Criteria to use when choosing appropriate technology tools in my classroom:

• Is it free or low cost?: This is an important component when choosing an appropriate technology for your classroom. You have to take into account that your technology needs to be affordable for all of your students. When it is free more students are going to be able to access it which is the goal for all of your students to be able to use it.
• Is it easy to use/understand?: If the technology that you are using involves a lot of steps this is unfair to ask students to work on outside of your classroom, if you are not there to assist them with help. If you are using a more complicated technology I would do this in the classroom. If you are assigning technology for them to work on at home have them work on something that they have done in the classroom with you, or is something that they are more familiar with using.
• Little Personal Information Input By Students: You do not want your students to use a technology that is asking for a lot of personal information. This can be dangerous for them. You do not want anyone being able to track your students or gain their identities. Your students safety should always be your number one priority.

Helpful website to refer back to in order to integrate technology in my courses later on:

I like the list of helpful websites to use for each content area from Educators Technology. I will definitely use this website in order to help lesson plan in the future. Because I am studying to teach both Social Studies and Math this is especially helpful to have links with ideas for both content areas on one website.

Referring to my Mapping Content and Science Standards document, here’s two activities and two to three technology tools that I could use to complete the activity:

• Activity 1: Students will explain in an interactive document with their group the key events and outcomes of the French Revolution be sure to include at least two of the three: The Storming of the Bastille, the Reign of Terror, or Napoleon’s rise to power.
  • Technological Tool: Students can use Google Docs to work on an interactive document in their groups. Google Docs is a great tool because it allows multiple people to work on the same document at the same time and it automatically saves everything. This is a great tool to use when students are working in pairs or groups together.
  • Technological Tool: Students can use Flip Grid to share their thoughts, ideas, facts about the French Revolution and students can respond to each others videos. Flip Grid is great because it allows you as the teacher to set a time limit on how long their videos can be and they can use this app on their computers, tablets, and cell phones to record themselves with. Flip Grid is free which is one of my favorite features about this tool!

• Activity 2: Students will explain in a presentation how the Industrial Revolution caused economic changes around the world.
  • Students can use a Prezi for their presentations. Prezi is great because it allows students to create their own presentations however they want to. I love being able to see my students creativity come alive and I am always impressed by my students Prezi presentations. Prezi is free which is my favorite part!
  • Students can use PowerPoint or Google Slides for their presentations. Both of these tools allow students to create presentations with the format of Microsoft Office which is something most of the students will be familiar using so you probably won’t have to teach them how to use this tool. Google Slides is a little bit easier for students to collaborate with if they are working in pairs or groups versus a regular PowerPoint.