ASOT and Technology

Just last week, I spent two days in the final days of Marzano Academy 13-14.  It was a wonderful six days of learning about “The Art and Science of Teaching”.  Tammy Heflebower and Phil Warrick do a wonderful job of conveying the information for everyone involved.  

I have also just recently finished reading “Enhancing the Art and Science of Teaching with Technology” by Sonny Magaña and Robert Marzano.  Which took ASOT and talked about how technology could be used to make implementing the nine design questions easier in the classroom.

Stacy Behmer and I will be presenting a session at NETA 14 in a couple of weeks called “Google Apps Meets Marzano”.  We will be talking how GAFE can be used with each of the nine design questions(Don’t want to give too much away).  There are many more ways that technology can be “hung” (thanks to Phil Warrick for that term) within the ASOT.  

There are two examples that I will share with you that Rick Williams from ESU2 and I talked to the Academy participants about this last week.  The first is Kahoot (getkahoot.com) which is a web-base, FREE, game.  Teachers or students can create their own quizzes.  They can set a time limit and then give points for speed and accuracy.  Those that are taking the quiz go to kahoot.it and put in a pin number for the quiz/game.  After each question, it gives the correct answer and then the top 5 in the standings.  Each participant will know where they stand on their device as well.  This activity works well for formative assessments as you are able to correct misunderstandings after each question.

The second app we talked about was Class Dojo (www.classdojo.com).  See my previous post on Class Dojo. As it turned out, the week before the Academy, Class Dojo came out with an update.  In the update, on the app only, you are able to message parents.  Teachers can either do a group message to all parents or to each individually.  If parents reply, to either type of message, it is only between the parent and the teacher.  This is a great way of communicating with the parents on the behavior of their child in the classroom.  Phone numbers and emails are kept confidential.  Class Dojo is a great way to keep students accountable for their actions in the classroom, setting and maintaining high expectations, and keeping students on task.

I am now looking forward the the 14-15 Marzano Academy which will be starting this June.  I know that it is already full with teams from schools around Nebraska.  I am sure I will gain more information that I even learned in this Academy.