Technology in the Classroom Usage and Philosophy

Brett Kluever

For as long as I can remember, I have loved technology. Growing up, both of my

parents were teachers. I was allowed to play on the computers in their classrooms and

in the library after school. The librarian took the time to show me basic things on the

"new" Macintosh Performas in the library. I took off from there. At an early age I saw

how technology could benefit me in my education. I was fortunate to be in a school

district that nurtured my love of technology and helped me to integrate it into my school

projects. When my peers were making posters to present topics in science class, I was

using Hyperstudio to make an interactive slideshow about geodes. My love of

technology has now helped me as a teacher to try and constantly find new ways to

integrate appropriate technology into my own classroom.

I believe that one should always be willing to share how they use technology. If

one shares, then it should help with the learning community and collaboration within a

school. Ultimately it benefits the students. That is what is most important. When I was

hired at Gibbon, they were about to open new K-12 building. All of my stuff, including

the technology, was in the middle of the classroom. While it was nice to be able to set up

my room exactly how I wanted, it was a bit daunting since I had never had a classroom

before! I went to work putting everything in place including setting up my computer,

sound system, Smart Board, and document camera. One of my coworkers popped in

and asked, “who set all of that up?” I told her I did. She then asked me if I wouldn't

mind helping her. By the end of the week word had spread on my wing of the building

and I had helped most of the elementary teachers with setting up at least some of their

technology. From there I became the go to guy for help because it was faster than asking
the IT guys at the time. Since then, I try to share what I am using in my classroom with

technology that is helping my students. Teachers who when I started at Gibbon

wouldn't dream of creating lessons for the Smartboard are now doing so, and

integrating other technology in their classrooms. The rest of my 5th and 6th grade team

will be joining me with being one to one with iPads this coming school year. I would like

to think that I’ve been a positive influence with my co-workers in technology usage in

our classrooms.

I believe that as educators, we need to be constantly looking for opportunities to

use technology better in our classrooms. During the summer after my first year of

teaching, I received a grant from ESU 10 for a classroom set of iPod Touches, a dock,

and an iPad, along with professional development for them. That was my first

experience of 1 to 1. My iPad became a tool I couldn't teach without. I put all of my

teacher’s manuals on it using Goodreader. Then I figured out how to get the hyperlinks

to work in the manuals within Goodreader so I could seamlessly switch between the

manuals and supplemental manuals. When I first got my iPad, it was fun bringing it to

workshops where you had to bring your teacher manuals. Teachers couldn't believe that

it didn't have to tote around all of those heavy books! I also use Goodreader to do

running records in reading for my student's fluency. My usage of my iPad with my

teacher’s manuals was a big determining factor in our principal purchasing iPads for the

rest of the elementary staff. The iPods were my first experience with one to one

computing. I used them primarily for the apps. I used apps such as Divisibility Dash,

Math Bumpies, Math Drills, etc... Another example of the importance of being open to

new ways of using technology has been how I give assessments on my students’ devices.

The first app I used with my iPods to give tests was iResponse Pro. It allowed me
administer formative assessments to my students and give them feedback right away

instead of after I checked the tests. Eventually the app would not run on my old iPods,

and that is when I discovered Socrative. It worked on my older iPods and did what

iResponse Pro did for free. This year, I will transition again to a better way to assess my

students. Our school uses Schoology, so I will use the assessment feature in that. It is

superior to iResponse Pro and Socrative because it has more options and I can tag the

problems with NeSA standards. Then, I can see which standards individual students or

the whole class needs more help with. This will benefit my students because I will be

more efficiently be able to target what my students are specifically struggling in.

The last two summers my wife and I created Smartboard Notebook files to go

with our entire elementary reading curriculum. It started out with us just making it for

the reading classes we taught so that we didn't have to switch back and forth through the

various files we had to show our students during direct instruction. The files allowed for

everything that was to be shown to the students for direct instruction in the correct

order. We were then able to add interactive elements to the slides to enhance what was

is in the books. Eventually, our principal contracted us to make them for the rest of the

reading curriculum in the elementary. It took a lot of time, but it was worth it!

This past year brought a wave of upgrades to the technology in my classroom.

First, our school went 1 to 1 with iPads 7-12. After the rollout they had extras, so I got a

cart of iPads that replaced the old second generation iPods that were in my classroom.

The second upgrade was my Smartboard and projector. I received an Epson short throw

projector and a wide screen multitouch Smartboard 885x. I love them! It has been fun

figuring out new ways to create SMARTBoard files for the new board.
 I feel that using technology for the sake of using technology does not work well.

Next year, since all of my students will have iPads I could just make a PDF of their

textbooks and put it on their iPads. This would not work because we are not letting our

5th and 6th grade students take them home, so they would still have to use a book. Also,

it wouldn’t be making a big change for the students because it would not be interactive

at all. However, using technology to enhance, make more efficient, or change my

students learning in a positive way does work. This year I am going to attempt to blend

traditional direct instruction, flipped classroom, and augmented reality into my

classroom. I teach fifth grade reading, and fifth and sixth grade math. I have put a lot of

work into reading, but I haven't done a whole lot with math. I plan on recording lessons

on my Smartboard using Camtasia 2 and then uploading them to YouTube. This way

my students will be able to access them at school on their iPads or home on their own

devices and listen to them as much as they need to. This will also be accessible through

links in Schoology. Then, if I can, I plan on tagging pages in their textbooks with the

relevant videos using Aurasma. This way I can make their paper textbooks somewhat

interactive. This will be a daunting task, but if I can even do half of my math lessons this

way, it will greatly benefit my students!

Smart Technologies has a new product out called Smart Amp. I received a demo

key to try it out when I teach summer school this month. If it is successful, it most likely

will be purchased for my classroom. If it works well for me, then the other teachers in

my team will most likely jump on board with it too. It is a blend of the Smart Notebook

program, a collaboration tool, and Google Docs all in one. I believe that one of the ways

students learn best is when they are collaborating with each other. It is going to allow

me to push workspaces to my students in groups. They will be able to collaborate on the

same workspace, but on their own iPads. I also could have the entire class collaborate

on the same workspace at the same time. I don’t know where this new technology is

going to take me, but I am excited for the opportunity to try to pioneer it in my school.

Another way my students will be using their iPads is by using an adaptive online

program called MobyMax to assign lessons for students to work on that will reinforce,

reteach, or preteach lessons. Then when they are done with what I have assigned, the

program automatically assigns them lessons that it has determined through a pretest

will help fill in gaps in their learning. Students will have time to use this during study

hall, but it is available to them at home as well. The program has so much potential to

help students in reading, language arts, writing, and math. It is available to the students

in the whole elementary. I hope that I can be one of the teachers that is able to lead

other teachers in the use of this wonderful program.

This summer has been a great start to my masters degree in instructional

technology. I hope to use it to further my knowledge of technology use in the classroom

so I can benefit my students even more. That is what it is ultimately about, benefiting

my students.