Introduction by Katherine Ammons

Introduction by Katherine Ammons https://padlet.com/katherine_ammon/wgcg0m9mj6o en-us 2017-05-15 19:38:33 UTC 2017-05-15 19:40:10 UTC hello@padlet.com My name is Katie Ammons and I teach kindergarten at Peterson Elementary School in Naperville, Illinois. I have been an employee in district 204 for 12 years. The majority of my teaching experience is in second grade. I have been teaching kindergarten for 2 years now. I am comfortable using technology in my classroom, but face more challenges now that I am teaching a lower level. The integration of technology takes more time and patience. My classroom has 1 ipads, 5 laptops, and 1 desktops. Technology is integrated into my daily curriculum in both math and reading. My students use the smartboard to play learning games to help enhance their learning. They also use the laptops to play learning games that correlate with the curriculum that I am currently teaching. My classroom also has a document camera that is used daily to show students examples of other student learning models as well as model the expectations of their independent assignment. Our building encourages bringing your own technology, but my team and I don’t feel that it is appropriate for our grade level. However, I am not opposed to trying any type of new technology device or program with the use of our current technological devices that are available in our school.My favorite tech tools are the various apps on the ipads as well as the websites that we linked to our google page. The students use the QR scanner on the IPADS to help them with letter recognition, letter sound, sight word practice number recognition, adding and subtracting up to the number 10. Using the devices helps students become more engaged in the learning process and it gives different types of learning another way to learn an important concept. Within my google account I have created a folder that contains important links that relate to the topic we are currently learning. My students are able to navigate to our schools splash page, click on their kindergarten folder and pick a game that will provide them with continuous practice of specific skills. We just started adding our padlet links into this site. My kindergarten students are not able to type in a url, but are able to access their folder and find the appropriate link that I want them to go to in order to get to their assessment. The students are able to work with their peers to answer a question that I have created on a padlet page. I would like to gain a lot from this course. I want to learn about other age appropriate ways to integrate technology into the classroom. I would like to learn of other types of tools that my students can use independently to further their knowledge of technology and its importance. By taking this class I hope to improve my current lessons by adding more variety and engaging tools throughout. Given that I had the authority to transform my school into a 21st- century place of learning, there are a few things that would need to be implemented into the current curriculum. A typical day would consist of technology being integrated to some degree into every curricular area. Students would have the opportunity to learn through the use of a variety of technology tools that we have available at our school. Learning stations would be set up that would provide each classroom the opportunity to rotate through a technology station and allow students exposure on how to use these devices to enhance their learning in core curricular areas through the use of technology. During computer lab time, students would spend time learning about the different types of devices we have and programs that will help them learn about the importance of technology as well as how to explore age appropriate sites that will help them gain a further understanding of the topics that they are learning about in the classroom. I think it is very important for students to be immersed in technology and learn about what is available prior to their use of it within the classroom. katherine_ammon https://padlet.com/katherine_ammon/wgcg0m9mj6o/wish/171938171 2017-05-15 19:40:10 UTC https://padlet.com/katherine_ammon/wgcg0m9mj6o/wish/171938171