Five Ways to Tech Up Your Classroom
Editor’s note: This article was submitted for publi- cation earlier this year. However, readers will find the author’s suggestions valuable regardless of the time of year.
Summer is a great time to test out new technology for you or your classroom. It is the perfect time to see if the change will be a good fit or if it requires a bit of extra planning, practice or new tech skills on your part. With the summer to practice you’ll be up and running comfortably for the new school year next fall. If this sounds appealing to you, here are five ideas to check out before the end of the summer.
Operate your desktop from an iPad with Doceri ($30.00,
www.doceri.com)
How many times have you wished you could run your computer/projector setup from your iPad? Wouldn’t it be great to be able to open new soft- ware, present slides, annotate documents and use your iPad as a whiteboard? Doceri does all of this plus gives you the ability to record your lessons for later use. You do not need to have your computer and iPad operating on the same wireless band and the setup is both quick and easy.
I use Doceri in my classroom every day. My kin- dergarten classes love seeing their rhythm “magi- cally” appear on the big screen at the front of the room. I can project recorder parts, annotate to highlight rehearsal issues, save for future use with one click or click twice to wipe it clean for the next class. I do all of this from my iPad, which keeps me in front of my class and greatly reduces transition times. Best of all, I can record a screen cast with my voice to capture a lesson as a video file. Lessons can be pre-recorded and the resulting MP4 file left with my sub plans, or recorded as you teach and the file uploaded to a digital classroom space for students who are absent. Other software options are available for the same price or less; Educreations and Splashtop Whiteboard are two that are also popular. The best way to choose is to analyze how you prefer to present material and decide which features you are most anxious to try. Make a list of your requirements before you begin researching options online.
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Denise Lewis
Dump the huge piles of paper assessments by using Rubrics ($1.99 with in-app pur- chases up to $5.99 for full package, the App Store)
Rubrics is a fantastic, flexible app that allows you to write your own rubrics and assign them to class- es, groups or individuals. Rubrics are archived for future use and grading reports are available with in-app purchase. Music teachers might find it a bit of work at the beginning to load all those student names and place them in classes. However, once done the app proves to be a fantastic time saving tool.
This app has saved me a lot of grading time. I now have the ability to archive files for use later to demonstrate student growth without putting reams of paper files in my desk. The reports are valuable for my planning, and having that infor- mation available on my iPad eliminates those “I wish I had that information but I left it in my desk at school” situations. This app takes time to learn fully so be patient. I needed a summer of practice to feel comfortable. Rubrics allows you to import lists of names to make setup easier, but you still need to sort students into classes and that can be a lot of work at the start.
Make the switch to a digital lesson plan- ner (Free to $20.00+ annually, many available)
Lesson plans can be a very personal issue. Most of us have a preferred method, format and routine with our planning. Some districts now prefer to have their teachers use a uniform method through- out an entire building or district. If you are still on paper and have the freedom to choose, there are many options available. Choose the method that best suits your preferences and habits.
PlanbookEdu ($25/year, basic plan available for free;
planbookedu.com) is a fairly flexible lesson planner that allows you to push or move lessons, attach files and standards. You can quickly print or email plans as a pdf document; a perfect life- saver for unplanned sick days. If your building or district has an institutional plan your administrator
Technology
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