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This podcast episode is about the importance of using technology strategically in the classroom to enhance learning and student engagement. The host emphasizes that it's not about simply using technology for the sake of using it, but rather using it to add value to a lesson and help students understand concepts at a deeper level. The host also discusses the challenges and considerations of tech integration, such as alignment with lesson goals, accessibility for all learners, and the need for a seamless transition. The episode concludes by emphasizing the importance of selecting technology tools that best meet the needs of students and encouraging educators to embrace technology as a tool for learning. Episode 316, Engagement Series, Tech Integration. Hey y'all, welcome to the Empowering Educators podcast. I am Gretchen, your host and expert lesson learner. I'm a national board certified elementary teacher turned teacher, trainer, and coach. All the lessons I've learned and am learning on my edgy journey I share with you right here. From every silly mistake to the most glorious successes, you're going to hear stories and strategies that will inspire you to become your best. I have to warn you, as an educator I can't help but hold you accountable for doing the work. So every episode I leave you with practical, tangible next steps so you can implement your learning and maximize your impact. Whether you're teaching a lesson or learning one yourself, there's always a lesson if you're willing to pay close attention. Elite Educators, that's the secret to staying empowered. Bring on today's lesson. Hey Elite Educators, Gretchen here of Always a Lesson. Whether you're teaching a lesson or learning one yourself, this podcast is for you. And I'm going to be talking all about keeping students engaged through tech integration. So are you ready for today's lesson with practical tips to help you put it into action? Let's go. I hope you all have the best spring breaks. Nice and restful and relaxing, some good weather. I'm still trying to get over this sickness, but I know that soon I will be better. And hopefully allergies aren't going to act up because that seems to be the next thing on the list. But I'm going to claim it. Health is on its way. So this is the last of the engagement series. Boo! I hope you've been enjoying it. We talked positive classroom culture. We've talked differentiation and personalization. And then last time we talked about student voice. So hopefully you've snagged my new book by now, Always a Lesson, Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success. We are going to do a book study. So make sure you're following me on my website, alwaysalesson.com, to find out when we're going to kick that off. Well, speaking of kicking off summer series, that starts next month. We're going to have all sorts of guest interviews over the summer. It's my favorite thing to do. It's empowered conversations with other late educators. I know you tune into the show to hear my insight, and you get that all year long. But the summer is the time where educators are mostly off or have some break in their schedule and are able to share their stories and their perspective. And I think it's really important to give you a well-rounded view of how to continue to grow and stay empowered. If you're like, nah, I don't want any guests. I just want to listen to you. Well, then you can binge. There's 300 episodes now. So there is plenty for you to go back and listen, if that's your thing. But anyway, let's jump into today's topic of tech integration. And the reason I wanted to talk about this is we do tech so bad, y'all. We really do. It's my nemesis because of how poorly it's being used in instruction. And so I felt we couldn't finish the engagement series without touching on technology because a lot of what folks think engagement is includes some sort of tech activity or game. So let me just hop on my soapbox for a minute. If you're like, no thanks, fast forward. If you're like, oh, this is interesting, then lean in and listen. Here we go. Technology has little to do with what piece of tech you use and all about how you use it to enhance learning. So if you're asking students to complete a worksheet via technology, it's no different than the 3D worksheet in person live with them that we've been using in classrooms for years. So you've just overcomplicated a learning system, and now you've got low-level engagement. And it's not your fault because the culture of tech integration is did you use tech? Cool, check. You're now a proficient teacher. And because of that requirement of it just being a check, did you use it, we've gotten in this bad habit of just throwing it in there to get credit for it but not actually being thoughtful in how we're doing it. So when you're deciding how to incorporate technology, think to yourself, is there something I am having a hard time describing or do I need help sharing this idea in new and different ways and I'm unsure how to do it? Then go the tech route and only select a piece of technology that adds value to a lesson. So if you can say it or you can do it yourself just as good, then don't use technology. But if technology can do something better than you can, that will ensure students learn at a really deep level, use technology. So really it's less about check the box I use tech today and more about when I use tech. It makes all the difference in student understanding. And so this means we have to be super intentional with what we're using and why. And that takes research which takes time. So part of your PLC with your colleagues