Elementary teacher Alberto Jiminez loves it when his students stop what they’re doing, snap a picture of the screen, then annotate it using a student portfolio app. What you might not know is he teaches kindergarten. Mr. Alberto is a tech-forward teacher who believes that using education technology (and some good ole’ fashion listening) will help all students be successful!
Working in lower grades, we do use a lot of media in my class. I use it to introduce new concepts and for revision of previously taught ideas. My kids love listening to songs, and even more watching videos. They love to create, so I use Seesaw all the time. I like catching some cool image… putting our voices on top, tracing them and putting on some emoji tags.
Respectfulness, students’ engagement, content interest, length (shorter=better), video and audio quality, price (free content when possible)… There are so many things to take into account!
My school is 1-to-1 with tablets and we follow the Common Sense curriculum. This has helped us a lot. We focus on the concepts of responsibility and respect towards the others. Here’s the link for the ISTE standards we use: goo.gl/a2bzHy
I would say watch the clip all the way until the end… You never know what is going to show up next!
Let your students be part of the process: let them interact! Students should not only consume the media, but hear their voices when choosing. Pay close attention to their interests, then choose whatever works best for you. Be as connected to their realities as possible.
Follow @MrAlberto_JH on Twitter for more kindergarten tech ideas, and don’t forget to join us each month for #StoryBotsChat!
