Reflection on Use of Technology

Prior to teaching this lesson, I was sure to introduce the technology (Plickers) that was

used multiple times in previous lessons. Because my students and I were familiar with plickers

by the time I taught this lesson, my comfort level was very high. The students understood how to

show their answer choices using plickers cards, and I was comfortable with the Plickers app and

website. At 27 minutes and 25 seconds into the video, I quickly reviewed how to hold the

plickers cards to show their desired answer choice. The successes that I encountered using this

technology was the ability to collect student data easily using the scanning app. This information

was then converted into a chart showing me students selected answers. I also used nearpod,

which is similar to a powerpoint presentation but it also incorporated a matching activity that

was used for students to identify the beginning, middle, and end of a story using illustrations to

guide their thinking. Another success that was observed in my video from 7 minutes and 35

seconds to 25 minutes into the lesson is that the students were completely engaged in the

technology rich lesson. This portion of the lesson incorporated two educational videos reviewing

story elements and telling the story of The Tortoise and the Hare. Within this portion of the

lesson was also the matching activity that the students discussed and completed as a group.

The only problem that I encountered regarding the technology in this lesson was having

the students hold the cards in a way that displayed their selected answers. There are multiple

students in my class that have ASD and other learning disabilities, and they were in need of

assistance to be able to hold the cards properly. For some questions, their recorded answers did

not match their intended answers. I dealt with this problem by walking around and asking the

students what their answer was to the question, and then turning the plickers card to display the

correct answer before I scanned it to avoid error in my student data collection. There was also an

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aid that is normally in our classroom to help with the students with special needs that helped

some of the students display their correct answer choice on their plickers cards. Below is a

screenshot of the report that Plickers creates for teachers to use to assess their students

understanding of the content that was covered during the technologically rich activity. My

analysis of the data shows that the two students that did not answer the questions correctly

perform at a lower level academically on a regular basis, so it is unclear if improper use of the

plickers cards impacted their abilities to get the questions correct. This is a great resource to take

a quick look at during a lesson to see areas that the students may need clarification.

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This is an example of what a plickers card looks like. Each student is assigned their very own

card, and the QR code is associated with their name on the website.

Reflection on Student Learning

I noticed earlier in the semester that my students really enjoyed learning with technology.

Once my students and I got comfortable using plickers, I knew that it would be a great tool to

reinforce what the students learned during the lesson. The nearpod matching activity was also a

great method for having students identify details within illustrations and having them match

them with the beginning, middle, and end of a story. The two pieces of technology that were

used in this lesson enhanced the lesson by encouraging student engagement and recording

student data to record students understanding of the material within the lesson. At 16 minutes

and 55 seconds I introduced the matching Nearpod activity to the students, and we went through

each picture to identify details that might help them during their turn-and-talk. The biggest claim

that I can make about student learning based on this lesson with technology integration is that the

students are much more engaged in a whole group lesson that incorporates technology than they

are with a lesson that does not. Based on the types of technologies used, it is a great way to

collect student data about their understanding of content. The students were excited to use the

technology, and they were very engaged in the story that was told to them through a video at 13

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minutes and 55 seconds. This was a different format to what they were used to, and they seemed

to thoroughly enjoy it. The students were very motivated to see if they selected the correct

answers during the plickers activity.

Below is a screenshot of the matching activity that we completed as a class. We first

looked at each image and identified details within the images. Next, the students turned and

talked about which illustration aligned with the beginning, middle, and end of the story. For each

of the story elements, one group would tell the class what they selected and why.

Reflection on Teacher Learning

The students were very engaged throughout the entire lesson, and really enjoyed the

nearpod matching activity. They behaved better during this lesson than I had seen them behave at

all throughout the semester. The students see using technology as a privilege, and they know that

they have to act responsibly when using it. If I were to present this lesson again, I would

incorporate more questions to ask my students using the plickers technology, and find a way to

incorporate another activity using nearpod as there were many to choose from and the students

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really enjoyed the activity that we were able to do using the nearpod technology. As a result of

teaching this lesson, I would like to grow in the area of learning how to incorporate technology

into lessons spanning all subjects, as well as learn how to use the technology to aid in my

teaching of the content rather than assessing what they students learned from the lesson. Finding

videos or articles about how other teachers incorporate specific technologies into their lessons

that serve different purposes would have been very beneficial with completing this lesson.

Although I do not have physical artifacts to insert for this section, the video from 7

minutes and 35 seconds when I introduced the first piece of technology all the way until the end

at 41 minutes and 7 seconds when we finished our plickers activity showed very high levels of

engagement from all of my students, even the students who are otherwise typically distracted and

not paying attention. The quiet students were eager to share their responses to questions that

were raised throughout the lesson, and understood how to properly use the technology pieces that

were integrated into the lesson.

FEAPs

1 a. Aligns instruction with state-adopted standards at the appropriate level of rigor;

This FEAP was demonstrated throughout my lesson by incorporating objectives taken from the

standards used to design the lesson and incorporating technologies to create a rigorous lesson at

the appropriate grade-level.

2 g. Integrates current information and communication technologies;

This FEAP was demonstrated throughout my lesson with the use of the Nearpod matching

activity using the computer and projector, and the Plickers activity that collected the answers of

each student within the classroom.

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3 b. Deepen and enrich students’ understanding through content area literacy strategies,

verbalization of thought, and application of the subject matter;

This FEAP was demonstrated during the beginning, middle, and end portion of the lesson using

the virtual matching activity. The students and I first analysed the illustrations for context clues,

the students verbally turn-and-talked about their ideas relating to the matching activity, and

shared their thoughts with the class.

3 g. Apply varied instructional strategies and resources, including appropriate technology,

to teach for student understanding

This FEAP was integrated throughout my lesson with the implementation of multiple

technologies. The lesson began with reviewing story elements using a fun video, having the

students watch and listen to a story being read to them through the projector, and then went into

interactive activities used to teach for understanding. These activities included the matching

nearpod activity and the Plickers activity where we went through each question one by one and

discussed the correct answer once the students all had a chance to answer the questions.

5 a. Designs purposeful professional goals to strengthen the effectiveness of instruction

based on students’ needs;

This FEAP was demonstrated during the preparation of my lesson. I went into the classroom

multiple times on days that we did not have internship to practice using the technologies with my

students because I knew that they were young and in dire need of practice.