The Importance of Edline

  When I first started teaching there were many school-based policies in place to ensure that I and my students had a successful year. At the time, I didn’t necessarily understand their true value, since they added to my new teacher workload. Prior to the start of the school year we would call the families of all the students in our homeroom to welcome them to our classroom. Every week we sent out a newsletter to inform parents of what was going on in our class. We would sign the agendas of all of our students to indicate whether they had homework for that night and if so, what it was. Our school year was jam packed with phone calls and conferences. Not to mention the many times that we had to update parents with a paper copy of their child’s grades. Upon reflection and with continued classroom experience, I saw the importance of our requirements. They definitely helped to improve my school/community communication and thus shaped my teaching practices in a positive manner.

     Edline serves a similar purpose. It enables us to highlight the value and importance of a child’s education. It provides for much needed communication between our classroom and the community at large. Even though it sometimes seems that it is extra work, it has actually decreased our workload. Instead of creating a newsletter, signing agendas, and making multiple copies to distribute to my classes, I can easily and quickly post the same information to all of my classes. Parents and students can access a current grade report prior to interim or before the quarterly grade goes out. This could potentially improve academic success for our students as it builds ownership. When a phone call is not needed, we can send out an e-mail to individual families or globally if applicable. The ability to post assignment information and resources is also an invaluable tool. I recall how time consuming it was for me in the past to have to recopy documents that the students had lost. Granted I still believe it is important to provide hard copies if needed. Edline gives you  backup and support so that you can minimize the amount of extra work you do on a daily basis. It also helps to ease the amount of questions you may have regarding assignments and student performance.

Here’s to Careful Planning or How to Decrease Your Odds of Something Going Wrong

      As teachers we have certain expectations for technology. It must be fast and work 100% of the time. We often forget that it is merely a machine. For us, it takes on the personification of a surly adolescent, brooding and oblivious to our plaintive calls.  In a perfect world, everything would work all of the time in the manner intended. However, with the constant changes in technology it is always a race to keep up and stay current.

Despite our best intentions, we cannot predict or foresee what every upgrade or change may do to our current system. To help alleviate the stress associated with this uncertainty I propose rethinking how we utilize technology in the classroom. Instead of trying to do whole group, lab based games, why not allow the students to work in cooperative groups to do project based learning. Yes, it may take a little longer and require a little more planning but it will provide for a richer educational experience.  You would also need fewer devices which would allow you more flexibility if issues arise. Having students bring in their own devices is another way to assuage the need for resources.

If you haven’t tried out our handheld devices yet, you may want to give them a shot. We even have adapters which allow several students to listen to the same resource on one device. Our iPods and iPads are Internet ready and able to perform a variety of tasks. Students can work in pairs or small groups to access resources and complete assignments. 

There are many ways to tackle this problem. I have named only a few. If you would like some more help in planning and developing activities please let me know. I recently came across the following article that will hopefully remind you of the power of technology utilization in the classroom.

http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-introduction