Technology 101 Skills for Teachers by Shelly Fryer:
Meet Shelly Fryer:
Shelly Fryer is a very inspiring educator who works with 3rd and 4th graders in a nonprofit school for homeless children in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. While reading Fryer's "About Me" page, I could just feel her compassion for those homeless children and her love for her job as their teacher. Fryer is all about finding ways to integrate art and technology into her classroom. Fryer's classroom has a 1:1 iPad ratio. She used the iPad for various things. For example, she uses Book Creator to have her students create their own books. The iPads allow her to reach all of the students in her class, she even admits that students who are at lower reading levels still succeed with activities using iPads. Fryer shares that the iPads are extremely motivating for her students and that they help her students create a voice for themselves. |
While reading her blog, Technology 101 Skills for Teachers, I could also feel Fryer's drive to help these students not only with things like self-esteem, self-worth, and self efficacy, but also help them develop a love for school and learning. Her goal was to implement arts and technology in the classroom, but not simply just to have the students play around on apps to gain basic skills. Instead, she believed "technology tools should be used to enhance and amplify student creativity. She strongly believes that students need to create new things with the iPads, and that these new creations should be shared outside of the classroom. I completely agree with her on this. I do not believe students should only use the iPad to play around with apps for basic skills. I think they learn the most by actually creating something. I think it also gives the students a sense of pride and something to be proud of when they create something on an iPad.
Fryer had some important steps to be successful at integrating technology in an elementary classroom. For example, she said that teachers need to have their own iPads to use, install apps, make and create. They need to explore what they are expecting students to do so that they are confident in explaining the process of using an iPad. She says that this will give the teachers ideas of what all an app can do and whether apps are appropriate for classroom use and for certain age groups. Fryer recommends that teachers become comfortable with creating classroom channels to share students' work digitally. I think that this is a great idea for a classroom so that parents have easy access to their child's class work. As I was exploring Fryers' classroom channel, I found an endless amount of classroom assignments! I really enjoyed looking through her students' creations on their iPads. Watch the video below to see one of my favorites from her page! How fun is this rap!?!?
Another technology resource that Fryer talked about on this particular blog post was QR Code readers. She said that she used them to share links to videos and other class resources to use in lessons. She even provides easy access to the same QR Code reader that she uses! She spreads them around at different stations for the students to use. This is a fabulous idea because it keeps the students engaged and moving around the room. She brings up a good point on how QR Codes are a great alternative to having the students waste time using a search engine that might provide them with false information. QR Codes bring the students straight to the link, increasing the time they have to research or view the site, and decreasing time wasted on searching for the correct site.
Fryer also talks about how iPads can be used to enrich assessments by showing the teacher if the students completely understand the concepts in the lesson. By doing assessment activities online, the teacher can almost directly see where her students struggle. She listed the different kinds of apps that she uses for assessment, many of which I am already familiar with thanks to my Educational Technology class. I hope to one day be as successful at integrating technology in my classroom as Fryer is. Thank you Shelly Fryer for such a helpful blog post that I can utilize in so many ways as a future educator! If you have not clicked on the links throughout this reflection, do so NOW (You will not regret it, I promise)! Go follow Shelly Fryer on Twitter!
Fryer also talks about how iPads can be used to enrich assessments by showing the teacher if the students completely understand the concepts in the lesson. By doing assessment activities online, the teacher can almost directly see where her students struggle. She listed the different kinds of apps that she uses for assessment, many of which I am already familiar with thanks to my Educational Technology class. I hope to one day be as successful at integrating technology in my classroom as Fryer is. Thank you Shelly Fryer for such a helpful blog post that I can utilize in so many ways as a future educator! If you have not clicked on the links throughout this reflection, do so NOW (You will not regret it, I promise)! Go follow Shelly Fryer on Twitter!