Journal 9: S'cool tools: 5 great tools to perk up your classroom and engage your students

Yoder, M.B. (2009, November). S'cool tools: 5 great tools to perk up your classroom and engage your students. Learning & Leading with Technology, 37(3), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Publications/LL/LLIssues/Volume3720092010/NovemberNo3/L_L_November_2009.htm


In this article, Maureen Yoder goes over 5 very helpful tech tools for any type of classroom whether it be elementary, middle or high school. according to Yoder, these 5 tools she presented agree to these three major questions:

1. Does this tool have the potential to enhance teaching in some powerful way?

2. Is this tool easy to learn and well supported?

3. Is this an innovative new tool or a substantial improvement on an earlier version?

Based on this criteria, the following five tools have the potential to transform your lessons.

After reading this article, I was amazed at just how my technology is out there not just to supplement the classroom, but to make lessons fun! I would never have thought of using LEGO Blocks to enhance classroom activities, nor have I ever thought of SMART tables. here is a list of the 5 tools presented.

1. Lego Education's WeDo Robotics Construction Set
2. Smart Table
3. AVer Pen
4. New Multiuser Virtual Environments (MUVEs)
5. Google Apps Education Community

The Lego Wedo kit is a set of legos that come along with robotic pieces such as til and motion sensors all in the aim for kids to work with manipulatives and engineering skills. The kit comes with 12 different models that the kids can build such as a plane that makes sounds as it is flown through the air (tilt sensor), and an alligator that snaps it's mouth every time someone passes by (motion sensor). This would go really great with children developing motor and tinkering skills, and can also help with projects about physics, biology, or any type of science.

The SMART table is just like the SMART board but in this sense is for the students. It goes great with group activities and comes along with many different functions and touch options. Yoder says that even though using regular manipulatives is way easier to handle, learning how to move them through touch screen on a SMART table puts children in awe. In a sense, the SMART table creates enthusiasm in the classroom motivating the students to want to learn. Who said learning can't be fun?

The AVer pen is similar to the SMART table but with this tool, a student can write practically on any surface. It can also work as a polling device for warm-ups or quizzes in the classroom.

Just as I mentioned in one of my previous blogs, the MUVEs learning environment is a virtual environtment used as a tool in the classroom for students to get a very close idea on how the concepts they learn in class connect to the "real-world". With virtual worlds, students can learn hands on how to start and run a business, they can learn about wildlife, how to run politics, etc. This is a great tool especially for high school students.

The last tool is mainly a tool that teachers can use personally. According to Yoder, "Google is reaching out to educators to provide tools for Internet searching, collaboration, and classroom activities at its new site designed specifically for teachers." Google Apps includes forums for sharing and discussion, voting polls on on favorite education apps, and tutorials on how to use Google apps.

If there's still a modern age out there for us to discover, I wouldn't even know what to expect anymore. This digital age is seriously enhancing the classroom like never before, and that's a good thing.


Question:

With the budget cuts going on, wouldn't tech integration be a pricey option?

In my opinion, as long as it enhances the life of the student, anything you have to buy is worth it. Education has become so much about the money that it's original purpose, which is to inspire, educate, and teach students to be a better them has been tossed out the window. Tech integration is a great way to bring back original motives and push "BORING" in learning and teaching aside.