3 High Tech Things That Have Made My Life (a little) Easier

Here are three things that I love and use all the time in my high school resource classroom:

1. Scanning Apps:

There are a bunch on the App store. I like Turbo Scan--it costs a couple dollars and can be downloaded to a smart phone or tablet.  It's not perfect, but it's reasonably clear and it scans the document as a PDF. I then email it to myself and print it from my email. Those extra steps can be a little annoying, but then I have the PDF on my computer and can print it out whenever we need another copy.

It's great for these reasons:

• For the kid who loses everything
• For the kid who's often absent and needs a copy of a neighbor's worksheet but I can't leave the room to make a copy
• To scan the notes page and signature pages of the paper IEP to the online IEP system
• To scan a copy of any important document that might get lost on my desk (I can be a bit of a slob. My coworker recently said to me, "I'm so glad you're a little Miss Piggy in here. It means you're getting comfortable. Was this what your room was like as a kid?")
• To save work samples for progress monitoring
• To scan notes and email them to students

2. Video explanations (Khan Academy, YouTube, etc)

As a high school Resource Teacher, I need to be able to support students at a variety of levels on a variety of topics. One day last week, I helped one student on a Newton's Law worksheet, helped another write a Geometry proof, and helped a third write a college essay. I love helping kids with whatever they need on the fly, but sometimes (okay, often) they ask me something that stumps me.  Khan Academy and YouTube are great for video explanations of things. Sometimes I'll use them to teach myself something so I can support a kid. Sometimes I'll have the student look for informational videos on my tablet. Khan Academy saved me years ago when I was subbing for a Pre Calculus teacher for a month and hadn't taken Pre Calc since high school.


3. Google Drive

Such a great way to share documents with teaching partners or students. Sometimes, students will share essays with me on Google Drive. I can give them direct feedback by adding comments to their document. This saves paper and makes things run much more smoothly.  For co-teaching, we can share documents and plan without using a common prep period. When my co-teacher assigns an essay, I scan it (yay Turbo Scan!), add it to my Drive, and upload it to our class website. When kids or parents ask me what's due in English, I can say, "check the website."