My "Paperless" Classroom

My classroom is a model of connectivity. I can proudly say that I am in my tenth year of teaching and I have been working with a digital projector and a smart board for my whole career. There are many perspectives on technology in the classroom, and I take the position that the technology allows me to meet my students where they are already. If I have to go through a pair of ear buds in order to get into my students minds, I will do it.

This year I have expanded the tools I am using with an emphasis on digital text and the ereading experience. Armed with a new Ipad2 and a high end webcam/document camera, I stormed into this year determined to make better use of electronic texts and resources. don't get me wrong, I love books, but for my students, the paper seems to get in the way.

(although with paper-books (pbooks ?) I don't have to worry that my freshmen are trolling my blog instead of reading along with Julius Caesar)

I have made a number of video podcasts for class. They are unpolished and pragmatic screen and voice captures of segments of the class. I don't create daily videos, but for example I made one guiding the students through the process of crafting transitions for their Odyssey essay.

When my school adopted Schoology at the end of the first semester, I finally had an opportunity to make a true effort to create a paperless English class.

Comments

MST said…
So, is Schoolology better than engrade? Or is it similar?
Sam Patterson said…
They seem very similar. There are a bunch of resources and communication tools tied to a Social network-looking interface
Unknown said…
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