Screencastify

Screencastify is the online application I use the most! It allows me to record my screen and my face while I present assignments to my remote scholars (2020), when I am out for any reason, for schoology  as a resource for scholars who may need to revisit or make up classwork. I really love this program and it has made a huge difference for me in my teaching. Below you will find some screenshots of my application of Screencastify along with a video as an example of how I would use this for my students. 

Google Slides

I use Google Slide DAILY. I love using it for my art history presentations. I use the program to make "web pages" for my remote learners (2020) as well. I integrate it into my Schoology folders and its where I update my remote scholars' assignments. Below you will find screen shots of a very small percentage of the Google Slides I have prepared for my scholars. You can see a few of these slides in full on my Professional Progress Page under "Research Papers, Response Papers, and Artist Presentations : Sheet1". 

SketchPad

(2020/2021) Sketchpad has been absolutely a life saver this year with the remote learning scholars I have. Both my 9th grade and 4th grade remote scholars have limited supplies at home for their remote art classes, sketch pad allows them to use what they have available. Ideally every remote scholar would have a bunch of art supplies at their disposal, unfortunately that is not the case, and because of that I started researching ways to help the remote scholars use new materials. (2021-2022) This program is still a big help for me in the classroom, while art is traditionally a hands on manipulation of materials, the development of technology has really opened the door to new forms of art. With that, I want my scholars to get their hands on all forms of materials that could make art, to encourage growth and exploration. 

CAnvas

I use Canvas for my 9th grade Dual Credit Music Appreciation Class. I really like this program, it is user friendly and easy to use. It is the same program that I use for my graduate program at UT Tyler. I have gotten to show my class how to navigate and stay on top of their work because I have had time to figure the program out and love using it. 

Chromebooks

We use our Chromebooks almost daily in the classroom. They are a great resource to us in that my scholars are able to to research and create documents super fast and easy. This allows them to take ownership of their knowledge intake and know they have to power to learn as much as they want! 

Zoom

(2020-2021) Zoom has been a great addition to our Online Learning Platform. This is an incredible tool that has allowed us to interact with our scholars and other teachers in the light of the COVID-19 Virus. (2021-2022) Zoom is  stil something I use often in my classroom, not *as* much as I did when we were working remotely, but it is still a nice tool to have to be able to communicate with collegues, schoalrs, and more. 

Google Docs

I know Google Docs is a fairly reasonable assumption to make, and possibly not even worth mentioning in my Technology page But, I wanted to include it because it is something I really REALLY enjoy using and find so useful. Scholars use it for their creative/comparison/reflective writing they do in my class. You can read some of their reflective writing here. I also really like this application because it saves the work for the scholars, they have all their work in one place and makes it really easy for them to share the work to me as well. Below is an example artifact from a compare and contrast writing done in class. 

Planbook

(2020-2021) Planbook had been a lot of help this year with planning ahead, I like how it organizes my week for me and I can share my plans with my fellow teachers.

Schoology

(2020-2021) Schoology has been a nice program to use for the scholars this year with all of the remote learners.  (2021-2022) This year has been a struggle for me, I had Covid, Strep Throat, and an unplanned/emergency full hysterectomy. It is fair to say I was out of the classroom and working remotely a good amount of the school year. Schoology has been a LIFESAVER! I really like how I was able to organize it all to make it easy for my students to find assignments I had for them to complete. 

Google CLassroom

Especially in the case of COVID-19, Google Classroom has become a staple in our learning experience. We use Google Classroom  for everything. It is where I assign our work and where scholars turn in their work. Google Classroom has been absolutely wonderful for our scholars. While I began Google Classroom because of the virus that shut down the schools, I will keep this apart of my normal classroom routine in the future.

Google Hangouts

This has been another wonderful tool that has really helped during the school shut down. I feel like my scholars are able to contact me whenever they need to when they need help or have a question. In times like this, that is very important.

Wodify

This app has been very helpful in tracking our fitness workouts and goals. It is an app you can download on your phone and log our weekly workouts. It allows students to encourage each other and see how they ranked in the class that day for the workout. (I do stress how the leader-board isn't what matters, rather your effort level is what truly matters. But do encourage them to use it as motivation. and a data collection for potential and expected growth.

SeeSaw

(2019-2020) SeeSaw has been a very helpful resource for 4th and 5th grade and how we communicate and share work.