Shakeel Uses Technology Stations

Is the joy and sheer excitement of testing combined with the end-of-the year itch making your students a little restless? Kinza Shakeel has found an excellent way to harness her students' energy and effectively integrate technology into instruction! In her third trimester of pregnancy (translation: with no caffeine to fuel here), Shakeel continues to be a super-star teacher by planning fun and engaging instruction for her students.

Integration Idea
For any lesson that requires either group or independent practice, stations can be used. Today she used stations to practice the math skills that students were introduced to in an Engage New York lesson on expanding multiplication expressions. Click here to view the Google Doc with directions for each station.

 

"My students love stations, especially the ones that use technology. The stations keep them focused by providing variety in their activities, but also give them motivation to stay on task and complete their work with timed rotations. Technology adds a bonus engagement piece that paper/pencil activities can sometimes lack." -Kinza

How to...

• Create a directions sheet in Google Docs. You can either print this sheet to physically have at stations, have it displayed on a device at the station, or have students access it in Google Classroom if they will be bringing their own device to the station.
• Research games, lessons, online practice, and videos that support the skill you are practicing. Not sure where to start? Click here to learn! Okay, sorry, I couldn't resist. But yes, Google is indeed a good starting point.
• Test the websites on the devices you intend to use them on! For example, if students have access to iPads, test them on iPads (iPads are especially finicky because if Flash issues). It is also a good idea to test the website while connected to the District network to ensure that there aren't blocks on the site.
• You've selected a quality site that supports your instruction, you've tested it out, and now you are ready for your students to access it! In order to avoid half of the rotation being spent on typing in a complicated URL, quickly drop the URL into a URL shortener. My personal favorite is Bit.ly. When you sign up for a free account, you can customize URLs so they are easy for students to type in.
• Want more tech station ideas that don't involve websites? 
• Create a station where students annotate PDFs (mark up and article with highlights, text or images, complete a digital worksheet) using the Notability app on an iPad, DocHub on a Chromebook, or Preview on a Mac.
• Run a station where students create a screencast explaining a topic or problem associated with the learning objective.
• Ask me- I've got many more! :)

Please let me know if you would like to try incorporating technology into stations and I am happy to help out!