Revamping the Classroom

As I approach the end of another school year, I have started to reminisce about the work accomplished  in my classroom. This week concludes my 5th year teaching, and this year has been significantly different. I am finally at the point where I am comfortable with the content and understand what is needed in order to practice proper classroom management. I teach each lesson with a purpose and have focused on the bigger picture: how do I improve student learning and engagement?

As they eagerly run out to embrace summer break, I feel confident that a majority of my students are equipped with the skills needed in order to gain success in the future. As I reflect on the year, I am most proud of the work my students accomplished and the improvements they made over the past 9 months. I am also proud of the risks I took this year with the integration of technology in my classroom. While frightening at first, these risks allowed me to gain new insight on how technology can improve classroom instruction and promote student success.

Starting off slow, I began using my iPad during lessons in order to improve presentations and engagement. I then asked my students to use their devices in order to get them more actively involved in the learning process. Initially, this was a challenge due to various obstacles presented when using technology in the classroom; however, I soon realized that integrating technology allowed me the opportunity to get all students involved in daily lessons and activities. I also realized that students were excited to use technology for learning and motivated in class when they were allowed to use devices.

As the year progressed, I continued to use technology that worked for my students. I also decided to start using the Google Drive in my classroom. One of my three sophomore English classes would become a paperless classroom, and all written assignments would be completed and submitted via Google Drive. This change was extremely scary because it forced me to rely on technology and rely on my students to use it properly. In addition, I now planned to grade online, submit feedback online, and archive student work online. It was a big change, and I was terrified it would turn into a hot mess. With the support of some wonderful colleagues, I took the plunge and, consequently, was extremely satisfied with the results. My classroom became more efficient and collaborative. Students made improvements in their writing, and they were able to see these improvements due to the Drive’s ability to archive student work. Although it was chaotic at times, I eventually moved my other two classes onto the drive and plan to use it in the future. This risk was worth all of the work, stress, and time. My classroom environment dramatically improved due to the advantages it provided:

1. Efficiency
2. Collaboration
3. Revision history for editing purposes
4. Automatic saving of documents
5. Instant access to work from any device with an Internet connection
6. Comment and chat features
7. Document sharing between students and teacher

Next, I experimented with Google +. I used Google + as a collaborative community for my students. Weekly, they were asked to respond to questions, comments, quotes, pictures, and other options on the community page. They could do it from any computer with an Internet connection or a smartphone. Instead of writing in our notebooks, we posted on Google + during group activities, film clips, and lessons. The writing I witnessed on Google + was the most analytically impressive writing I had seen all year. Through this online community, the students were asked to write to a new audience: their classmates and other teachers at the high school.  They took it seriously, and the end result was extremely satisfying. While they didn't know it at the time, they were writing and demonstrating higher level thinking.

For example, my sophomore students used Google + as we read and watched The Crucible, by Arthur Miller. Each week, I posted a variety of questions on our Google + community page, and the students were asked to respond to two questions. During our first week with the text, I posed the following question and image (from Discovery Education) on Google + based on accusations made in Salem:

Week 1 Question:

Analyze the attached map of Salem, Massachusetts. What does the map suggest about the accused and accusers during the witch trials? What does this suggest about human nature?

This was one of the most popular questions I posed on Google + over a three week period. Here is one student’s response to the question:

“Based on the map, the accused seem to be farther from the village and other Puritans, implying the ownership of more land. Also, assuming that the markings on the right symbolize the forest, the villagers who lived more “inland” believed they were farther from the temptation of Satan. It is very interesting because the map shows clusters of people who were the accusers were the ones who lived closer to each other. This shows that many people must have heard the gossip of someone being a Witch and followed along, because who would believe one person who is innocent, rather than a group of vengeance seeking gossipers? It shows how even today, we follow a type of “pack-hunting” if you will, a follower-the-leader ordeal to go with mob mentality than to stop and think if the information is correct or not. This very much shows how in history, in the present, and in the Crucible, people will follow a small spark and start a wildfire with it, purely by word of mouth and because they think if others can do it, why can’t they?”  

The result – thoughtful, analytic, effective, and original responses. As evidenced, my students rose to the challenge, and I am extremely proud of their online contributions.

So, as I reflect on the year, I have learned the following:

1. Technology cannot take the place of instruction; instead, it should be used to enhance instruction and promote engagement.
2. Our students are living in a media-driven society. Instead of frowning on technology in the classroom, allow them them to use it in a postive way.
3. Teachers should not become overwhelmed by the ridiculous amount of programs, applications, activities, and devices. Instead, teachers should experiment with a few different options and only use what works for their instruction and group of students. Again, technology cannot replace good teaching. With this, teachers should embrace technology that can compliment their classroom environment.
4. Teachers need to be well versed in the technology they plan to use in their classroom. If teachers want something to be successful, they need to learn how to use it on their own first. While it takes time, it will make all the difference when teachers introduce it to the class.
5. In order for students to use technology properly and effectively, some classroom time must be spent training them on how to use the technology. Taking a class period here or there to teach them how to use something will make teachers’ lives easier in the long run. Do not just assume the students know how to use the technology and will pick it up quickly. Like anything else, they need to be trained. Patience is key.

As stated earlier, this school year has been significantly different than previous years. While my focus will always be on my students, I realized that technology can help me attain the bigger picture: how do I improve student learning and engagement?

While the risks I took in my classroom with technology made me step outside of my comfort zone, I strongly believe that student engagement was the highest I have witnessed in my career. I also saw a new level of student improvement and growth through the different avenues of instruction and learning. While my students still needed me to be the main method of instruction, the integration of technology provided different ways for all of my students to get involved, motivated, and invested.

Classroom teacher revamped…