should be discussing ways to enhance concepts via technology. And then swap some options around the table. Don't force technology into every lesson if it's not appropriate. I mean you can be a highly effective teacher without technology in a lesson. Trust me, I was that person. I've coached those people. But there comes a time when you absolutely need to tap into technology to help students grasp the information. Like there is a gap. They're not getting it. The only way to help them truly get it is to use technology. And then it's 100% effective. It's this ongoing research process and it's just you got to try things out and see how it works. And so before I get off this soapbox, I want to make sure you heard me one last time. Stop using technology just to use technology. Use it strategically and only to enhance learning. Okay, my rant is over. So what does this have to do with student engagement? Well, technology oftentimes is a great way to apply learning. And so students are able to demonstrate their learning using technology. And this means they are engaging with content, learning tools, and even collaborating with peers. And so when it's done well, technology allows engagements to be like full throttle. And especially if each kid has their own device. So it's definitely an easy way to increase student interest and motivation to participate fully in a learning opportunity. But we can't assume every tech tool we use is going to produce the same high levels of engagement. We can't assume every tool is going to produce the same high levels of engagement. I hope you heard me. This is why tech integration is a skill teachers have to master. Alignment to the goal of the lesson. Accessibility to learners of all levels. It's got to be quick because otherwise it's eating into our time. And a seamless transition which just means it's going to take you a while to get your protocols and processes and then students practicing them with transitions. But if it's taking a long time to boot up and find the website and log in and la, la, la, it's distracting from the lesson and now you've lost time. You could have been working with students. So we really have to be careful. There is a learning curve. So if it's going to be that way for the first handful of times and then gets ironed out, great. But if it seems to always be this way, we need to think about something else. So this can sometimes be the hardest part of the lesson to plan with the technology, which is why sometimes we feel the need to just quickly pick a tool and move on. But we can't keep doing it. It just works against all the hard work that we put in to design an effective lesson. And so you might have been hoping that I would share a list of my favorite tools. And although I'm very tempted by the time you hear this episode, tools are already going to be outdated and replaced with something else. I mean, that's just how tech works. It's here one moment, nonexistent a moment later, and besides, my whole message is it's not about the tech. It's about how you use the tech. So I'm going to leave the tool research and selection process to you and your colleagues who know your students best. And by the way, if you're a middle school and high school teacher and students love their phones, you can figure out ways to allow them to use it if they've earned it based on how engaged they've been. So, you know, example, they could text their exit ticket to the number that you have populated for the class, and then it could show up on the classroom projection screen. And so I know phones are just a slippery slope, but tech surrounds our lives. And so we have to teach students how to better manage them and the effects when they don't do that well. And if you have a strong belief against the phones or your school does, then totally skip that step. But I'm a believer in like, let's not avoid what's around us 24-7. How can we leverage it? Only educators listen in real quick. Did you know that I offer micro PD on the go? It is true. Just download the Teachable app and browse Always a Lesson. There's over 20 topics to listen to or watch as you work out, drive to work, or whatever else is part of your daily routine. A little PD a day is going to add up. And before you know it, you've transformed into a new level of elite. Let's learn on the go together. Now back to the episode. So in my time teaching, technology has come and gone. There's always the latest and greatest tool. And I've had teachers on my team, some who have loved technology and their class is so interactive and it's fun. And I have colleagues who hate technology and go back to the basics. And I'll tell you, sometimes you can walk into a classroom and the kids are having the best time. And you start really looking at what's going on and you're like, wow, they're using tech and everyone's super engaged. But then you look at what they're doing and it's low-level thinking. It's like matching a vocabulary word to its definition or something instead of how can we utilize this vocabulary word in a sentence or how can we decipher what something means by context clues of this vocabulary word. And so I'm just wanting you to be cautious with getting caught up in I use tech or the kids are having a great time, the engagement's through the roof. Yes, but the caveat is how deep is the learning because of the tech. And if the learning isn't going deep enough, then we need to find a different tool or we need to add on a discussion after utilizing the tool for a few minutes to really get students' brains to that deeper level. We are in a classroom to help them become successful in their life. Entertainment is not really