Weekly Reflection #5 – PODS Presentations and Tech Models

Week of February 27th

This week, we had the pleasure to explore each others PODS projects as we presented our initial findings. It was great to see what others are working on, and I’ve already learned so much from these semi-finished projects. I’m excited to see the finished products!

Other than this, we also learned about various Tech models, TPACK and SAMR, with a focus on the latter. SAMR stands for Substitution (technology replaces a task with no change, e.g., Microsoft Word), Augmentation (technology adds a functionality, e.g., spellcheck), Modification (technology redesigns a task, e.g., video presentation), and Redefinition (creates a new task which is impossible without technology, e.g., online pen pals). We then worked through a task using SAMR in groups, which allowed us to reflect on the model, too. I found that the modification and redefinition stages were the most challenging, as I got them confused with each other and found it hard to pin-point the differences between the two.

Tool of the Week – Classroomscreen

This is a really cool tool, and I can see it being very useful in the classroom. This tool is great for classroom management, and has many features like a timer, random name selector, sound level (actually senses the sound in the room, so cool!), poll creator, and so much more! I am excited to try this out in my future classroom!