Hello. You’re listening to the K-12 tech podcast, bringing you insights into the world of education, and technology. Stay tuned as we discuss the past, the present, and most importantly, the future of technology in our schools. Hello and welcome back to the Keto Tech Podcast. I’m your host, Mike Hosler, with my co-host Sean Cardwell from K-12 Tech. And then we have our special guest, technology integration specialist Michelle Manning, who is also a Google certified educator and a Google certified coach.
Michelle, thank you for coming on. If you just want to maybe introduce yourself and kind of talk about your background.
So thank you so much for having me. I’m very excited to be here. I’ve been working in education for 30 years and I can’t believe I’m saying that I was a classroom teacher for over 26 years, 26 years in my current district, and then I transitioned to be the technology integration specialist for my district. And this is my third year as the tech coach. My first year, I worked with the 650 secondary teachers across five buildings, and now I work with the elementary teachers. So I support 350 teachers throughout seven buildings. So and I absolutely love my job. It’s great.
So what kind of made you go into the tech integration role?
I’ve always loved integrating the technology into the curriculum, getting away from the chalk and talk the pencil and paper. So it was always a passion of mine. And then when my district posted this position, a lot of my colleagues reached out to me and said, Michelle, you’re already doing this. You should apply. You should apply. So I was nervous leaving the classroom, but I’m actually really excited because now I get to go into more classrooms and work with more teachers. So I get the best of both worlds. So it’s really been exciting and I’ve learned so much and it’s such a great feeling to be so helpful to my colleagues.
And you came in like kind of middle of the pandemic, correct?
Literally, yes.
So what were some challenges you faced there? I know, obviously, the pandemic was a big change for all of us.
Right. Well, the biggest problem I mean, for me as a tech coach, excuse me, was because they started when we went back that some. TAPPER My district was hybrid, so students were in-person and half their class were at home and then they switched mid-week. So when I started my position, I ended up being more tech support on how to do Google Meet, how to share your screen, and how to do videos, because those are things we had never done before. We were completely asynchronous when we went into lockdown at first. So teachers really saw me as tech support and that’s what they needed. So I was whatever they needed, whenever they needed it. And Google was constantly changing and updating. So I was always sending out the alerts, well, now we can do this. Now meet gives you attendance. And so I presented myself as more tech support.
It was until much later in the year where teachers said to me, Well, I used to do this lesson where the students were walking around the room, but now they can’t. Or my students used to manipulate this, but now they can’t. So how can we create these lessons digitally? So it took a while to make the transition, and I’m still struggling with that, where I’m not necessarily tech support. You know, you bring me the curriculum, I’ll bring you the technology, and let’s work it out together. Let me come in and teach. Let me be part of the lesson with you. Not just tech support. So because that’s when I started, that’s how people saw me. Since it was a new role. So I was starting to see the shift.
I’m hopeful kind of now that we’re out of the pandemic, Lord willing. Has there been any, like not any drawback or any hesitancy for teachers? I won’t use the technology. I had to use it, but they’re trying to get away from it. And how are you facing that?
Yeah, unfortunately, because the teachers were forced to use it and it was more survival mode. They aren’t really seeing the benefits of what it could have to offer now. They want to go old school. They’re kind of done with the technology. I was very fortunate. I attended a city in New Orleans this past July, and Rich KOLATA gave this great speech about shifting from that emergency remote learning to effective digital learning. So shifting from tech skills to digital pedagogy. So many of the kids are good at tech. They’re good at tech. Well, it’s not really about the students being good at tech or gaming. It’s about transforming your lessons, freeing you up so that you can work with students and small groups providing those modifications, and differentiating your assignments. There are so many great things that came out of this push with the technology, so let’s embrace those to make our curriculum and our classrooms better and provide more support for our students as well.
And it does seem like a lot of schools have been utilizing Google Classroom. Google every Google app you can possibly imagine there. But I know just from talking to you before we started recording that you’ve been utilizing Gamified, which is something that I am not familiar with. So do you want to talk about a little bit about that and what exactly it does and what ease and how teachers can use it in the classroom?
