Instructional Technology Resources
Digital Literacy & Citizenship Infographic
This infographic features AI resources for both teachers and students that can be utilized in the classroom to supplement learning.
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Featuring apps such as MagicSchool, Diffit, CharacterAI, Hello History, and Socratic, this exercise displayed AI resources that build lessons, templates, and resources for teachers such as MagicSchool and Diffit as well as resources for students and teachers alike to dig deeper into certain topics, characters, and concepts.
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I believe this exercise was especially beneficial to my skills as an instructor in the modern age. Not only was I introduced to a myriad of resources that I can utilize in my classroom, I was also able to practice digital creation and graphic design when creating this infographic and plan to share it with my colleagues. I will definitely be using these AI resources in my classroom in the future and plan to integrate each into lessons I have already created.
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See my notes on our AI resources discussion as well as other useful resources here.
Google Classroom Design Project
This project involved designing a mock Google Classroom for the presentation of information to students. Google Classroom allows teachers to post and organize assignments, resources, and grades all in one location and share these with students, giving teachers and students a place to collaborate on, adjust, and turn in work.
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Though I have been using Google Classroom in my teaching organization strategy already, the creation of this site was great practice, taught me valuable insights in how to manage my digital classroom effectively, and was a lesson in online privacy and access when sharing resources.
Electronic Whiteboard Project
For the electronic whiteboard project, I created a lesson plan and accompanying whiteboard using the program FigJam. For my lesson, I focused on the concept of poetry because I would like to introduce more poetry into my curriculum in the upcoming school year. The lesson centered around what poetry is, types of poetry, and poetic devices and after a brief lesson, includes a class activity annotating an example poem and then a student-led version writing and analyzing their own poems.
This exercise was one of my favorites of the semester because it allowed me to learn about a new and useful online resource and allowed me to create a lesson that I plan to apply to my class curriculum in the upcoming school year. The interactivity of electronic whiteboards adds an additional level of interest and engagement to the lesson and I anticipate that it will hold my students' attention and be absorbed more effectively than a lecture would.
Book Creator/Digital Story Project
The book creator project instructed us to design our own ebook that doubles as insructions for a lesson for our students. Not only did this exercise allow me to plan a lesson to use in the upcoming school year when teaching Homer's The Odyssey, but it also familiarized me with the BookCreator program so that I am able to publish future ebooks and teach my students how to do the same.
For my ebook lesson, I choose to develop a project for my students to complete after reading The Odyssey. This project includes students writing their own epic story chapter and developing a monster that will fight the hero Odysseus in their chapter. At the end of the project, students will utilize the BookCreator software to turn their story into a publishable ebook and will include a depiction of their monster in this ebook, allowing them to dive deeper into The Odyssey and concept of an epic hero, while also practicing their newly developed ebook creation skills.
Additionally, during our class discussion of this topic, I developed a lesson plan that includes a digital storyboard design that includes rewriting or "fracturing" a classic fairytale and can be found here.
Assistive Technology Project
The assistive technology project challenged us to consider a type of assistive technology that may be used in a classroom setting a create a presentation displaying the details of this type of technology. I chose to focus on the form of assistive technology called screen readers, a form that allows vision impaired users to hear the information listed on a screen by reading it to them based on their movements and directives.
This was an informative way to both learn about forms of assistive technology, for example screen readers, during my research as well as to learn about other formats of presentation, including Google Slides. I believe that being knowledgable about the existence and types of asstive technology as well as having an understanding of how to use them will be beneficial for both me and my students in the future!