With technology becoming
an integral part of most career fields it is imperative that we include it in
our classroom. Practice is the most important part of making technology run
smoothly in your classroom. The easiest way I've found to incorporate technology
in my classroom is to create stations. This allows for students to work at
their level and at their own pace. I have also found that it really motivates
my students, they want to earn their time on the computer. There are a few
things I look for when finding websites for my students is easy of use,
tracking student progress/usage, and it has to be free.
Website #1
I love Front Row for many reasons. It is continually
changing and has easy student and teacher interfaces. The first image shows
what the student math practice would look like and the second shows what the teacher’s
dashboard. Students sign in using the first and last name and a class code
given to your when you create an account. Although most of Front Row can be
accessed for free you can pay and receive more of the awesome features. Front Row allows teachers to assign reading,
writing, or math practice. However, it is not necessary to assign math work,
student can instead complete adaptive work which focuses more on the student’s
ability level. The website is continually updated and new features are added.
The reading section in much newer than the math. However, you can choose from a
variety of articles that are available at multiple grade levels. Students are
rewarded with coins that can be used at the websites store. Below are some
sample student reports from Front Row.
Website #2
Read Theory is a great reading website. Students in my
classroom were motivated by the progress graphs alone. When you create a Read
Theory account you are then guided through the process of creating student
logins. All students are given the same password. When they log in student must
take placement assessments to determine what level or articles will be assigned
to them. One of the best features is that multiple teachers can be given
permission to see student progress. They also recently added a writing portion
to the website that is graded by the teacher. Data is presented in a variety of
charts for teachers and students. This was very useful when writing IEPs.
Website #3
This last year my school implemented Engage NY as it’s
math curriculum and so say the least it was a bit overwhelming and a lot to
teach in a limited amount of time. A little later in the year a colleague told
me about Zearn which I quickly pinned and forgot. However, later I rediscover
it and began implementing it in my classroom. I used it as my direct instruction
and as a choice for stations. During direct instruction student would learn
grade level skills and during stations I set it to a lower grade level to work
on basic skills.
Although there isn’t a chart that shows student
progress/success it does show what lessons are completed. All the materials are given in the
lesson from exit tickets, to notes, independent work, and homework. 
You create
the student logins and passwords.
Lessons are given with an interactive video. As the
lesson is taught I am able to observe my students work and make clarifications.
Or students are taught at a lower level when working independently on the
computer.
Website #4
I would say that Moby Max is similar to Front Row. It
covers a variety of subjects, it provides motivations for students, and charts their
progress. It has also grown over the last few years. Although I didn’t use it
as much this year I felt as though it deserved mention because it would be
easily implemented in any classroom.
Website #5
Common Core Sheets is a great resource for worksheets.
I have only used it for math however, it does have some ELA and Social Studies.
You can search by topic, grade level, or standard. It now has a feature called “one
atta time.” This allows students to work through problems for a certain standard
and tracks the number of problems answered correctly and incorrectly with a
percentage. I used this primarily to work on student math facts.
Website #6
Pearltrees made setting up stations in my classroom
much easier. My first year implementing stations was a struggle primarily because
students didn’t know what to log on to or didn’t want to do the website
assigned. To help stop this I made Pearltrees the homepage on my student laptops.
Pearltrees allows me to save websites and easily change what websites are available
to the students by changing it on Pearltrees. I have mine set up by subjects so
students know what to click on.
Then student have a choice of websites/activities
inside of each folder. When setting up your Pearltrees it’s important to save
the website from the page you want to the students to use. For example, for
front row I have my Pearltree linked to the hyperlink for the student log in
page.