Absolutely. And my district is a Google school. Google Classroom is our LMS. But what I did to sort of break up the lessons and again, transitioning from pencil and paper and using that technology to make the lessons better. So pre-pandemic pre-Google slides, you would hand out a worksheet, whether it was a review sheet, say for a test or a quiz or students are practicing their times tables. There was this great expression Practice doesn’t make perfect. Practice makes permanent. So old school students would complete that entire worksheet and they may have practiced the whole thing wrong. And then by the time the teacher collected grades it and gives it back. And here’s hoping that the student actually looks at the feedback that the teacher dedicated his or her time to give.
That doesn’t happen. It goes in the folder. Ah, my favorite was on. The one student threw it out in the garbage right in front of me. Could you at least get to the hallway? Garbage can before throwing that out so the students aren’t getting that immediate feedback. So what I did was I took those multiple choice questions and put them in Google slides and I’ve created dozens of them and I’m happy to share the link with my templates and some samples that I’ve done. So whether it was seasonal or content related, I would decorate the Google slides with the theme, and then the students would answer the question. And I started calling them to escape rooms, but then I changed it to little rules. So on the first slide, I would ask them a riddle, and as they got the right answer, they would be directed to the slide that gave them the next letter for the riddle.
But here’s the part that I loved about Gamifying that I thought was so helpful that when they got the answer incorrect, it brought them to a slide that told them they were wrong. So they got that immediate feedback so that they weren’t practicing it wrong again and again, and then they were directed to go back and try again. And on that you are right. I hate to say you are wrong, but on the wrong slide, the teacher could embed support. Give them a clue. So if it’s long division, remind them what the first step of long division is or if it’s world languages. Put the translations there. I just did one for math skills, so put the math so they can look at the reference because the goal is for them to learn the content, and if they keep getting it wrong, they’re not learning anything. So this way the support is embedded. Students can work at their own pace and hope that the teacher is going over it as a whole. Class students can fall behind or if they get up to use the restroom. So now students can self-paced that they need to read the question more slowly or again embedding that support teachers can embed audio to read it to the students who maybe are struggling.
So you can take out the reading obstacles, and take out the writing obstacle so that they can focus on the content. Assuming it’s not a reading or writing lesson. So there are just so many opportunities for the students to succeed and all the embedded support. And you can differentiate. If you have students who are ready to add fractions with common denominators, they can get that little room, and the students who still need common denominators can get that one. And then work their way up. And this way the teacher can be working with different groups at the same time instead of the whole class. And I can go on for hours about all the different advantages to Gamifying. And then one final advantage to it is that you know, you gave your students their traditional pencil and paper. When they’re done, they’re done.
They’re not going to take their eraser and erase the whole page and try it again. So with these riddled rooms, the teacher can post it through their LMS, and then the students, when they’re home or extra help, can go back and try it again. So if they didn’t succeed, it’s still there as an opportunity and a learning tool for them.
So this isn’t an app or anything. It’s all just through Google computer.
It’s all hyperlinks. And sometimes I do bring in camming. I absolutely love camming. So I have done some lessons where the question will be hyperlinked to the Academy file so the students can annotate and work on a PDF. So say they’re working on a map scale. They can go to the map on Cami and measure it or draw it or for more of accountability. And fortunately, the downside with the gamification is there isn’t a lot of accountability. The teacher cannot see the student’s progress. So by hyperlinking it to a cami file or a Google doc, the students can show their work and toggle back and forth between the two. But a basic escape room is just simply hyperlinking hyperlinks in three pages together. So it’s resources that every teacher has available.
It is readily available. There’s no extra cost right there. But, you know, schools that are on a very tight budget are schools that may have more funding. Anyone can use it. Right. I think that’s the big thing that I really like. And I think a lot of schools are going.
Right and, you know, everybody has access to the goodwill side. And once you make your one template, you could just keep changing your backgrounds and you have it set. So it’s not recreating the wheel every single time. And once you do it once with the students and they’re familiar with it, they’re always so excited to see the different themes. You know, I’ve gone throughout the year, football season, fall, Thanksgiving. I try to keep it non-denominational. You want to build a snowman. So instead of a riddle, they built a snowman. As they got the right answer, the snowman was built and then they could draw it on their own. So they had their own snowman. So there are lots of different ways you can change it up.
