Ms. Clark's Technology Blog

It can be challenging to meet the needs of every student in a class full of diverse learners. While some activities are difficult to adapt and differentiate, there are some resources that simplify the task. One of those resources is Newsela. Newsela allows teachers to make free accounts (with a paid pro option as well) and make classes on the website to organize students (students must make accounts as well). One convenient factor is that it allows you to import a Google Classroom roster to make organizing classes easier once students have accounts set up. Once you have a class set up, you can assign articles which have quizzes and writing prompts included. The most unique feature of Newsela is that you can assign each student the same article but at a different reading level. The students do not know who is assigned what, so students won't feel embarrassed when given a separate assignment. Additionally, Newsela itself takes the students scores on quizzes and adapts thei...

Often, during class, I find that my external speakers do not work. Usually I can get it to work eventually, but I have no method to my sequence of steps and typically have no idea what the key to success was. It would probably helpful to have a troubleshooting guide for the next time this happens... so I found one! A website called Computer Hope provided the steps below:   Why do my computer speakers not work? Updated:  05/21/2018  by  Computer Hope This document contains information on what to do you if you are not getting any sound out of your computer speakers. These sections should be followed in order because they are written in such a manner that you may identify your issue through the process of elimination. Volume issues Desktop speakers turned down This step may seem trivial, but problem-solving works best when you start with the basics. Verify that the volume knob on the speakers is turned up enough to produce a sound. Every pair of speakers wi...

Creating "good" assessments is something that I struggle with. In a perfect world, students have the intrinsic motivation to complete tasks and master the content without any grades at all. But this is not the case. Activities in class are often met with questions from students..."Are you collecting this?"  "Does this count as a lab?"   "How many points is this out of?" I usually make a joke about how it shouldn't matter, they get to experience the fulfillment of gaining knowledge... and my students roll their eyes. There is also pressure from the school/parents to assess as much as possible. Students, parents, and administration have constant access to our online grading system and can see whenever a teacher puts in a new grade. If it's been "too long" since an assignment has been added, or at the quarter their aren't "enough", teachers hear about it. Within my classroom, my summative assessments typically take ...

With developments in technology, our world is becoming more and more connected over time. However, issues regarding empathy and understanding of other cultures do not seem to be improving. As educators, we should all have a goal of making our students more globally aware. This can be more difficult for some content areas than others (admittedly, I was pretty stumped when considering what this might look like in my Anatomy & Physiology class), it is important to continue reflecting on how we can foster global citizenship in our students. As discussed in a previous blog post, the high school where I work has developed a document called the Vision of the Graduate which details skills we hope to foster in our students by the time they graduate. One facet of the Vision of the Graduate is Global Thinker, which describes students as contributing to solutions to benefit the broader community, using digital technology to participate in society, and embracing diverse perspectives. Our ...

One of the challenging pieces of being an educator is facing the daunting task of ensuring students are prepared for the future. "Preparing for the future"can mean so many different things, from helping students find a career path that suits them, to using technology effectively. The world is constantly changing and it can be puzzling to try to figure out how to teach students to be prepared for things we cannot foresee. We will never be able to predict the future to decipher exactly what we need to be preparing students for, so instead we must equip them with skills that are applicable to any scenario. Over the last 2 school years, the school where I teach has been preparing for our upcoming NEASC accreditation. While this has resulted in lots of tedious, repetitive work, there have been quite a few positive developments from our work. Our first goal as a staff was to create a new mission statement. It had not been revisited since the last NEASC accreditation and was far f...