Which Comes First: Curriculum or Technology?

         After reading the article “Which Comes First, Curriculum or Technology” by Dr. Bruce Ellis, it got me thinking about my own opinions regarding this question. I have to agree with his statements that curriculum should come first followed by technology as a close second. As mentioned in the article, some districts are “aggressively” trying to increase their use of technology without considering curriculum goals. He states, “‘Designed for technology’ shouldn’t mean ‘divorced from the curriculum.’” When technology plans are made after curriculum goals and outcomes are established, a more clear framework can be developed to strengthen professional learning opportunities for educators. I feel as though there is absolutely a push for technology integration within my district--like in most districts these days-- however, we do focus on putting our curriculum and standards first, and then our focus becomes how to support our goals with the technology we have available. Integrating technology to support curriculum goals becomes more achievable when we have specific standards stating exactly what we want our students to learn. We can develop the 'what' first, and technology supports the 'how' we get there.  “When district leaders, specifically technology and curriculum directors, work together, a more robust curriculum and relevant technology integration is likely to occur” (Ellis, 2017).

While researching more on my own about this topic, I found two blog posts with information about how teachers can easily align technology with curriculum requirements and ways to ensure technology implementation is enhancing student learning, not hindering it.

Technology Tools Used in my Classroom to Enhance Student Learning

There are several tech tools that I utilize in my sixth grade Language Arts classroom and have found them extremely useful for enhancing both the curriculum AND my students' learning experiences.

Edpuzzle- I often use educational videos to teach many concepts in my classroom for both ELA and social studies, so Edpuzzle has been a great tool to make the videos engaging, interactive, and to hold my students accountable.

Freckle- This website is a great tool for providing students with differentiated instruction at their own level. It adapts to each student's individual skill, so they are always challenged appropriately whether they are working at, above, or below grade level. My students use this website to practice reading and word study skills on a regular basis during reading workshop.

NoRedInk- This is an amazing tool that I use to teach, reinforce, and practice grammar skills. This website engages students by allowing them to personalize the content based on the students' interests. It also is great for differentiating a variety of learning levels and abilities.

Scope Magazine- I use this tool almost daily for reading and writing resources for all genres. The texts are high interest topics and are very engaging to my sixth grade students. Each passage focuses on specific reading concepts and skills and includes premade google slides called 'slidedecks' for students to complete digitally. This has been a life-saver for teaching virtually!

Book Creator- This tool is one of my students favorites when given options for how to present information for their research projects. This digital book-making tool is super easy to use and has a lot of cool features to allow students to express their creativity.

After looking at the Technology Integration Matrix, I would say that my class falls in the infusion level of the matrix. At this level, a range of different technology tools are integrated in the classroom to meet the varying level of needs of all students. The students are given the opportunity to make decisions about how and when to use the technology available to them with the guidance and support from their teacher. The instructional focus is on student learning and not on the technology tools themselves. Technology is used to enhance learning, not hinder it.

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Dr. Bruce Ellis. (2017, January 30). Which Comes First, Curriculum or Technology? TechNotes Blog; TechNotes Blog. https://blog.tcea.org/comes-first-curriculum-technology/

What Comes First: the Curriculum or the Technology? (2015). Pulaskischools.org.                             https://www.pulaskischools.org/learning-services/blog/1612534/what-comes-first-the-curriculum-or-the-technology

Alexander, C. (2018, September 6). Aligning Technology with Curriculum Requirements. Showbie. Retrieved February 19, 2021, from https://www.showbie.com/aligning-technology-with-curriculum-requirements/

Florida Center for instructional Technology. (2019, June 1). Technology Integration Matrix. Retrieved on February 19, 2021, from https://fcit.usf.edu/matrix/matrix/

Steps to Integrate Technology to Foster Digital Well-Being and Effective Learning

There is no denying that our reliance on technology has certainly heightened over the past year, all thanks to COVID. Technology has really become our way of living: ordering/paying for our togo orders, processing our grocery pickup order, facetiming with our loved ones, attending zoom meetings after zoom meetings after zoom meetings, and the list goes on! The same is true for our classrooms. 

The push for technology is real and our dependence on it will only continue to grow. This can be both positive and negative, in my opinion. Technology is a tool that allows us to access the resources to improve our instruction and engage our learners in ways that are fun and enjoyable. Technology also makes our lives as teachers easier when it comes to lesson planning, gathering resources, online assessments, collaboration among colleagues, and so on. Although technology has it’s undeniable benefits, it also has its downfalls when it comes to our students’ dependence and freedom. With the push for technology in the classroom now more than ever, I do worry what the long term effects are on our students’ social and emotional behaviors. While I am a strong proponent of technology and its valuable uses in the classroom and in life in general, I am a firm believer that we need to teach our students how to effectively and responsibility use technology in this evolving digital world. I believe it is our job as educators to stress the importance of digital citizenship skills and to embrace technology for learning in ways that promote student health and well-being.

 

Moving forward, there are some steps I would like to take this year to better integrate technology in ways that foster digital well-being and are conducive to learning.

• I would like to foster a positive and thriving culture around media and technology by implementing lessons on digital citizenship and what it means to have media balance.

• I would also like to express the need for digital citizenship skills to continue in developmentally appropriate ways throughout all grades within my school. 

• I would also like to incorporate websites/apps that allow students to collaborate with one another without being physically near one another as such Flip Grid. More digital tools for collaboration can be found here.

• I would also like to incorporate tools to promote interactions and improve communication skills. 

• Finally, I would like to be more cognizant of how and when I am using technology in my classroom and offer alternatives to give my students a break from screens and devices when necessary throughout the day. 

•  Parents--Is your child spending an excessive amount of time on screens?   Check out this resource for more information about screen time and what you should be on the look out for when it comes to tech addiction.

 

Helping Kids Navigate Their Digital Lives. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.nais.org/magazine/independent-school/summer-2019/helping-kids-navigate-their-digital-lives/

Martino, N. (n.d.). 30 Digital Collaboration Tools for Students. TeachThought. Retrieved February 8, 2021, from https://www.teachthought.com/technology/12-tech-tools-for-student-to-student-digital-collaboration/