Web technologies have impacted my practice in the classroom in multiple ways. In one way, it feels as though my students have yet another thing that they are so far behind in compared to their peers. I worry about the frustration they might get from seeing that they are not picking it up as fast as their peers, as most of my students are socially aware in that regard. In another way, it is exciting to learn about technologies that my students could benefit from. Web technologies, especially the explosion of how many web technologies we are using this year, have increased my students’ ability to navigate technology to a certain extent and has given them response options on classwork that was not as feasible in prior years.

My students with fine motor issues can record a verbal response, drag and drop answers, type answers, or write with their finger on Seesaw. We still practice non-digital fine motor skills as we usually would but these technologies give my students the ability to get more out in a way that is efficient for them. In the past, I had downloaded on my personal iPad (one that I had in college for digital textbooks) an app called “SnapType.” My director would not purchase it for even one of the ten special education iPads that we shared in our building before the implementation of one-to-one iPads despite it being recommended by the Occupational Therapist for a particular student I had. Needless to say, the only options it offered were finger writing or typing after you take a picture of the worksheet (one at a time). It would not have been feasible to use this app with all students in my class throughout the day. Therefore, the web technologies, such as Seesaw, have opened up more opportunities for my students to show their understanding after the methods are modeled.

Web technologies have impacted my instruction by enabling me to enhance my blended learning practices with one-to-one iPads and district-bought accounts. I teach using centers since my 14 students have such a wide range of abilities. One of the center rotations is SplashLearn. SplashLearn is a web technology that enables teachers to assign skill activities based on standard and grade level to each individual student and monitor their progress on each skill. SplashLearn guides students through activities based on skill and adjusts the activity based on their performance. I previously used school computers to do SplashLearn, ABCMouse.com, Starfall, and Teach Your Monster to Read but I have found the most value in SplashLearn as a blended learning station. Students can go on the iPad during the free play center and use CodeMonkey Jr., Starfall, ARC Digital Bookshelf, PebbleGo, or PBSKids.org. I try to keep them off of Garage Band, Google, Photobooth, and so forth during free play time. Another way this has impacted my classroom practice is that I constantly have to monitor their technology use (what they are going on at school, if they were using it on the bus, how much time they are on it, and so forth). What has helped me is Guided Access, which allows me to lock them into an app. However, it does not work for anything in the web browser. They will be locked in the web browser but can still type things into the search bar and be off task in that way.

https://theoldreader.com/profile/924cda852bd6485531965434

Above is the link to my “The Old Reader” account. My name is “Nicole Delevan” on the website.

I used Google Alerts to add to my RSS feed as per the module’s instructions. I added the following topics: educational technology, online learning resources kindergarten, special education resources, and synchronous learning tools. I started to follow fifteen blogs and read through them. I unsubscribed to some that were not the quality I thought they would be. I will add Professor Casciole, Kaitlin, and Chris when I find out their usernames. The blogs that I really enjoyed reading so far were as follows: Special Education and Disability Rights Blog, I Heart Teaching Elementary, For the Love of Kindergarten, The Kindergarten Smorgasboard (I follow them on Facebook and Teachers Pay Teachers), On Special Education – Education Week, Considerate Classroom: Early Childhood Special Education Edition, and Fluency Matters. I shared posts that I liked from initial skimming and went back to read the particular blogs later. In addition, it was relieving to read some posts about the ever-growing list of responsibilities of other teachers. I know it is happening everywhere, but to see that others are going through the same thing and feeling the same way makes you feel less alone.

I would be able to use RSS to enhance my own learning as a classroom teacher. Being able to look at updates on a particular topic with just a click would save so much time compared to having to type in every topic individually and scroll before going to the next topic. I would plan to research special education teaching strategies, early literacy and early numeracy teaching strategies, and online learning tools. I would plan to use my lunch time or time before school to read through the RSS feeds at least twice per week. One day would be for Kindergarten-related updates and another day would be for special education updates. I am always coming early and always staying late, anyways, so this doesn’t impact my schedule. I would aim to read posts that would help me develop professionally with ideas, strategies, and tools that I could use immediately versus posts that are strictly discussion of one’s day.

Descriptions of Five Blogs

Fluency Matters: The blogger discussed engagement and breakout room ideas for online learning and had multiple sample activities listed in detail. A digital note taking strategy called “sketchnoting” was discussed in relation to elementary language learning. This is where the students make sketches in their notes to help them represent what they were learning. Photo Reader’s Theater is an activity that was detailed with same pictures. This strategy is supposed to keep them engaged in literature through the online environment. Photo Reader’s Theater involves the students recreating a famous artwork or story cover with people or items from the home and posting for others to view. Another suggestion was to upload the pictures to Kahoot! to see if the students could match the recreated photo to the original.

