Monday Minute for January 14

This morning I wanted to share a quit tip for those struggling integrate technology into the classroom.  It is very basic and should be the mantra of tech in your classroom.

Don't let the technology drive the lesson.

What I mean is the technology should not be what drives your lesson.  The content should always shine above the tech.  The content should always be your primary focus during instruction.  What do you want the students to learn?  How will you know they have learned it?

The tech tool should be as ubiquitous as textbooks, pencil and paper and should be thought of in that manner.  After you decide what you are going to teach, next you decide which tool would be will help you to best accomplish that.

PIXNIO

So what if you are told you need to integrate technology into the classroom and you haven't really done much of that in the past?  Maybe you have a class set of devices you have been told you are going to use in your room and you are feeling overwhelmed.  Remember the answer to the question, "How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time." 
In other words, start small.  Think of your next lesson or assignment.  What is one piece of that lesson you can replace with a tech tool?  Do you have a quiz at the end of the lesson?  Use Google Forms to complete the quiz.  You can then have it automatically graded for you so that you can quickly scan through the responses to see where students may have struggled.  Even better, start the class with a review questionnaire to let you know what you need to reteach that day. 

If you have other ideas for starting small, share them in the comments below.