And I had referenced using it as a review, but a teacher could also use it to flip their classroom. So instead of putting the question, the teacher can embed a video, whether it’s a video that the teacher recorded of themselves modeling the lesson or a YouTube video or a curriculum-related video, and then the students can watch it and then practice it on their own in advance to the lesson at their level. So it takes the teacher away from the board. They’re not tied to the front of the room, so the teacher can circulate and work in small groups or differentiate, or this is a great activity for centers or stations. Sometimes they’ve even embedded links to websites. So the students are doing research. So are they doing the research correctly? So there are so many ways that you could modify this from introducing a lesson to assessing the lesson.
Like we said, it’s extremely it sounds extremely versatile. Everyone’s got access to it, kind of. At an earlier statement, you made with the whole get a worksheet back, you’re it or not even looking at it. I’m guilty of that. I get it back. I’d put it in my folder, not paid any more attention. What I really like about this is it’s readily available for not just the teachers, but the students as well. They can access it. Most schools have Chromebooks or iPads or some kind of equipment. Nowadays, 1 to 1 devices they can always access it at home or work on it at their own pace. I mean, that was a big name for me. When I was in school. I had a lot of classes that were kind of work at your own pace, and it really wasn’t much accountability kind of like you were saying on there.
The teacher wasn’t really able to see how far I was doing, besides just when I took these apps. And for me, that worked. I like being accountable for my own grades rather than if you fall behind, you fall behind. That’s a big difference there. So I really do think that this is truly a great idea and it’s imperative as well.
Before they get too far along. Sometimes it could take teachers days to return their work. And now your three more lessons into the content. And now they’re three days behind. We’re day one hopefully that student is reflecting and gosh I’m getting a lot of these wrong I should hope they’ll go to extra help and you know they’ll reflect on that and take some more ownership of their education and be accountable to themselves, too, before it gets too late.
Extra help, like you were saying. I mean, with pen and paper that was coming in early in the morning or staying late after school, it had to work with the student schedule, but also the teachers. With this you can have video links. If they get an answer wrong, it takes them to a video. Hey, here’s how you do it. I’m sure I could have taken the teacher a little bit of time to make that video or most of the stuff’s on YouTube nowadays. They can just find a video, put it there, and.
Once you’re a secondary teacher, you’re often teaching the same class three or four or five times a day. So instead of repeating yourself, three or four or five times a day, just take your prep period and record it once, and then the students can watch it. And then that frees you up from repeating yourself so you can provide that individualized support walking around the room. And of course, not every day, you know, there is a place for pen and paper, don’t get me wrong. And there it is, a time for whole class discussion and teacher-directed lessons. But this is a nice alternative, another opportunity.
It doesn’t need to be the sole way you teach your life either. You can mix it in with the board to the students. You could do days where this is what you’re doing. I saw you mentioned flipped classroom. That’s a term I heard a lot when I was in school and I’ve heard a lot on this podcast. So maybe you kind of go into how would somebody use this to do that flip classroom model?
So instead of the teacher presenting the lesson five times, the teacher could record themselves doing the introduction or explaining the content. And what’s nice too is you can then chunk it up. So instead of teaching your 20, 30, 40 minute lesson where the students are taking notes and trying to keep up, you can chunk it into smaller pieces. And the nice opportunity for that is, again, if a student is struggling to pay attention or a student is in the back of the room and there are distractions they can’t hear, they can’t see. Having the introduction lesson on the Chromebook in front of them or their device in front of them with headphones they can rewind it if they couldn’t hear what the teacher said.
A lot of children are embarrassed to raise their hand and ask a question. I remember in 11th grade I asked a sincere question and the whole class busted out laughing, and 35 years later, I still don’t know why they laughed. So, you know, and I never raised my hand again. So this provides a nice opportunity for students to again get I know I keep saying get that support, but if they’re embarrassed to raise their hand and ask a question, they don’t have to. They can rewind the video. You know, they were distracted. So the teacher, instead of doing the whole class instruction, would record it and put it in the game. And then if the student got the answer right, can proceed to the next step, watch the next video and move along at their pace. And again, since the teacher is now not tied to the board, doing that instruction or flipping it worth their homework to watch the video and it’s their homework to just answer the questions. And then when they come in the next day, it’s practice. So the teacher is assessing and monitoring their understanding. So instead of doing the practice at home with no support, do the practice in school. When you have the teacher’s support.
