Teaching in the 21st Century: Technology Use

When I was growing up in school, SMART Boards were introduced and used through the years, but textbooks, hard copies, and hand-writing notes reigned supreme. 

Today, children in elementary schools are using tablets or laptops - I thought using the desktop in my parents’ house to make my own CDs was peak technology at that age. Technology has increased its presence in schools greatly in the past 5 years.

As we get deeper into the 21st century, it’s becoming clear that virtual learning is the new normal. While some may think that you can’t effectively teach this way, we are here to share some knowledge on how to best incorporate technology into your classroom, whether you are physically meeting or if you are teaching online.

Benefits of Learning with Tech:

• Increased student engagement with the lesson

• Opportunities for students to problem-solve

• Students can take control of their learning

• Additional learning opportunities

• Preparing students for their inevitable tech-heavy future

• Collaboration with fellow students

Tech in the Classroom:

1. Games to Help With Learning

There are all types of fun online games that were created with the intention of helping children learn. I used to love playing math games on the computer as a kid. Nowadays, there are engaging apps like Kahoot! available for use; students can compete against each other to answer content-related questions, motivating them to know their stuff! 

Aside from specific games, you can also amplify learning with creative scavenger hunts where students need to team up and search for answers to questions you pose.

Adding this element of fun into your teaching routine encourages students to work together and keeps them excited to learn.

2. Digital Content Creation

Presentations have always been a part of classes, but you can give your students the opportunity to get more creative and showcase their knowledge by creating a website, creating flyers, recording a podcast, writing blogs, and so much more. You never know, this could even plant a seed for what they want to do professionally in the future.

3. Class Calendar

This is probably already included in some of the online programs available to teachers, but if you don’t already have one, you should create a shared online calendar with your students. A shared classroom calendar keeps everyone on the same page through constant updates, and hosting a place for all of the important due dates, assemblies, field trips, etc. Bonus points if it is able to send notifications a day in advance!

When students have access to this, it helps you stay organized with content and helps your class stay on top of their work.

4. Social Media Integration

Children and teens spend huge amounts of time on social media as it is, so you can use this to your advantage by including it in your curriculum. 

One of my history teachers in high school had our class create Facebook pages for historical figures, and we had to make it represent who they were and how they would post. Super fun and creative idea, right?

Another thing you can do is create Facebook groups specific to your classes to discuss readings or certain topics. You can also have students think of unique hashtags for particular events or figures in your lessons. Get involved and show your creativity with this too!

5. Surveys & Polls

Receiving feedback from students helps you help your class. In order to have a successful classroom, you need to gauge the knowledge of your students, find out how they prefer to learn, and ultimately figure out how to get the best out of them. Using polls and surveys, you can get these answers. Do daily or weekly check-ins to know how your students are doing in general. This will help you build trust within those four walls and you will be able to better serve your students what they need.

A Conversation with Dr. Williams — Middle School Principal

Dr. Williams has held a variety of roles in the education world over the years. He has been named Teacher of the Year (2007) and been recognized for many other accomplishments throughout his career. Get to know Dr. Michael Williams, Principal of Harold E. Winkler Middle School, here.

Tell me a little bit about yourself: 

I have been a middle school principal since 2015.  Around 1250 students attend my school and I supervise around 125 faculty and staff members.  Prior to my current role I was an assistant principal (2 years), an instructional specialist for secondary schools (2 years), a high school social studies teacher (2 years), and a middle school social studies teacher (12 years).  I was also a basketball coach at the middle and high school levels. 

 What is your ‘why’?

Each day, I set out with the purpose of making people’s lives better.  I think people and organizations should have a purpose, and this vision and mission must be directly aligned to that purpose.  The purpose should drive everything we do.  On a personal level, I strive to find ways to make sure everyone around me is successful and finds joy through that success.  Organizationally, we strive to empower teachers to do the same for students.  We have built a culture of growing and learning that leads to better lives. 

 What is the best part of your role, and why?

I love hiring the right people and spending time dreaming with them.  I’ve found that my most important role is to hire well, give the right support at the right time, be a cheerleader, and make sure people have what they need to do great work.  I firmly believe great teachers are always going to do great things for students.  And those great teachers are looking for a place where they are empowered, not managed.  I also love the idea of dreaming: we are constantly in a state of “plussing” where we look for what we can do next to make life better for people.  It’s fun to get smart people in the room and empower them to dream! 

 Do you have any advice for teachers or administrators?

This profession is phenomenal when we keep our focus on the long game.  Every profession has moments of frustration, but we have to be careful not to measure our happiness based on the moment.  We can rarely use the moment to define our success.  Instead, we have to get enough time behind us to look back at ALL of the positive work we did.  We also have to be intentional to look for the positive things in our lives. 

 What do you think makes a classroom successful? How have you encouraged students to do their best work?

