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 Technology Trends in Education

       After reading "The Hottest Topics in Edtech in 2021" I realized that technology is turning out to be a fundamental tool for student's learning. I do not think many people realized how important technology has become. I also learned that we have not been using technology tools at its potential. After the pandemic, I have realized that there are many technology tools that can be used in-person that I didn't know off. I sometimes find it hard  on how to implement technology in math. Which brings me to what matters to me, creativity. Which is one of the topics talked in the article. In the article it states,  "educators are embracing more creative and less traditional methods for students to demonstrate skills and content knowledge." Key word, less traditional! 

    Creativity is very important to me because I grew up in the traditional teaching method and made math so boring for me. Students come to class with the mentality that math is boring and they are bad at it. However, it is all about how we teach it to them. The resource I have found to be helpful and exciting for the students is, Nearpod. 

What is Nearpod?

    Nearpod has switch my lessons from boring videos to exciting and helpful videos. Before COVID, I was already making YouTube videos for my students. The videos help my students so much and they loved it. I personally loved it because I didn't had to re-teach the lesson if they students were not understanding or if a student was absent. They would just watch the video, take notes, and students would not fall behind. My students were talking about my videos a lot that other teachers were coming to me to help them create their own videos. 

    During COVID, it was really hard to assess my students learning and it was hard to keep them motivated. This is where I was introduced to Nearpod. It made my videos 10 times better! I was able to implement my YouTube video and Nearpod allowed me to ask questions in the video. For example, in  my YouTube video I would say "ok try the next problem on your own" I would then tell students they should stop the video, try the problem and then continue playing the video to check their answers. Obviously, students did not practice. What Nearpod allowed me to do was that I was able to ask the question and they couldn't keep going with the video until the question was answered. On top of it all, I was able to see the student's answer and correct them individually. 

    That is not all! Within Nearpod you can create fun quizzes, activity games, do polls, and sharing as a whole. You can include memes, GIFs, videos, and songs. As the teacher, you are able to see who logs in and does their assignment and who doesn't. Some of the lessons are also made for you for your convenience. You can edit the pre-made lessons to fit to your lesson. That is not all! Nearpod can be done live or student-paced. Overall, Nearpod has changed the way I present my videos. The best part is that the kids actually enjoy them! Here are two of my student's favorite Nearpod lessons we have done. 

Examples:

Nearpod Lesson 1: Systems

Nearpod Lesson 2: Word Problems on Systems



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About Me

 Hi! My name is Diana Madrigal       I am currently a Math teacher at Morton West High School located in Berwyn, Illinois. This is currently my 3rd year teaching. Teaching last year was a challenge, specially trying to create all the lessons and activities online. It was hard to keep the class in engage when they wouldn't want to turn on their cameras on. Most of the time I felt I was talking to myself. For this reason, I got really interesting in learning how to become better by using technology at my advantage. I wished I knew how to create and use different websites to make class more engaging. So I am definitely excited to learn from this class, which I am already learning. I have never used this website before! (excited) As a math teacher, I never really write much. Therefore, I do not know how the blogging works but I know I have couple of friends who use it and they make it look very interesting. I am hoping I can learn new thing to use in my classroom, s...
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