Technology and Productivity

     Technology can definitely be used to help me become a more productive teacher. It can help me with grading, so I have more time to spend with students. It can help me to let students work at their own pace, instead of all at one pace. It can also help me to keep things more organized and allow for more effective communication with students and with parents. There are many, many other ways technology can be used.

     I can also use technology to help solve problems. As Jake mentioned in the Powerpoint presentation, technology is not the goal of the lesson, but a tool used to solve a problem or to meet a goal. We can increase student engagement, communication, and interest by incorporating technology. If a student is behind, we can use technology to let them work at their own pace. We can find tutorials on YouTube to help learn how to do/use different tools. We can also use technology to find others' who have more experience and can help with our teaching methods. Personally, I can find interesting ways to teach lessons to my students by reading what others have done in the past. I can also learn about different technology tools by reading blogs and watching videos. I can increase my organization and time management by using technological tools. Students will hopefully be more interested in learning, and will be more focused. Parents will be better connected to me and to their students learning process. By keeping a blog, parents can read it to see what we are learning in my classroom each week.

     I see myself using multiple productivity tools. The article, 9 Smart Productivity Hacks for Teachers, lists some tools I will likely use. I will use PlanBoard (or something similar) to plan my lessons on. Instead of having everything written in a notebook, I can stay organized through the use of an app. I will use the Google system for students to communicate with me and eachother easily. I will use GoogleDocs for easy grading and feedback of written assignments. This video discusses Google for Education and it's uses in the classroom. I will likely use YouTube to either post videos or to find videos that are relevant to my material. I may use Zaption, or something similar to help students stay engaged with videos. I also want to formatively assess my students during any lectures I may do, so things like Turning Tech or Kahoot will be tools I will use in my classroom. There are so many things you can do with technology that I could go on and on. Technology can be used in many ways, and can increase both teacher and student productivity in the classroom.