so small on the Kindles that seeing what you're typing when the keyboard fills half of the screen is nearly impossible.
• Photo Sharing: I have not found anything great that is cheap or free, so I have settled on sharing photos by emailing a direct link to parents for a Google Photos album. Recently, Google updated their google sites platform, and I'm hopeful that it will soon integrate Google Photos. Once this happens, I'll likely ditch my Weebly site.

Help My Classroom

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