Let’s just say a teacher. Use this for a homework assignment and send the kid home with the assignment to do the game or build a snowman, whatever it is. Is there a way to make sure they’re actually doing it? Because I know I don’t understand. It’s something about like it’s hard to monitor what they’re actually doing within the game.
Right. And they could always just ask their friend or Google the answer to the riddle. So a lot of times what I did was hyperlinked a Google form. So as the students were going, they were answering the correct answer in the Google form. So this way they’re not just clicking, clicking, clicking. They have to see what the right answer is and then answer the correct answer on the Google form. And then the teacher would have the students responses on the Google form or again linking Cami or a Google doc so that they could see the student’s work, whether it’s math, skills or math, or they have to show while their work having those hyperlinks embedded to outside programs, Google Docs, which is also part of the Google for education.
So they don’t have to have that separate program. So there are ways that you could have that accountability piece. So, you know, they’re not just clicking, clicking, clicking through the game, and you hopefully, you know, explain to the students, this is here to help you and you’re only shortchanging yourself. But we all know when we have bad days. Do you just. I don’t feel like doing it today. So we go through it.
Yeah, I know. College, that’s a big thing. I mean, you’re paying to be there, so. Right. So most of my professors were if you don’t want to show up or you don’t want to do the work I’m getting paid. That’s on you right now. I mean, it really that’s kind of how a lot of my teachers in high school were, too, with some of my advanced classes, especially that were for college credit, they treated it like that. And so if I didn’t do my work, you know, they obviously they were more happy, but they didn’t make a huge deal out of it because it was on me.
Intrinsic motive, motivation. This is going to help you. This is a resource that you have if you want to do well and the thing but the gamifying it’s fun so they are more likely to do it as opposed to a worksheet and also if they look at this huge worksheet with 25 or 30 long division problems, that’s overwhelming. That’s intimidating, especially to a student who is struggling. And if they’re struggling to get through, number one, and now they’re looking at the rest of the page, they’re not going to be motivated. They’re going to shut down. So gamifying pieces, them chunks, one at a time. Here’s one question. Just focus on this. Don’t worry about all the other questions.
So hopefully that will motivate them. And the students were excited. Can you make a real room for this? Can you make a little room for that? So it motivated them to complete the activity authentically because they wanted to know the answer to the riddle. Or I did one for the ecosystem. I’m sorry not ecosystems energy. So they did one for coal, one for biomass. And because the coal one, I connected it to Minecraft. Now I never played Minecraft. My children are older, so I had to do a lot of research and I was texting my 23-year-old son, What do you know about Minecraft so that I could create this? And the teacher said as soon as the students opened it and as soon as they saw the background, Oh, it’s Minecraft. And they were so excited. So that’s the other advantage to gamification. They’re excited and it’s thematic and they don’t realize that you know, it’s the same lesson, but it’s not the same lesson, but it is the same lesson.
I’m a big believer in hands-on interactive learning. That’s how I learn best, and I think this is definitely a good way to, like we’ve been saying, implement that into the classroom. Students are excited because you can tie it, you can use whatever, gif, jif, whatever you want to call it, you can put whatever you want that you think it’s going to draw the students attention. And I mean, if they’re focused and having fun, they’re more likely to retain that information.
Right? Absolutely. And you could even turn it around a little bit. When I was in the classroom, when I would be reviewing, I would assign the students a review sheet for homework where the day before a test pencil and paper and pre-pandemic, but before we had one on one devices. And then I would go over the last the review sheet and I wasn’t sure that the students were checking their answers. Are they making sure they had the right answers on their worksheet to go home and study? So I’m a big football fan and not just because of my last name. Manning I’ve been a Giants fan in my whole life, so I created this activity in the classroom where I actually put some of the wrong answers on the board, I made red flags for all my students, and I wore a referee jersey.