part of things, although sometimes the lines get blurred. And engagement is not entertainment. Engagement is how you learn and how you are interacting with the material, your peers, and the teacher and the learning experience. And so do a little audit and just see how much tech are you using. Is it quick and easy to log into and get to work? Is it accessible for everyone? Is everyone able to be successful using it? How deep is the learning because of it? Could you have replaced it with yourself and done just as great of a job? This takes some reflection. This is kind of a hard conversation, and I hate to kind of sound like, gosh, she's boring. You know, like I'm just trying to have some fun, trying to have a break. And I get it. I truly get it. I've really loved different technology options that have really enhanced learning. But from what I've learned with coaching, it really does. From the outside, it's an optics thing. It looks like high engagement, but then when you see the translation to learning, either on a test or when you're grabbing data, and it's like, ugh, this isn't doing what it needs to do. And so that requires a lot of effort on your part to design a lesson, to extend into the depths of how to apply the learning, and to add on to the basics and that low-level stuff. So I challenge you to up your tech game so that engagement goes through the roof, but you're keeping in mind the tool you're using, and you're really conscious of how long are we staying in low-level knowledge, or is it pushing us, which hopefully it does. So I have some next steps for you. Hopefully you have a quarterly planning day, but this is a time where you and your colleagues get together and you think about the whole quarter, and you actually plan backwards. You think about, okay, what are the standards I have to cover? Maybe the district gives you a pacing guide and tells you that, which is nice. What topics are we covering in these standards? Then you create the assessment so that you know, this is what I'm covering. How can I actually measure that students know and understand this at deep levels? And then you go backwards and you fill in, okay, what's the objective for each day? And that leaves you with, okay, now we can discuss technology. How do we enhance these lessons so that they're aligned to the standard and the topic and the assessment that we know is coming? It's going to take research, but that's fine. That's what you're supposed to be doing on planning days, not filling in a template. You should be researching different tech tools to try, giving suggestions to each other, trying it out together as colleagues. Like, let's engage in this activity and see, is it truly aligned like we think it is? And what levels is this pushing our thinking? And then if it's like a pass all the tests, build it in and then share it with everyone. Everyone in your building should know when something is a really great tool. And then you can shake out the rest of your lessons on your own time. But really use your planning with your PLC to know what is the standard, the topics I'm covering, the assessment that is going to ensure students know and can do what is expected of them, and what tech can we use to enhance this learning. So step two, once you've got your game plan going for the quarter, is remind students that technology is a learning tool. And so spend time sharing expectations for, you know, not just the behavior of how to use it, but how to engage in deep levels when you're on technology and not get caught up in, oh, this is really fun, so I'm going to keep doing this area over here, instead of unlocking this next level that will really challenge me. I mean, they have to understand we're using technology to learn and to better understand, and so we can't stay in our comfort zones of what's fun because it's easy. Otherwise, we're not going to be able to utilize the technology, because part of this privilege is being able to challenge our understanding and really be able to showcase it better than have we not been able to use technology. And so three is that self-reflection I was mentioning to you. After each lesson, you can say, did technology do it better than I could have? And how do I know that? What data or what did I witness from students that showed me that I couldn't have delivered it as well as they received it from the technology exercise? And then four, start collecting your favorite tools and reuse them. It doesn't matter the content level. Just keep reusing those tools. The kids know how to use them now. And then ditch the tools that are just complicated or they eat up too much instructional time and just keep honing that list of tried and true tools. Okay, so your next steps is get that quarterly planning day ironed out of how to plan and use your time to really play with the tech and figure it out ahead of time. And then two, remind students about the learning tool and the expectations. Three is your self-reflection. Every time you use a tool, think about how it went and would you use it again and whatnot. And then four, just start collecting your favorite tools. And remember, technology can be a blessing. And it can provide a learning experience many of us never had the privilege of experiencing. But it can be misused and negatively impacting the depth of student learning. And so we just have to be really thoughtful and intentional with what we're using and how we're using it. So use it wisely. All right, Elite Educators, that's a wrap for this week's podcast on proper tech integration to raise student engagement during a lesson. Now go out and be great because you've just been empowered. Thank you.