Final Presentation

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Classroom Management

Classroom Management

Classroom management can be looked at in different categories such as space, time, routines, attention, momentum and discipline. There are several different applications out there that are helpful with classroom management such as:

Class Dojo                                            Bloomz                                   ClassKick


                                                     



ClassMax                                             Nearpod                               StickPick


                                                  




I walked around my school and asked some teachers what applications they use for their classroom. One teacher said she uses Dojo. When I asked if she used it for discipline she responded, “no”. Every teacher I spoke to said they don’t use any kind of technology or application for discipline. I also asked if any teachers used applications for noise control such as Bouncy Balls. The responses that I received was, “we tried some of those applications but we felt they were more of a distraction.”


I decided to try Bouncy Balls in my Kindergarten classroom. You don’t know if something works unless you try it yourself. Bouncy Ball is a free application that is used to control the noise level in the classroom. The Bouncy Balls react to sounds from the microphone. Below is an example:

Unfortunately, this did not work for my class since they would purposely make noises to see the balls bounce faster.


I decided to look into something else for my Kindergarten students. In the morning we have our morning circle and do our morning meeting which takes approximately twenty minutes. After sitting for so long my students are tired and sluggish. I decided to do some Brain Breaks after my morning meeting. Brain Breaks are short 2-3 minute videos that get students to move around and get their blood to flow and also send oxygen to their brain. It also helps students to retain information better. My students enjoy doing Brain Breaks after sitting for a long period of time. It’s basically a simple technique were students are given a short mental break. We do our Brain Breaks by watching videos on YouTube. Students are able to sing, dance and move around. Below are some videos from my classroom. 

  

Above is a GoNoodle video and it's called Milkshake-Koo-Koo/GoNoodle



GoNoodle

YouTube Video: Tooty Ta: A Dance for All ages - Tooty Ta

Brain Breaks: (SEA)

• Stimulates the brain
• Energizes the brain
• Activated the brain

Brain Breaks is known to:

• Reduce stress
• Reduce frustration
• Increase attention
• Increase productivity

Something else that we have available for our students is a TLC room which stands for Therapeutic Learning Center.  This room is used for students that need a break from the classroom for different reasons.  It helps students with space, time, attention, momentum and discipline which all falls under classroom management.

The picture above is called the Chill Out Zone for students that need a break due to behavior issues.

Reflection:

There are many different resources for using technology in the classroom for classroom management.  Each classroom is different and every teacher is different.  You need to use what works best for you and your students.  What works for me, may not work for you.  You don't know unless you try.  I'm fortunate to be in a school district that has many different resources for students.  Sometimes it could be a minor change in your classroom that can make a difference for many students.  For example, create a quiet area for students to sit in when they are having a difficult day.

Assistive Technology

Assistive Technology/Boardmaker

Assistive technology is a modification used for students that need assistance. Several different types of tools are available for students that have a disability and need additional assistance. Through technology many of the impossibles have become possible. Examples, students who are deaf, blind, mobility issues, reading issues etc. The major goal in education is to provide support to all students regardless of their disability. We want all our students to be successful.


Listed below are some different types of Assistive Technology:

• Hearing aids
• Cognitive aids
• Voice recognition device
• Screen readers
• Screen enlargements
• Physical modifications
• Visuals
• Video tapes of social skills

In my everyday classroom we use Boardmaker. Boardmaker is a special education platform that helps children with learning disabilities, such as communication, social/emotional needs and behavioral disorders. The purpose of boardmaker is to help students be successful. Boardmaker comes in many different shapes and sizes. You can print visuals from your computer and you can also get a 30 day trial from boardmaker online.


Within the past couple of years, I have seen boardmaker become more popular in the classroom. It's very helpful to children in the early ages of education and extremely helpful to students on the spectrum. Boardmaker is a collection of pictures and symbols used for communication. It’s a great visual tool to help students prepare in advance what will take place during the school day. The visuals can also be organized in the order that activities will take place.


Visual pictures allow students to make sense of the world around them. Children with disabilities don’t see things the same as a child that do not have a disability. Students who are not able to verbalize themselves us the boardmaker visual tool to help them understand and verbalize themselves.

Some examples are listed below of boardmakers. You can customize them to each individual student.

What I find to be helpful is to cut out each visual and place velcro on the back of each picture so that I can create a customized chart of the daily schedule for students and change it each day.

For students who can only process one or two step direction, I have created something a little more simpler so that they don’t feel overwhelmed which is posted below.

