Technology as Tools

Teacher(s) - Becky Hanselman
School(s) - Sandburg Elementary
Grade(s) - 4th grade

 

 


Book Club presentation created by the students on their Chromebooks

Goal / Objective -

  • Because Sandburg has a very high number of free­ and reduced ­lunch students who have limited resources, Chromebooks will give more at­-risk students the ability to use and learn technology.
  • Students will learn how to be a digital citizen and part of a digital classroom.
  • With the 6 Chromebooks I will be able to better differentiate instruction for all the students. Collaborating with the librarian to learn meaningful apps and lessons with the Chromebooks will open a world of creativity and innovation to the students.

Impact - From the time the Chromebooks came into the classroom until now, students have had the opportunity to use them almost every day.

  • Math students used Google draw to show how they completed a complex problem.
    • One student struggled with physical writing of his answers, so I could let him complete his work on the Chromebook. His work completion increased to finishing his work before class had ended. Using the Chromebook showed me his mathematical thinking instead of focusing on his incomplete work.
  • At‐RISK Kids
    • All students had access to technology; many students did not have the ability to work on the projects at home, but during class free time, they used the Chromebooks to complete Google Classroom. They also learned how to use many features of Google Slides while creating book presentations. At the beginning the students had many questions. Now they are teaching me features I didn’t know about.
  • 22 students have been served with Chromebook Grant.
    • Students have become more comfortable with using technology for everything from math to social studies.
    • Mrs. Dahlquist has the opportunity to see the results of our Chromebook projects. She was impressed with their performance level in Google Slides. She commented it was comparable to 7th‐grade level.
    • Many students who don’t have access to technology at home have learned how to use Google Classroom, Slides and Docs in our class because they were available at anytime.
    • Better use of time. If students had five or ten minutes of down time, they would pick up a Chromebook to work on a project instead of having to wait until I had to check out a group for our class.

The most significant part of this project is watching students engage with other students to learn, share or research. Every student was challenged and pushed in their knowledge of technology and of working together. I saw students who only used computers to practice skills now creating slide shows to present to the class. One student struggled at the beginning of the year to get up in front of her peers. At the end of the year, she confidently stood in front of her slideshow and talked about her book.

Testimonials

"I like the small groups and different levels of work happening during math and reading." Mr. Bacon, Principal

“I think the Chromebooks help a lot because we could work on a lot of things with them such as: slideshows. We wouldn’t be keeping score for SET. We wouldn’t be able to grade booktalks. I think the Chromebooks are great” Tommy, student

“I liked always having Chromebooks. We used them in math a lot. We could not do book clubs.” Shawn, student

“I liked the Chromebooks because I don’t have to do assignments on paper. I also like chromebooks because I can present slideshows for book presentations. We also wouldn’t be able to grade people when that present. They also make presentations much easier for visual preferences.” Michael, student

“I love Chromebooks because I can research on them. You can make slides. You can do group work. Thanks for the Chromebooks.” Olivia, student

 

Do you know a Community School District 200 educator who would like to apply for a Student Excellence Grant? The Foundation offers a Fall and a Spring grant cycle each year. Please feel free to share information regarding grant procedures with any District 200 educator. Classroom teachers, administrators, LLC Directors: any staff member with student contact is eligible to apply!

To read about other grants that have been provided to educators, click here.