Educational Technology Exploration

My name is Jenna Ewend, and I am a teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing in Clinton, Iowa. My students range in age from preschool to fifth grade. Some students come and see me once a day or a once a week for resource room services while other students work with me in my classroom all day long. When it comes to communication, my students rely on a variety of methods. Some of my students use American Sign Language, while others use Pigeon Signed English, and still others use their voices to communicate. As a teacher, I have seen how integrating technology into the classroom has helped to engage my students in a variety of ways. Using low tech devices such as medicine balls, wiggle seats, and fidget toys have helped some of my more movement oriented students to concentrate. Using high tech devices such as SMARTboards, iPads, Nooks, and Computers, I have seen students become excited to learn language, read books, and engage in writing through the use of online comic strips among many other tools. I am especially interested in learning how I can combine technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge in order to be the best teacher that I can be, and also to encourage students to be excited about learning. Additionally, I want to encourage students to foster connections between the content material and technology usage that they learn about both in school and in their own lives. I strive to have my classroom be an environment that fosters creativity where students are not afraid to learn from their mistakes. I also want to teach my students how to become responsible digital citizens. Finally, I would like to become a resource for other teachers who would like to integrate technology into their classrooms, but who have not had the same training that I have.

Below is a Glog that describes a little about myself and my professional goals and philosophies.