Technology
I feel very fortunate to be teaching in an era when technology is advancing so rapidly and is so accessible. I have relied on technology for designing and implementing many lessons. More importantly, students of today tend to be technologically very literate so it is important to incorporate technology into ways of learning, creating, and communicating. It becomes especially critical for those students who are on the shorter end of the digital divide. It is up to schools and teachers to bridge that divide so that all students, regardless of socioeconomic status, have the digital literacy they need to participate in our advancing global economy.
My sixth grade host class really enjoyed BrainPop videos and TedEd videos in the lessons I taught. I think the best use of technology, though, was when I made an election night "Electoral Vote Tally" simulator for a lesson on the Electoral College. As the numbers came in for the mock election, I entered the electoral votes in the column of the winning candidate and as I did, the pie chart that was projected onto the whiteboard changed until one of the candidates reached (and eventually exceeded) the required 270 electoral votes. The students were very excited to see the lead change as they rooted for their candidate.
My sixth grade host class really enjoyed BrainPop videos and TedEd videos in the lessons I taught. I think the best use of technology, though, was when I made an election night "Electoral Vote Tally" simulator for a lesson on the Electoral College. As the numbers came in for the mock election, I entered the electoral votes in the column of the winning candidate and as I did, the pie chart that was projected onto the whiteboard changed until one of the candidates reached (and eventually exceeded) the required 270 electoral votes. The students were very excited to see the lead change as they rooted for their candidate.
| Mock Election 2016 Interactive Pie Chart |
