Utilizing Digital Resources

As society continues to pursue the constant change in innovation of technology, educators have taken it upon themselves to utilize digital resources to their advantage through their instruction.  I am no different.  While I am certainly far from the age of those who grew up with the first invented cell phone, I am still not leveled with the current generation who is attached to technology in one way or another.  The easiest way to compromise is to utilize digital resources and technology within the classroom setting.

It wasn't until my sophomore year when I created a Twitter account.  In fact, my mother had an account before me!  Crazy, right?  When I created my own account, I didn't pay much attention to it.  It was used simply to pass the time and keep up with big time celebrities.  Nowadays, Twitter is consumed by a community of over 900 million users.  The population of uses has moved away from the "mom generation," targeting younger users by the second.  My senior year of high school was when Twitter became more prevalent within the classroom at my high school.

A teacher whom I was familiar with, though I never had any of her courses, found reasoning behind giving students a reason to connect their social media accounts with their learning environment.  In doing so, students would be asked a question in class and part of their homework assignment was to respond to the question through a tweet.  The teacher was able to check for completion of the assignment by clicking on the corresponding hashtag for the assigned class.  For example, first period may have used #SpanishOnePeriodThree.  When the teacher logged in to her account, she could search for this particular hashtag and see everyone who used this in their post.  However, the teacher was faced with a few challenges.  For instance, what would have happened had there been a handful of students who did not already have a Twitter account?  While she had to make adjustments to this concept of utilizing digital resources, she was successful in her practice and seemed to receive a great deal of positive attitude.

Social media isn't the only successful process that teachers and students can cooperate with.  Using other online resources such as Prezi, SlideShare, or even the SmartBoard encourages students to remain engaged throughout the lesson and activity.  It also gives teachers another opportunity to differentiate the lesson, targeting more than one specific audience.  Engagement is exemplified through the use of technology, which gives teachers just one more reason to want to use it.

If you're like me, then you do your best to stay organized.  But after a few weeks of a clean desk with pencils in their proper hole, the organization seems to disintegrate.  One of my favorite perks of utilizing technological resources is the availability of online data tracking and folders.  While paper copies are the more simple way to grade students' work and give feedback, it isn't realistic for teachers to keep track of every assignment that needs to be graded.  This is a concept that higher leveled teachers understand more than anyone.  With a higher amount of students comes a higher amount of assignments to grade.  If students were allowed the option to submit assignments digitally, teachers would reduce the amount of papers printed, which would reduce the chances of losing a student's work.  That in itself is enough to help keep things organized for a little while longer.

All in all, digital resources MUST be utilized in order to maintain credibility with society.  Whether it's using technology yourself, allowing students to explore and find connections between social media and education, or both, it's crucial to the learning of every individual in one way or another.

You Can Learn Anything

Did you know: YOU Can Learn Anything?

Over the course of the last few months, I have had the pleasure of tutoring two young men in various subjects.  However, our main focus was math.  These two boys are brothers, but they are in two separate grades.  While the oldest is in the 8th grade, working on Pre-Algebra concepts, the other is in 6th grade, working on several beginning concepts that are setting the foundation for his upcoming math courses.

For me, tutoring consists of several things.  When I first arrive, the boys join me at the table with all of the materials they will need for the day.  We begin by working on their assigned homework before moving on to additional practice in other areas.  Halfway through the session, I stop what we are working on and allow them to participate in a fun activity.  These activities have varied from eating a snack to having a competition to see who could solve a word puzzle the quickest.  My reasoning behind these breaks is simply that:  it gives the boys a break from instruction, practice, support, and thinking too hard.  It gives them a second to step back and breathe.  It gives them the opportunity to have fun in the middle of a serious part of their day.

Despite their closeness in age, it's sometimes hard for me to assist both boys at the same time.  After a little research, I found an online tutoring program called Khan Academy.  Khan Academy is targeted for students in any grade, and provides lessons and games for just about any subject.  While assisting one student on his homework, I would allow the other to play games, which are stimulated quizzes.  Then we would switch.  There are several positives that I have been able to notice with this particular organization.

Khan Academy provides the student with resources that assists them in their learning.  If there is a concept the student does not understand, there are YouTube videos linked directly into the lesson that students can engage themselves in.  Furthermore, the stimulated quizzes require that students answer five consecutive questions correctly.  That's right, consecutive.  If a student misses the 4th question, they must then start back over at one.  I praise this method because students are given the chance to practice the same type of problem repeatedly.  It encourages practice and attention.  Another positive I enjoy is the availability to track the performance of students.  I am able to go in and look at their progress at any given time, which provides me with additional feedback on needs for each boy that I may miss when assisting them with their general school work.

Overall, I encourage the use of technology whenever working with students.  With the society constantly changing and the use of technological sources increasing, it is important in their structure of learning.  Technology has many great values and I have been so thankful for the opportunity to use this program throughout my time with these students.  With the availability of resources higher than ever, people of all ages have the opportunity to explore anything; including themselves.  It's never too late to learn something new, and at any given age, you can learn anything.

Khan Academy is free, so sign up today!!