Instructional Technology

instruction, technology, and you too

Since I began teaching, it has been a goal of mine to bring some of the excitement and energy of the classroom to the homes of the students in my class. I used to do that by sending home a cut and play game or giving interesting homework assignments (remember I am a kindergarten teacher, so my homework is something like take a walk, find five signs of spring, and draw and write about what you find). Now, I can leverage current technologies and provide a interactive games, links to related content, and share what goes on in the classroom like never before.

Using technology in the classroom, not only heightens engagement, but also affords us the opportunity to design and teach lessons that were not possible before. Indeed, I don't think we know of all the things we can do or will be able to do with technology when it is applied to a learning environment. This is due, in part, to the evolving nature of technologies and the development of new ways to use those technologies.

I am interested in creating environments that allow young children the fun and engagement of a game with opportunities to interact with interesting and challenging content. How can what we bring to the screen become part of an effective educational environment? How can digital technologies support classroom learning at home?

Some of my work:

• Making Words -- 1st grade Making Words lessons correlated to the 1st grade reading curriculum.
  
  
• Frogs -- I created this in Flash MX during a May term course at the U of MN. It was my first real introduction to Flash (only two weeks). My children helped me make the video.
  
  
• Shapes -- Flash MX, contains an early version of my pattern block game.
  
  
• 5th and 6th Grade French -- Remains unfinished.
  
  
• PV Writer -- a Kindergarten writing widget
  
  
• See more of my teaching widgets on the Projects page and WebQuests on the WebQuest page.

Sometimes I do Instructional Technology Teacher Training for the district. Here are some of the topics I speak on:

• Interactive White Board Use in the classroom
  
  
• Design for Instruction: Principles of Effective Design
  
  
• Mash Ups
  • Mash Ups
    
    
• Keyboarding
  
  
• Blogging
  • Blogging
    
    
• Digital Communications (Skype, Twitter, etc.)
  Presentation coming soon.
  
  
• Scratch from Lifelong Kindergarten Group at MIT
  Presentation coming soon.
  
  
• WebQuests
  Presentation coming soon. Check out my WebQuest page.

If you are interested in contacting me to consult or speak at your school, please contact me (madzander (at) gmail (dot) com.