Teacher Tech Trials
Corey Engstrom - "I started this blog as a way to give educators an inside look at how technology is being used around the world to enhance the learning process and increase student engagement. I am a 5th grade teacher in a little town called Kingsburg, California. I am a life long learner and excited to be a part of all the sharing, learning, and growing this blog promotes."
What Corey does with his blog (Teacher Tech Trials) is feature the ideas of other educators and how they are incorporating technology in their classrooms. What I like about this style of blog is that you get to see the ideas of many different people all in one place. You don't have to go out and find the blogs of a bunch of teachers who are using technology. Corey does all that for you with his teachers tech trials blog. If he shares the ideas of a teacher that you really like, then you can follow their own personals blogs or social media accounts. Corey always credits the teacher and gives the readers a ways to connect with that person and find more of their resources. It is a great blog to grow your personal learning network and promote professional development.
A recent post that I found interesting from Teacher Tech Trials was an innovative idea from grade 8 teacher, Scott Herbert (@MrHebertPE). He was having trouble getting his grade 8's to engage in his science class so he turned to something he calls gamification. According to Engstrom's blog, "gamification is the act of applying game elements to non traditional game settings". So just how did Herbert do it? He took his classroom and turned it into a medieval land. Students were put into teams, called guilds, and traveled through five different kingdoms, the five units of science. All school work that had been completely gamified; students would encounter challenges and have to use science to solve their problems or defeat their enemies.
I found this to be such a creative idea, little iphone games that have similar themes to this have become so popular especially with children. I can really see how this would engage the students. The one downfall I first thought of when I read this was the time and effort it would take to gamify all of the school content. But when I got thinking about it, it would make lesson planning more enjoyable. It would be fun to try and think up different challenges or missions. I think something like this could be used with all age groups but I feel it would be easier with younger students. My reasoning is just that younger students would buy into it more, but if you had the right group it could be done with anyone.
Check out Teacher Tech Trials for more great ideas!
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