They could wear their football jerseys. And so when they saw me put the wrong answer on the board, they could challenge it and throw the red flag. So I made one of those for yeah, I gamified it. I put the wrong answer so they could challenge it and it was interactive. So the football one, the objective is to move the referee along and the yard markers all the way down from end zone to end zone. So changing it up, giving that challenge, I’ve also made ones that were carnival themed, so they’re playing skee ball or musical chairs to make it fun.
Like you were saying, with the wearing the referee to gamify a lesson, it doesn’t have to be through Google slides. You can do it. You can do it. That pencil paper, you’re in front of the class with the board. As long as you’re making your fun and making it interactive for the students, you’re achieving. The same result.
Made your attention. Nothing is more exciting than catching your teacher making a mistake. So. And they loved to throw things at me. You know, I told it if you hit me, you’re losing five points on your test. So, like, if throw the flag to the ground, don’t throw it at the teacher. You’re just. Just to change it up a little bit. I used to when I taught social studies, Gilgamesh. She built a wall, so I bought a Jenga game and I wrote questions on the Jenga pieces so they would push out the Jenga pieces to answer the questions. And it resembled the brick wall that Gilgamesh had made. But during the pandemic, they couldn’t touch Jenga pieces. So I made a digital Jenga too interactive.
But then you also have the two opportunities. It’s nice to provide students with options. I don’t want to get into blended learning too much, but some students love the pencil and paper or the physical Jenga. Some students love the digital if they have visual issues or if they have reading, or writing obstacles. We can use the technology to remove that obstacle because the end game, is not to get no pun intended, the end game is to learn the content. So you have all these different resources that are available now. So let’s not shy away from that technology that overwhelmed us during the pandemic. Let’s take what was good from it and provide more opportunities for our students to succeed. And that’s what I love about my job, is creating those opportunities for the teachers because they’re so overwhelmed they don’t have time to create it digitally.
So they’ll send me their worksheet and I love to sit and create the digital lessons for them. So that’s my goal for this year, is to get into more classrooms and do more of the teaching or sit at one of their centers to integrate the technology because it’s a lot. Teachers don’t have the time for that. So that’s fun.
I’m here for kind of continuing in that direction. I guess that’s more on the IT side. And so that’s kind of where I wanted to go next as a tech integration person or a technology director, how how do you obviously just kind of mentioned it, but how would that position assist the teachers with this gamification and using technology to help supplement their lessons?
The way I organized it last year was every Monday I sent out a Google form to the teachers and they could sign up and I had the questions whether it was content-based or tool based. If you want to learn the tool or do you want to listen? I had this lesson. I don’t know what to do with it. And then I would meet with the teacher either via Google Meet or in person. So what I’m using this year is the new calendar update. So I just share my calendar and with the new appointment slots. So they just pick a time and they let me know whether I’m going to go into the classroom or we’re going to do a Google meet.
They could also attach to the Google form the lesson that they’re working on. So basically because I support seven buildings, I can’t be in every building every day or even in a week, and my office is actually in an eighth building. So I missed out on that walking through the hallway, Hey, Michelle, can you help me with this? So I really have to cast a wide net. So in addition to sending out my calendar and hoping they’ll sign up, I also have a Google classroom that all of the teachers are in. So as I make these templates, I post them in the Google classroom, so hopefully, it’ll plant some seeds so other teachers can take that template and input the content because it’s already done. Or if the teachers aren’t at that level with the technology, they can send me the content and I’ll create it for them. So whatever level, whatever comfort level they’re at or even their time frame, they know the technology. They don’t at the time I’m available for all the different levels of support, whatever they need. So I try to be very versatile in what they need and how they need it and more starting to come to me with the content and that’s my goal.
I can see other schools implementing that as well. Obviously, I don’t know how large your district is or how hard your tech staff is, or anything like that. But obviously, if it’s just you, I can put a lot of time on your plate. You know, other districts have multiple people they can assign to maybe even their the person that does that. So there are all different ways that you can implement this. And help your staff because that’s ultimately that’s the goal for everyone that works in education, whether it is on the tech side or the actual education side is we’re here for the students. We want to make sure they’re succeeding as much as they can, what is whatever tools they need and whatever we can do on our end to help them. So we’ve kind of talked about how you’re helping your teachers and just your educators in general with this gamification. What are some pieces of advice you would have for people that are kind of in the similar role or maybe you just want to start gamifying their lessons?
