Monday, May 15, 2017
Introduction
My name is Katie Trafton and I am from Joliet, Illinois. I received my Bachelor’s in Elementary Education from Illinois State University and I now teach second grade in the Troy 30C School District. This is my fifth year teaching second grade at Troy. I am very comfortable with using technology in my classroom. In my classroom, I have seven Chromebooks and three iPads. I also have access to our school’s iLab which contains a class set of Chromebooks, Chromeboxes, iPads, and a green screen. I am able to sign up to take my class to the iLab during any openings throughout the day but I also have an hour built into my weekly schedule. At this time, students are able to complete literacy centers using technology. One of my favorite ways to use technology in my classroom is through Google Classroom. I love that I am able to assign items and check in with my students as they work. I also love that they have plenty of student choice while using Google Apps for Education. Another application that I use frequently is Seesaw. Seesaw is a digital student portfolio. Students can take picture of their work and annotate and add audio recordings. Their parents, peers, and teachers are then able to view it and leave comments. It’s a great tool to help my students reflect on their work and collaborate with one another. Through this course, I hope that I am able to find new ways to integrate technology into my lessons. Technology can very engaging but can sometimes be overwhelming for students to use in a primary classroom. Therefore, I am excited to learn new ideas from this course to try in my own classroom.
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Hey, Katie! Its nice to see you in class again. When reading over our introductory assignment it made me think of our last assignment (Collaboration with Web Tools)in which we blogged together. This will be a good opportunity for me to branch off of kidsblog.org and try some different blogging sites. I look forward to reading more of your great ideas!
ReplyDelete-Andrea
Hi Katie,
ReplyDeleteOur primary teachers absolutely LOVE Seesaw. They feel it is an apporpriate learning management system for K-2. We use Canvas as our LMS for the district but it can be hard for the younger kinds to access since it is a little more complex. The parents have given great feedback about Seesaw as well. Since we use Canvas we do not use Google Classroom. I would love to explore more of Google Classroom because it is one of the tools that I am not as familiar with. Do you feel that Chromebooks are appropriate for 2nd grade or do you prefer iPads? The district that I am in was debating on whether or not 2nd grade should use Chromebooks or iPads. They ultimately decided on Chromebooks (I think because of cost) but I would be interested to know your preference and why!
Great post!
- Tanya
Hi! My kids use Seesaw on both Chromebooks and iPads but I think it is easier to use on the iPads. The kids don't have to sign in to the iPad like they do on the Chromebook so it is more time efficient.
DeleteHi Katie,
ReplyDeleteI love hearing about all of the technology you are using in your classroom. It has been a struggle in my school to get teachers to try new things. We have so much technology available but it rarely gets embedded into the curriculum. Glad to know that there is hope out there!
Mirielle
Hi Katie,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you have a solid handle on integrating technology within the classroom! I am curious about Seesaw...I have seen so many people tweet about it on Twitter but haven't exactly figured out how it works. I would love to hear about your experiences with it.