Tech Ped

1. Fun: Free Rice!

2. Useful: Closed Caption in the Physical Classroom

3. Educator Spotlight: A Data-Driven Gym

Freerice.com is a website I encouraged my students to use when work for the day was complete or while waiting in a transition.

What: A question-based game where correct answers earn the user "points" aka donated rice.

Why: Both educational and altruistic. Students can work on knowledge skills and contribute their own share to the World Food Programme's fight against global hunger.

How: On freerice.com, choose your category and difficult and watch your bowl fill with rice as you answer questions correctly. You can create an account to track your donations over time and even compete with other players.

Categories: Art & Culture, Geography, History, "Ambassadors for Change," English (spelling, grammar, vocab, proverbs), World Languages, Science, "Sustainable Development Goals"

Difficulty: Website tailors question difficult based on your answers, but you can also set it yourself. They claim questions can be for as young as 4th grade.

When teaching virtual, google slide's closed caption gave greater access and inclusion for my students. Did you know you can still use that function in the physical classroom?

1. Make sure your microphone is enabled and consider your distance to it

2. You could screencast from a portable device if you have a large space.

3. Captions are live- but do censor for vulgarity- trust me I have tested this (in the name of science)

4. In Present Mode: Hold down CTRL + SHIFT + C or click on the three dots next to the slide number in left corner to turn on captions.

The Data Driven Gym

Greenfield Middle School PE Educators and Britany Pfeifer and Andrew Numrich (of Eduvision fame) have elevated their students work in physical education with the help of some tech.

GMS students can now track their heart rates in real time as they work through their lessons., seeing their rate/duration via an in-class display. Students can extend their learning by loading their own data collection on the web after class too. The gamification of the platform engages students as they earn badges for maintaining the correct rates for the established duration.

Students load a Bluetooth technology sensor in a watchband (washed after each use), turn it on and go! As one student told me, "I like it, but it means I can't slack off in class anymore too."

Mr. Numrich and Ms. Pfeifer can now personalize lessons, follow up and coaching conversations on accurate and easily assessible data allowing even more equity and inclusion into their classes as all students set growth goals based on their own data.

PE at GMS has become a gamified, personalized, data-driven experience where students see the connection from the activity to the lifestyle-effect based on their own work.

Chris Wysocki
GSD Instruction Tech Lead

I am here to help. If I don't know, I will find out. Let me do that work. You have enough to handle in the classroom. Challenges arising in the classroom? Tech coaching sessions available.

Email: cwysocki@greenfield.k12.wi.us
Website: https://www.greenfield.k12.wi.us/staff/instructional-technology.cfm
Location: 4800 S 60th St., Greenfield, WI, 53200
Phone: (414) 855-2409
Twitter: @teachwysocki