ILP #2

Interview with my sister, a first grade teacher at Westgate Elementary - Ms. Tringali

Question 1: What kind of educational technologies do you use in your classroom?
Aside from the typical technology seen in the classroom - an over head projector, and computers - Westgate Elementary uses Class Dojo. This is an application where students can earn Dojo points to earn rewards or get Dojo points taken away when they misbehave. I can also communicate with parents through this app through a messenger. 

Question 2: Do you think they are helpful and/or make your job easier?
Having a form of incentive defiantly helps my students with their behavior. Whenever they hear the noise that someone has lost a Dojo point they automatically quiet down because they are afraid it could be them. Using an overhead projector during lessons also makes explaining things much easier, and I am able to project exactly what they class is working on. 

Question 3: Do the technologies help with communicating with the parents?
Parents are able to see how their students Dojo is doing through the application so this defiantly helps with communication. Many of my students parents are hispanic so communicating in other ways can be difficult but they can see how many points their student has at all times. 

Question 4: If you could change the technologies that you use in your classroom how would you and why?
I wish that Class Dojo had more to the application. I wish there could be a calendar aspect of it or it could send reminders to parents about homework due. I wish that there was a way to allow my students parents to write in Class Dojo in Spanish and then have it translate to English so they could better communicate with me. 

Question 5: If you could get one free piece of educational technology what would it be and why?
I have always wanted a smart board for my classroom! I think they are super helpful and can be utilized in so many different ways. When a piece of technology is both cool and helpful more students would want to participate in the lesson so that they can interact with the technology. 

Interview taken on Monday April 16th and 7:15pm