Well, twofold question. As far as the tech coach, my advice to them would be make those personal connections, and find the people that you know. So I noticed that the big turning point for me last year was when one of our STEM coaches reached out to me and she said, Michelle, we have this lesson and it’s just so boring. The students watch a video and they take notes. Can you make this fun? So I thought, okay, no pressure. So I created that was actually the goal. The whole lesson that I had mentioned earlier, and it taught the students how to do research. It was just the students had so much fun with it, but that got me into one classroom. So because I worked with the STEM coach 28 years ago, we did staff development together 28 years ago in the beginning of our careers together. Then our careers went on different paths, but then we came back together. So that relationship with her created this lesson. Then she got me into one classroom and then the other teachers like, Wow, that’s really great.
You come into my classroom and then I sent it to the STEM coach in the other building and it was that beautiful ripple effect, that pebble in the pond. So finding those relationships. So then when I started to see how it was my personal relationships that really turnkey my role as an EdTech coach, I reached out to my colleagues that I started with one of my bridesmaids from, you know, a long time ago. I reached out to said, Hey, Janet, let’s get together again. We used to teach next door to each other and again our paths many different directions, like let’s come back together, let’s coach teach. So they invited me into their rooms and then their colleagues on their grade level saw. So my advice to the EdTech coaches is to find those relationships and really work those relationships as far as teachers that are interested in gamifying, I absolutely more than welcome to share the links to my templates and my resources. So starting small with some of maybe using one of the ones that are already done and then using one of the templates and then from there trying to create your own. So baby steps what you are ready for when you’re ready for it because if you’re overwhelmed, it will work.
There’s, there’s a lot of different apps, right? And different programs people can use for learning. And I know from being in the education side of things myself for a handful of years, going to different conferences, a lot of times when they talk about different apps and programs like this, it almost seems like it’s very much geared towards the younger grades, maybe up through sometime in middle school and coming from a high school and just things like building a snowman like I can imagine when you’re in honors bios, one of the building a snowman is do you see gamify and some of the other things do you and your teachers have used to be able to move into that high school kind of world? Because I feel like high school does end up back with like the paper and pencil and test and get ready for the SATs and to where you’re at.
Right. I’ve actually had high school teachers use my templates. Actually, one world language teacher had her observation coming up and she created a little room for her students. The whole thing was written in Italian, which was fun for me trying to create because I had no idea what the right answers were with the wrong answers were. And I told them to make sure the hyperlinks are correct because I had no idea what I was reading. And so it actually took them through traveling and it was traveling. So they started at the airport and then they through checking their luggage and security and take off. And it worked through the whole process of what the unit was. I’ve done lessons for family, and consumer science, where they’re practicing interview skills. I did a whole office thing. So obviously Office, the TV show is not geared for younger children, so I just changed the background to the office characters.
So Michael Scott was interviewing people. Can he ask this question? Yes or no? And so I had the device where the office staff was. Yeah. Or the op-ed. Michael’s going, No, no, no. So if you pull in on the content that they’re interested in, that they’re familiar with, again, I feel my age making me because I’m so out of what’s, you know, what’s cool and even saying cool isn’t cool anymore, but you know what I mean, what they’re interested in. So I have had high school teachers use some of my high school kids like a braid to, you know, they like to think they’re so old and mature, but they actually have fun with some of these.
Even now, as an adult, looking at 24-page documents, just on paper is not fun and it still hurts me. Know, I’m sure even in high school, I mean, for me, yes, I’m 22. So I was in high school, you know, four years ago.
They’re older than you. Go ahead.
And so with that, you know, when I was in my freshman year was when my school district first got Chromebooks and I was actually one of two testing classes that got them. And so I really was in that transition period where teachers had no idea how to use these things as students. And know how to use them. And so seeing that, that so for me, it was kind of the opposite where I was in high school. We just had the technology and so that’s what we were using because it was a new shiny thing. They wanted us versus, you know, students nowadays they’ve had Chromebooks, a lot of them, the majority of their entire school career at this point. And so going back to that pen and paper making just be, you know, completely different and switching between the two, I’m sure, is not good either.
