Giulia Lato: My Teaching Portfolio
Education in Everything
Information and Communication Technologies
It goes without saying that technology is becoming more and more prominent in all aspects of life, including the classroom. Educators can readily use the advances of technology to improve their teaching in many ways. Technology allows teachers to explore subject areas in ways that were not possible before, to offer students different ways of demonstrating their understanding, to accomodate different types of learners, to engage students in remarkable ways, and to plan activities that were not possible before. If educators want to keep their students engaged throughout the day, technology might help do so, as students are familiar with technology and enjoy using it. Luckily, there are tons of resources tools available to teachers who wish to utilize ICT in their teaching. Click here to view my growing list of resources for ICT use.
The Process
Technology is difficult to represent in a single metaphor because it is quite complex and has many different facets and uses. Nevertheless, I've chosen to represent technology with that of a moving train on a railway for several reasons. First of all, trains bring people to their desired destinations, which technology can also do. In the classroom, teachers can use it to bring students from a place of not understanding to place of understanding. Technology helps teachers reach their desired goals.
Transporting students from one place to another
Second of all, trains allow people to travel faster than walking. In the same way, technology expands our possibilities by learning more efficiently, more rapidly, and more creatively. Finally, trains are more exciting than walking because they offer amazing scenery that changes drastically in short periods of time. Similaryly, technology can provide exciting opportunities for children through different mediums and can offer a wide range of activities and learning experiences. While it may be difficult to use technology each and every day, the important part is that teachers begin exploiting technology in the classroom for the benefit of student learning.
The Resources
Finding good resources for using technology in the classroom is important for all teachers, especially those who are just beginning to explore the world of information and communication technologies. Here are the basic devices that are usually (and hopefully) available to teachers in the classroom. However, if these tools are not available, alternatives can always be found.
Laptop Computer
Desktop Computer
iPad / iPod
Smartboard
Using the Smartboard
The smartboard should not only be used as a whiteboard for teachers to write on like a regular blackboard. Instead, its interactive features should be the focus and students should always be invited to come up to the smartboard to use it. That is what I've always done in my classroom because I don't want students to simply watch me use the smartboard; I want them to use it as much as I do. I often use the smartboard to play games that solidy recent learnings, such as Jeopardy games. The Notebook program also offers game templates, which I use quite often to review material or to practice concepts, especially in grammar. Here are some of the games I've developed on the smartboard.
Tile game revision for Homophones Ont/On
Vortex game for Coat of Arms revision
Students independently using the smartboard to review material, which acted as a learning center
Online Resources
Apart from these devices, the Internet offers tons of interesting resources that teachers can use to create lessons, to create learning tools for students, to motivate students, to convey information, and to engage students in captivating activities. Click here for a list of online resources that I've used in my own classroom for a variety of purposes. In order to demonstrate how some of these resources can be used by teachers, below are some of the tools and content I developed by using the online resources.
Using Wordpress, I developed an example of a classroom website.
Using Screencast and Jing, I created an instructional video.
Using Google Forms, I created fillable forms.
Using the iPhone Recorder App, I recorded an audio reading.
Using Mixbook, I created an online storybook.
Using Youtube and a camera, I created an instructional video.
Reflections
This will always a challenging area of teaching because there are so many different strategies and tools to use, which can sometimes be a little overwhelming. Nevertheless, I do have a solid foundation of information technologies and am curious to learn about tools that I am not familiar with. When I want to use some form of technology in my classroom, it's important that I teach myself how to fully use it or to seek out help from others. It's a continual process and actually using technology in the classroom helps me learn more about its use, even when problems come up. It goes without saying that technology opens the door for problems, which means that I always try to include a back-up plan, in case something goes wrong. In addition, teachers have to work with what they have access to in their school and classroom, which can also place limits on the use of technology.