I believe two things make a classroom successful: strong community and academic rigor.  In our building, we phrase this differently; we talk about love and rigor.  I think great teaching can look like lots of different things, but in all great classrooms, teachers build strong community where students know they are loved and they belong AND they work students really hard.  When teachers can balance these two things, magic happens. 

I also think a lot about engagement for students.  I define this as the spot where what students are willing to do overlaps with what they must learn.  I believe we have to consider students to be volunteers rather than employees, which requires us to think differently about how we motivate them beyond just giving a grade. 

Compare coaching and teaching: how did doing both impact you in your career?

They match.  Great coaching IS great teaching.  Each of the professions requires us to use backwards design to build action steps toward the goals we want students and players to reach.  Coaching isn’t just coming up with a scheme; instead, it is rooted in building players’ skills so they build automaticity and can approximate their own decisions.  In the long game, teaching is exactly the same.  We are helping students build a skill set they can use to live independently. 

 How did you adapt to a virtual school year this past year?

It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.  I am a deeply hands-on leader and I felt completely disconnected from the work.  To adapt, I had to worry less about how teachers were teaching and spend most of my time supporting teachers’ social-emotional-mental well being, and doing my best to make sure students were engaged.  I’m not a big fan of staff meetings, but we started scheduling them twice a week to listen and respond, and I spent a ton of time checking in on kids and families. 

Going Into Year 4: A Conversation with Ms. Herron

As the new school year begins, it’s always important to look at it as a fresh start and an exciting new beginning. I had the opportunity to speak with a young teacher about her experience in education. 

Chelsea Herron, 25, is looking forward to what her fourth year of teaching will bring. 

What do you teach, where do you teach, and how long have you been teaching? 

I teach English at West Cabarrus High School, and I am going into my fourth year!

What is your ‘why’?

As a teacher, I have a unique opportunity to shape the future through my students, the future of the world literally sits in my classroom. It's so exciting to see a student master a standard, like how to cite a text or determine a theme, but it is a different, more rewarding feeling to see them open up and become compassionate towards their classmates, people who they might not have ever spoken to if it weren’t for my classroom. It is my greatest hope that through creating an inclusive culture in my classroom, it will have a ripple effect on the world. 

School starts this coming week, how are you preparing for another school year?

Now that I’m in my fourth year of teaching and considered a real teacher, haha, I am focusing on the details to prepare for this coming school year. I think the first couple years of teaching are just trying to keep your head above water; going into this school year, I’m feeling pretty good about my swimming abilities. I know the standards by heart, I know which texts I’m using and I’m feeling confident in them, I know which classroom management strategies to use. So to answer your question, I am fine-tuning my teaching practices in order to prepare. I have figured out what does and doesn’t work for my teaching style and I’m excited to put those things into action this school year!

What is your favorite thing to teach, and why?

My favorite lesson would have to be Postcards from Odysseus. The Odyssey gets a bad wrap, but I’ve always found it to be a class favorite. As we read about Odysseus’ journey home to Ithaca, my students will inevitably have a couple favorite places that he stops at - The Land of the Cyclops usually takes the crown. Once we begin wrapping up the unit, I have students pick a location that we read about and write a postcard to Ithaca, from Odysseus’ point of view. In the postcard, they write about what happened at that location, it is a great way to teach summarizing and key details. Then they have to get artsy and draw on the front of the postcard what the location looks like in their head. Their favorite part is when we actually mail the postcards to Ithaca. I’ve had a couple of students who have ended up with pen pals and they think it's the coolest thing.

Do you have any advice for new teachers?

My best advice would be to form those relationships with your students. A student might hate writing, but if they respect you, they’ll write anything you ask them to. A student might not be the best reader, but if they know you believe in them, they’ll try their hardest to read Shakespeare. A student might not care at all about what diction is, but if they know you care, they’ll give diction a try. So much pressure is put on standardized testing and which teacher will have the best exam scores, and that stuff is important, but none of that matters if we don’t know who our students are outside of the classroom, who they go home to, if they even have somewhere to go home to. The relationships matter, build them. 

What do you think makes a classroom successful?

Referring back to my previous response, I believe relationships make a classroom successful. I have made it one of my teacher responsibilities to have all of my students’ names memorized within the first three days of school. When I stand outside of my classroom and greet students as they’re walking in, I greet them with specific details and then I always make sure to include their name; it’s a small gesture that goes such a long way - “Hey Payton, I love your Yeezys.”, “How are you today, Ricardo?”, “Congrats on winning your basketball game last night, Emonie!” If kids feel noticed, appreciated, and cared for, they’ll do anything for you, they’ll even write that research paper they dread so much. 

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Thanks, Chelsea! If you’re an educator and want to share your story, we are all ears! Send us a DM on Twitter or Instagram @leapedlive. Have a great start to your year!