One of my favorite things to do is to have the chance to get to “play” around with new technology tools that I can start using in my classroom right away. The only problem is that I feel like I never have the time to get to explore these new tech tools. It always seems like we get introduced to a brand new gadget in a professional development session and get zero time to see how it actually works and how I can incorporate into my class. That is one of the reasons that I like these courses because it forces me to carve out some time to see what is out there. After looking through the various tools in the reading and the lecture, I see some familiar friends and some fresh new faces. A couple of the tools that I am familiar with and use personally and/or in my classroom are Newsela, Diigo, Google(Classroom, Docs, Slides), and Dropbox(which I don’t use as much thanks to Google Suite). There were a few tools like Glogster and Tween Tribune that I have used in the past as well.
The two new tools that I took some time to get to know are Actively Learn and Epic. I have a colleague, who has also been my classmate during the MET program, that has talked about using Actively Learn . I still have so much to learn about this tool, but right now I am super excited! There are a variety of articles, videos and short stories that are aligned to a variety of standards and are of varying DOK levels. Questions are embedded throughout the article, story or video requiring the students to be active in the reading process. I teach 7th grade ELA, so I typed in one of the novels we will read this year (The Outsiders...my favorite!) Unfortunately, the story is not on actively learn, but it pulled articles, books, dramas, short stories and videos that are related to the Outsiders because they are from the same genre or share a similar theme. How cool! I plan on spending a little more time researching and watching videos to see all of the cool things we can do.
The second tool I chose to spend more time with is Epic. Last week during our video introductions someone (I think it was Krista) mentioned using Epic with her students. I wanted to take a look, and it appears that it is designed for kids 12 and under. My students are at the ceiling age wise, however I have quite a few students who are significantly below grade level in reading. This would be a great way to give them access to books on their level considering our middle school library doesn’t have a lot of 3rd and 4th grade level books to put in their hands. I like the idea that I can assign reading and even create quizzes for them.
I’m excited to give these new tools a try in my classroom!
YES! Get epic is awesome. The thing I love about it is that it tailors to their interests. There are also videos on there and audio books. I enjoy giving my students choices so this is one more tool where they have choices and can pick what they want to read. Also, my classroom library doesn't have the most updated books...they are mostly hand me downs from other teachers so I feel like with epic I have the most "epic" library...:)
ReplyDeleteI have not previously heard of Actively Learn, but it looks like a great resource. My primary teaching interests revolve around Social Studies and Math. Actively Learn looks like it would be a great tool for a Social Studies classroom. Social Studies classrooms provide a wonderful opportunity to tie lessons in with ELA standards. One of the features about this website that I liked was the ability to answer questions within each article. It is a nice way to check for understanding. I look forward to exploring this resource in depth. Thank you for looking into it and suggesting it as a classroom tool!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for suggesting the Actively Learn. I'm signed up now, and ready to introduce it to my students. A couple things I noticed and I love that as you hover over the title it provides an essential question. This is so helpful for the students to have a focus for their reading. It also allows you to customize questions and notes for anything it offers.
ReplyDeleteHi Rachel!
ReplyDeleteThanks for talking more in depth about Actively Learn! I teach elementary. Do you think that it could be used in an elementary classroom setting? If so, it seems like a great resource for non-fiction reading or even social studies and science if there are articles on those topics. I love to find kid friendly non-fiction reading sites that kids are actually interested in. I feel like non-fiction can be boring for some students but this seems like it is quite interactive and fun!
As an elementary teacher I love Epic! I have seen it used a lot in many different districts. I think the one thing you need to watch out for is the videos. The kids used to use Epic as their reading time choice and they would just be watching videos. I think there might be a teacher setting that blocks videos, I would look into that. Other than that, the visuals are great, the book selection is great, and they like using it because you can't see what they are reading so there is no anxiety about having a smaller book than other students!
Rachel,
ReplyDeleteRE: " It always seems like we get introduced to a brand new gadget in a professional development session and get zero time to see how it actually works and how I can incorporate into my class."
This is a perpetual problem with professional development! When I was a beginner, I set a professional goal of trying one new tool each week. If I saw promise in the tool, I would explore it more deeply and research to learn more about how to use it with my students. This allowed my knowledge of tech tools to expand very quickly. Even tying a new tool a month will allow you to discover the best tools for your learners. Always remember, it really isn't about the tools, it's about what you do with the tool.
Dr. Dell