Effort & Homework

This week's readings in Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works have provided some very helpful and inspiring ideas for the use of technology in my classroom. At first, I was not very excited to read about what seemed like such mundane topics, but I was actually quite surprised! I finished reading with some good ideas that are worth trying to implement in my own classroom.

In the first selection, "Reinforcing Effort," it is suggested that students should use a rubric to see just how well effort pays off in the long run. After a short period of time (two weeks) students plugged their self-assessments into a spreadsheet to correlate with their grades on assignments. Theoretically, the effort put forth and the outcome of the grades should match up. This is a great way to get students motivated and excited about education. I believe the more the students get involved in the "whys" of education, the more they understand the "hows" of the way it works! This is a wonderful intrinsic motivator to use in a classroom!

In the second selection, "Homework and Practice," we were given several helpful web resources to aid in selection of multimedia outlets, remediation sites, and communication software services. Honestly, I was mostly intrigued with the fact that Microsoft Word can act as a search engine! I think the mentioned activities, such as using different resources available in Word to make sure the student's writing was on grade level was an excellent tool! Realistically, the ideas given in this chapter would not work well for my students. My students come from low income families; many without Internet connections at home. I do use some of the sites, such as BrainPop in my classroom to introduce and remediate topics with my students.

Overall, both chapters gave excellent ideas that were both tangible and useful. I think they all have a place in a classroom; some more easily than others. I look forward to trying some of them this year!

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.