This week, I have chosen to reflect on the technology In-Situ at Gordon Terrace Elementary School using Gibbs Reflective Cycle:

On Tuesday I had the opportunity to participate in a technology in-situ at Gordon Terrace Elementary School, where the principal, (Mr. David Martin) spoke to us about both the benefits and difficulties of using technology in a school environment as well as the purpose of their Makerspace. Additionally, part of my time spent during this in-situ was getting to go into the grade 3 class at GT and work with the students using the website Epic Books. I was really excited and enjoyed this in-situ as it brought back many memories of when I was a student and GT as well it was fun to get to work with the kids and read them stories! Something I would consider for future is to maybe have one computer for each student. I understand this was a different scenario though as there were obviously less Education program students than grade 3 students, so it made sense to do this in pairs or groups of 3/4. However, I found there were some challenges. For example, when I was showing the four girls I was working with Epicbooks, we were sharing one computer as we had problems logging into the second one, (I was lucky in that all of them had similar interests in books they wanted to read), however, I think it may have been a bit difficult for the two girls on the far sides to see the screen. Additionally, I had to read them the audio books as we could not hear anything even when I turned the volume to full blast, so I think if they were to use the audio book feature it would be beneficial if they all had headphones. What I liked though about sharing a computer was that it took way less time to go through the login process and they were all able to learn how to use the website at once, and I understand if they each had their own computer this process would have taken a much longer amount of time. Additionally, I think the girls in my group enjoyed getting to listen to the books together, as they giggled and shared their thoughts with one another when they related to something from the book. Therefore, I think it would be beneficial to pair up students with similar tastes in books to do this activity so that everyone is engaged. In conclusion, I learned a lot from this experience, including how important time management is when it comes to using technology as well as class management strategies to take into consideration. I’m glad I had the opportunity to discover more about Epicbooks and get to actually teach it to students (which helped me learn too), and I think this will be a great resource to consider when I’m a teacher!