So put the ownership on the student and give the students the template. The blank riddle will and have them enter the questions. And the answer is let them learn the hyperlinking, you know. So again, it’s not just playing the game. Let them learn those technology skills. Students, Yes, they know how to play video games. They know the technology on their iPhone. But do they know how to use basic Google Docs and Google side so you can take it to another level where they’re not building the snowman? I had created that because it took the language and the riddle out of that for the younger children who don’t understand what a riddle is or don’t understand the letters, they can’t read the word that they just spelled out with the riddle room.
So that’s why I did the snowman. But for high schools, students, instead of building the snowman, let them build the riddle room. Let them do the research. Let them come up with the questions and the answers so that they’re building it and also learning the tech skills as well. So you can modify it in so many different ways.
The accountability aspect of can you track of the students actually doing the work or if you make them make the lesson, yeah, there you go. So yeah.
They can grade, you know, do their groups and so on and so then there’s also the review. So there are definitely ways that you can modify this up or down.
Yeah. I mean, if the student makes it, you can have, you know, you can do groups, they can make it and then they pass it on to a different group to actually play through it. Right. As like you said, as a review. And that way they’re all working together and that’s the big thing. So. Right.
The student was absent. Say I’m thinking like chemistry. If a teacher had done an experiment, the student was absent and missed the experiment. If the teacher had recorded that lesson and now you can embed it into the videos or into the games, the students can see it without the teacher having to recreate the whole experiment or activity for the students to complete.
But I think a big piece of advice that I would even have, and it isn’t just for this, but don’t be afraid to fail or you know, you’ll make one that doesn’t catch the interest of the students. Don’t stop doing it. You’re going to learn a more lifelong learner. So you’ll learn what works and what doesn’t. I’m sure you’ve had lessons that since know you put time into you main and students were interested in that.
Right.
Everyone’s different so I mean every student’s going to have different preferences and I’m sure you’ve learned throughout your time doing this what works and what doesn’t.
So I think that’s also another reason why it’s so important to bring in that technology and not push it aside is because what works for one student doesn’t necessarily work for another student. So giving them the choices and the different experiences. And again, you’re not going to gamify every single day, but yesterday was the pencil and paper and today is the gamify. So you’re again casting that wide net to reach all of your different students.
Well, and you mentioned chemistry and experiments and taping things and filming it or whatever. And I taught chemistry for four years.
You know, that.
Is definitely better to fail at making a game of fire than it is to experiment. Go bad.
Right? Well, record this successful experiment so that we can learn from that.
It’s a lot safer that way.
Obviously, you’ve been doing this for a while. Do you present at all besides obviously you’re on our podcast, so there’s that. But do you do any presentations, have any YouTube videos that maybe other EdTech coaches, tech directors, teachers can look at that, you know, our public that they can use as a resource?
I do. I’m just building my social media profile now. So I do have a YouTube channel, Twitter, and Instagram, I’m just starting on TikTok. I kind of feel too old to be on TikTok, but I’m learning. But my handle for all social media outlets is at managing TikTok, so I’m slowly starting to post videos there and different resources, but I was very excited. I did present at Estee. I’ll be presenting at Nice Gate, which is New York State later in the year. I’ll be presenting at Lights, which is Long Island in October, and I do all presentations for the district where I teach. That’s a big part of my job as the PD. So presenting at faculty meetings, superintendent’s conference day, small group instruction in one on one instruction, morning coffee clutches, however, I can get to them.
So I do a lot of presentations. But as far as the general public outside of my district, I am starting to branch out on some of the social media sites.
Be sure to follow. We’ll make sure to link all to medias as well. We appreciate everyone listening today. And Michel, thank you.
Thank you so much.
In Episode 33, Hope Davis, MA, CHC takes us on a journey from personal challenges to leading educational innovation at Teach Tech U. Discover how her experiences fueled a passion for transformative technology in education, shaping the future with Project LEAR. An inspiring conversation for anyone intrigued by the power of tech to change lives. […]
Listen now
With guest speaker Marsha Maxwell, PhD, CETL, join us for a reflective journey on the advancements of AI through the years, focusing on how we can further develop these technologies to bridge educational divides.
Listen now
