EDL 677 Discussion: Field experiences that have had significant positive impact on your growth as a technology leader--Post One.

 Technological Promotion to address Diverse Needs (O-P-L 4F)

By Merissa Thornton

For my instructional technology course, Instructional Leadership in Educational Contexts, and as a tool to help me manage parental contact and engagement, instructional planning, and student engagement, learning, and outcomes, as mentioned in Chapter 5 by Eric Sheninger in Digital Leadership, I have promoted the application of technology to address the diverse needs of students and maximize student learning. O-P-L 4F. O-P-L stands for observer, participant, or leader activities/applications based on the CoSN Framework for Essential Technology Leadership Skills and 4F is a subcategory under the Understanding the Educational Environment section of CoSN’s Primary Professional Categories. Some of my applications of technological application to address the diverse needs of students to maximize student learning are/were creating digital projects, a blog started in 2015, utilizing Bloomz communication app, and utilizing Arcademics. 

On page 84 of Digital Leadership, Sheninger has a section titled, “School Should Reflect Real Life (Sheninger, 2019) .” The section discusses using collaboration, real life problems and problem solving, and using digital tools on a regular basis can provide relevancy. According to Statista’s 2019 survey published in 2023, 70.6% of children first use a mobile device between the ages of one and ten (Taylor, 2023). Pairing that with everyday observation, many children not only use a smartphone at that age, but also master gaming on apps, watching videos, and conversing with others on the device. Knowing this, having technological usage and application works well with project-based learning. It allows students who may not normally be creative, be creative, helps with ideas, and gives students opportunities to collaborate in real-time, no matter the distance. Several resources that my students have created this year are Google Sheets, Docs, Slides, Search, Canva, Padlet, and Flip. A math project that my students did very well on was a mini unit rate project. Students had to create a comparison of 1. the same exact item sold in different quantities, or 2. the same type of item from two different brands and the same size/amount price photo and solve for the price per unit to tell the buyer which item was the better buy and why. My students were able to see how when shopping, size and/or amount of items in a unit, as well as the vendor can make a difference in the price a consumer pays. 

I found that some of my former fifth grade students paid a hefty price when resources were not at theirs or their parent’s fingertips. Therefore, several years ago, to close the gap between school and home, I created a Google Blog, also known as Blogger, and began utilizing Bloomz parent communication app. Ms.Thornton’s Blog allowed me to post tutorials of math lessons to help parents learn the “new math” and help their children at home. I had a student go from an “F” to a “high C” when his grandmother/guardian was able to watch the tutorials and help him outside of school with his math. This definitely helped with remediation and skill mastery with various levels of students. Bloomz is very similar to the Remind App that so many of us teachers enjoy communicating with parents through. However, the benefits are an instant behavior documentation component that notifies parents once I click on the behavior exuded, a Facebook/Twitter type feed where old posts are visible, even to new subscribers, and allows for way more than 140 words/characters. I have used Bloomz to take pictures of assignments, send tutorial links, reminders, and homework. It has helped to remove the sometimes student implemented miscommunications from school to home. I had a repeat non completing homework student start completing homework at home because his father received photos of the homework assignments. Everything improved, grades, relationships, and confidence.

One of the more fun technological applications is familiar in type to many, gamification, using Arcademics. Arcademics is a platform that allows teachers to individualize and customize math, spelling, geographical, and grammar skills using games. The platform is mostly free. Reports of mastery are given in real time to students once the game is complete. Data is given to the teachers, in order to adjust practice and instruction, with a paid subscription. My students have the ability to play the same game, from 2 to 12 students per game, play others all over the world, and work on their own customized skills, like 2, 4, 6, and 8 multiplication or addition facts. Most of the skills go up to 6th grade math, students are given badges, power boosts, and color change options as rewards. I am given remediation, high interest, improved performance, and an occasional win with bragging rights. 

 The use of technology to address student needs has made analysis and feedback easier, learning more engaging, and allowed students the ability to improve with repeated practice/remediation/enrichment on their levels. There are so many more tools that I would like to incorporate so my students can benefit from their use. I look forward to learning about and implementing more as time goes on and watching my students grow and apply life skills using technology. 

References

Arcademics.(2023). https://plus.arcademics.com/login?redirect_url=/

Bloomz. (2023). https://www.bloomz.com/

CoSN. (2023). Frameworks of essential skills. CoSN,    

https://www.cosn.org/careers-certification/framework-of-essential-skills/

Sheninger, Eric C. (2019) Digital Leadership. SAGE Publications. Kindle Edition. 

Taylor, P. (2023). First-time cell phone use by children in the United States 2019, by 

age. Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1058911/first-time-cell-phone-use-by-children-in-the-us-by-age/

Thornton, M. (2023). 6th Grade with Ms. Thornton: school-to-home connection. Google 

Blogger, https://msmthornton.blogspot.com/