                                                                  Two step directions

                                                                        Three step directions




Reflection:
Boardmaker is a great tool for students with disabilities. The visuals available is a way for teachers to communicate to students and students to communicate with teachers. It’s important for teachers to do whatever they can in order to provide all students with the opportunity to be successful. I have realized that if I customize the boardmaker with actual pictures of the student, they respond better. They are able to process the information better by seeing themselves in the picture and are ready for the next step.

I believe that Boardmaker is a great tool for students with disabilities, but I also feel that boardmaker is a great tool for all students, especially students in the early grades that can not read. If they are able to see the visual picture with the words beneath the picture they will be able to learn to read and at the same time they will know their next direction or schedule by looking at the picture. This should be a world wide tool throughout the school system and not just for kids with disabilities. This is my thought!

Assessments/Communication with Parents

Assessments are important in order for teachers to help students learn. Useful assessments allows teachers to teach correct instruction. Assessments allows teacher to review students knowledge and performance base. This helps us to provide feedback to students in order for them to be successful in their future learning. It also provides motivation for students to want to do better.

Communication between teachers and parents take part in different ways. Communication can take place face to face, phone or through technology. I remember always receiving communication from my teacher over the summer by mail. Today, with technology we can send a simply welcome email to parents and students. There are so many different technology applications available for teachers and parents to communicate.

If we use technology to communicate to parents should we still have parent- teacher conferences? Eliminating parent-teacher conferences could be a controversial question. As a Kindergarten teacher we continue to have face to face parent teacher conferences at least once a year. Back and forth communication helps improve academic performance. Using technology to communication is a great way to enhance the communication that students and teachers have with parents. Technology should not replace human contact in education. It’s so important to remember that relationships are built on communication.

Communication technology with parents is helpful if we are able to include assessments in the communication for parents to see the progress of their child. Below are some communication applications used among parents and teachers that includes assessments

• Dojo Messenger
• Bloomz
• Parent Square
• Seesaw
• Bulb
• Weebly
• Sesame
• Freshgrade

I choose to use the Seesaw application in my classroom.

Seesaw is a free digital platform application for teachers, families and students. It’s a platform that allows students to independently document their learning and forward it to their parents to view. Students are able to take pictures, draw, write, record videos and capture learning. Seesaw is also a great way for teachers and parents to see the progress of students work. Teachers are able to refer to past activities and see how each child has progressed through the year.

What is nice about this application as you can see above is that you can add family members to the account in order for them to see your child's work and progress in school.  Seesaw also does a very good job on explaining to teachers and parents on how to use the application.  For students it's easier if the teacher demonstrates on how the application works. 

I also like how Seesaw sends out weekly emails which shows how often the application is being used.  It breaks it down for the week and also from the beginning of the year.  This allows me to see how often students and parents are actual using the application.  

Students need to be taught how to use this Seesaw application and what options it provides. Students start off by learning the Seesaw symbol so that they can easily locate it on the iPad.

Once they locate the Seesaw symbol they tap on it and it brings them to another screen that provides them with many different options.

Once students become familiar with the application they become very excited to be able to use technology in order to communicate with their parents while in school. They begin to take photos of their work and send it to their parents.

Literacy Photo 

                                                                   Drawing Photo


Parents are able to view their child's work or any post their child is tagged. Prior to parents seeing what their child is sending them it needs to get approved by the teacher. The reason for this is to make sure the child sent the request to the correct person. Parents are also able to view comments made from other parents on the post. To protect children, parents are not able to access any other students content unless they are tagged with their child.

Teachers are able to add announcements and document students work toward a goal.

Teachers are also able to create activities on Seesaw. Below is a YouTube video demonstrating to teachers on how to create a new activity. 

 
Reflection:

This application is very easy to use for teachers, parents and students. Below is a video on how quickly a student is able to take a photo of a lego piece he created and send it to his parents. Students really enjoy using this application on our classroom iPads. 

As you can see in the video the student taps on the Seesaw application.  He then clicks on the plus sign which brings him to the screen with different options.  The student decides to click on the camera which will allow him to take a photo of his lego piece.  He takes his picture and then clicks on done.  It then brings him to a screen with all the students names in the classroom. He clicks on his name which allows him to forward the picture to his parents.  As a teacher, I will see on my side of the application that he took this picture and would like to send it to his parents.  I approve the request and shortly after it's delivered to his parents.  

Parents get excited when their child sends them photos, videos or pictures while they are in school. They are able to see what they are doing and learning in school and also they are able to monitor their childs progress throughout the year.  It's also a great way for parents to see how quickly they become familiar with an iPad to use technology for communication.