I Heart Teaching Elementary: This blogger discussed comprehension strategies such as using picture books, antonyms and synonyms, words of the day, drawing pictures for vocabulary, and writing sentences. The blogger recently posted ideas for the end of the school year along with stories that are great for read alouds for this time of year. The blogger suggested Blooket (which I think Professor Casciole mentioned somewhere) for middle elementary math review. They also suggested scavenger hunts and child-created review games. Multisyllabic word decoding assessments and activities were detailed along with reading strategies to help with motivation. There were virtual teaching strategies for math topics, too

For the Love of Kindergarten: This blogger has just recently begun posting again. She detailed some changes and struggles going on currently in her situation. She said that she loves using the following resources: Reading Raven, Monkey Math, and Teach Me Kindergarten, Debbie Diller worksheets, and Sign-up Genius, She also uses ABCMouse, which I am familiar with. I have to research the other resources, she mentioned, though, since I haven’t heard of any of them. She mentioned that Treasures will be her new curriculum next school year. We are looking for a new math curriculum to replace GoMath. I am currently in the group to help look through various programs like Bridges and Illustrative Math. I am interested to see what Treasures is all about. She made a most about Kindergarten Common Core, also.

Considerate Classroom: This is my favorite blog out of all of them. Most recently, she posted an activity related to executive functioning skills and strategies/supports for the students to help improve their executive functioning. To accompany this skill, she has a supply word communication board and visual reminder board. She details synchronous and asynchronous learning rotations and plans as well as posts videos of her classroom. It sounds like her classroom is similar to mine. She has many students with a wide range of abilities but has much more support. She uses centers and flexible seating techniques which she wrote about at length. She also has individual work stations and a whole group area.

The Kindergarten Smorgasboard: He links blog posts that he writes on his website to his RSS account. He sells his creations on Teachers Pay Teachers and started posting on this account in early April of this year. The blogs on his website have visuals about the lessons he is talking about for the week so the viewer can get an idea of all that was involved. It seems as though he is promoting a lot of his for-sale materials through these posts. Although, his last post details a review of “Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Balanced Literacy Curriculum.” He discussed his takeaways. He said do not teach vocab in a watered-down way, use extended wait time, and have many opportunities for conversations.

Shifting The Balance: How Comprehension Begins

• How have your past experiences with online/blended learning impacted your goals for your future students?

My experiences with online learning from last school year and this school year have impacted how I approach online learning and student goals. I have seen how stressful online learning can be for families, especially families with multiple children or families who have children with special needs. My students entirely depend on their parents to manage online learning since they are so young and have disabilities. I have also seen how technology can hinder my students’ performance in the online learning environment. I provided some online variety last school year to help with differentiation and academic IEP goals. With some experience and research under my belt, I have learned about a variety of other tools to help my students with meeting their academic goals. These tools can them to show their mastery of certain skills in the online learning environment.

My expectations for how students show what they know have changed due to benefits and limitations of technology. On top of academic goals, I have seen that I need to have goals for technology skills based on the student’s overall functioning. For one student, it might be completing an activity on Seesaw and for another it could be finding Schoology within the apps on their iPad. In regard to academics, if a student is online I have to think of goals differently. In regard to academics, certain IEP goals would have to be transferred into an online format which could add a level of difficulty for certain students that would impede their ability to show their skills. It is more than imperative that I think of what my online student’s (or future online students) technology skills are when planning academic goals.

• How do you hope to engage your students effectively in online learning?

I plan to continue to effectively engage my students online through the current methods I am using during synchronous instruction. I also plan to continue research and exploration to find new methods of engaging my students. Currently, Boom Cards have been very helpful for engaging my students during part of my synchronous instruction (ex: individual sessions during virtual snow days) because they are interactive. Some sets are more elaborate than other sets. My students view them more like “games” than work which helps with engagement. Although, my students definitely know that they are not free play games like on PBS Kids! I also use a variety of other methods, such as using my humor, showing excitement, and relating activities to their interests.

In regard to asynchronous instruction, I plan to continue to engage students through a variety of activities that I provide for all levels. I currently use Boom Cards, Seesaw activities, Flippity matching cards (made by me), YouTube videos (story time and skill videos), Starfall games, SplashLearn (math games), CodeMonkey Jr., digital books on ARC Bookshelf, and PebbleGo.

• What has been (or do you anticipate being) the most challenging aspect of online/blended teaching for you? What solutions have you considered to this challenge?

The most challenging aspect of online learning would be the limitations my students have in the online learning environment. Much of online learning revolves around being able to navigate online learning, communicate through typing, read and comprehend what is read online, and use executive functioning skills to complete tasks. My students fully rely on an adult to help them get on to virtual sessions, maintain focus during sessions, and complete classwork or reinforcement activities. Most of my students are in-person but one student is permanently online. Our school has been using virtual snow days during which all of my students get live, individual instruction from me. Additionally, our school allows parents of students who are in-person to choose online instruction on any given day. When this happens, I arrange a time to do live, individual instruction and I make sure that they turn in classwork on Seesaw for the day. There is much variety of math and reading activities posted on Schoology for them to use, as well.

My solution for helping my students with online learning challenges is to continue to provide simple navigation (Ex: picture directions, audio directions/activities that have immersive reader built in, minimal clicks to reach a destination, and etc.). Another solution is to provide very engaging activities that will hold the interest of students. I have to go through different online tools, activities, and videos with a fine tooth comb to make sure they will benefit my students (ex: help them meet their goals), hold their interest, and help them access their learning.

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