00:00

We all know by now that our students are comfortable with technology may be a little bit too comfortable. But, like everything we teach in our classrooms, we still need to set up those rules and routines regarding using technology. So, here are the top seven tech skills to focus on with your students, whether it is back to school, coming back from long breaks, or if your class needs a little bit of a refresh. 

00:31

I can't believe that we are already here on episode 10. I am just so excited about what this podcast has already grown into and all the positive feedback you have shared with me as listeners and people on social media. I knew this podcast was needed but didn't realize how needed it was. I am just so thankful for all of you that you are listening to me each week and letting me help you with your STEM routines in your classroom. With that, I wanted to read one of the reviews I received on Apple podcasts. I read these; they just light me up and help me keep going. So thank you so much to Bree Smith 13. Here's what Bree had to say, “Just what I needed. I am so excited about this podcast. I've seen Naomi speak at conferences and follow her on social media. She has wonderful ideas, tips, and resources for implementing STEM in a meaningful and purposeful way. Now, instead of having to spend all the time researching STEM ideas and lessons, I can just listen to your podcast on my way to work.” Thank you so much for this review! It means the world to me. If you want to share a review, go ahead and do that on your podcasting platform. I love to see what you guys think of the podcast. These reviews help other teachers like you find this because I know there are few elementary STEM podcasts. So we can reach more teachers, and I can help create content for exactly what you need. 

01:44

So let's dive into this episode. There is a purpose when using technology for academics, fun, and entertainment. Sometimes it's hard for our students to differentiate between the two. It doesn't always mean that their technology skills will always transfer to the classroom in those academic settings. They probably can learn all those academic skills more quickly, but we just can't assume that kids know how to use technology in school. These skills need to be reviewed and explicitly taught throughout the year so that students are using technology appropriately and for their intended purposes. 

03:25

This episode will be slightly different from the others; it will be more of a list style. If you read blogs, it's called a listicle. I'm not sure what it's called for a podcast, a podcast listicle, maybe a popsicle. I'm not sure, but in this episode, I will list seven skills you can teach your students. These would all be mini lessons to teach your class throughout the day or one a day, depending on the time you have with kids. Now, I created a freebie for this, and it is in my TPT shop completely free. Inside this freebie is a list of videos that I made. You can see my beautiful face and teach these mini lessons to your kids. You could show these videos to the kids, or you can watch them and teach them on your own. For each of those videos, there's a badge that you can print or share digitally with students to help them keep track of the lessons they have learned. There is also a little organizer, a little placeholder for those badges that kids can put in digitally or printed. This will help them remember the lessons and ensure they use technology appropriately in your classroom for success. 

04:40

The first tech skill you want to teach your kids is your basic technology rules in the classroom. Don't have more than 10 rules. Having more than 10 rules can be a lot for you and the students to remember. The rules should be your basic rules when using technology in the classroom, no matter what the tool is. So this can be things like we always carry devices with two hands. So that could be related to laptops or robots. I also like to include the rule we're respectful of everybody's work. This includes helping each other when you're working on the same device and commenting on other students' work. That's important as well, that digital citizenship piece. So think about the classroom rules you want to have in your classroom and teach those to your kids. 

05:26

In episode seven, I shared some Back to School activities you can use in your classroom. One of those was a fun activity that you can use to help review and teach the rules in your classroom. So if you haven't checked it out, go back and have a listen. This activity will make your rule reveal much more fun concerning this tech skill. This may or may not be a rule, but a general routine in your classroom is to show kids how to store and plug in the devices properly. Whatever they are using, kids need to have this responsibility in your classroom. I recommend giving students a number in your classroom that you can use for various activities and their devices. So just number kids one through 24 plus. That would be so nice to have a class of 24, right? But number them one through 24 plus and then have the devices go in that slot that matches with their number that can make things a lot easier whether you have the kids for specials or in your regular classroom. 

06:27

So teach the proper care of how to carry, store, and plug in those devices, whatever kind that you have. Also, make sure you're following any district or school guidelines. Our school computers have some little quirks to them when putting them away and the logging out process. Make sure to teach those to your kids as well. 

06:49

The second tech skill you want to share with students is taking care of their headphones and wrapping up the cords. Those cords, I don't know how many I have untangled over the years. Teaching the kids how to care for those headphones and cords is important. I have a couple of ways to store headphones in my STEM classroom, making it easy for the students to grab. I have those shoe organizers from Walmart or Amazon that have clear pockets. Once students wrap up the headphones, they can put them in the pocket. It's great because it's long, but it can fit the needs of all heights and students of all ages, which is great. I have some other headphones on this side that I just wrap up and put in gallon ziplock bags. These are just extra headphones from storage spaces; sometimes, students will leave fancy headphones behind. I will hold on to those first just in case a few students might need headphones in their classroom for the school year. 

07:51

A little tip, I know this isn't headphones, but I do have a bunch of computer mice with tails. That's what I call them, at least a bunch of computer mice with cords. I have another hanging shoe rack for the computer mice. Now, you're probably wondering why in the world I would have computer mice when I'm not even in a computer lab. I love having computer mice on hand because some students prefer using a mouse. I prefer using a mouse. So I completely understand that some students prefer it. This is especially true when we get into coding or 3D printing lessons. A computer mouse is a lot more efficient than a touchpad. So this is a great asset to have on hand. You could go out and purchase them or even reach out to local businesses if they have extra computer mice with the tails that they could donate to your classroom. So again, teach your students how to care for these things in your classroom and where to store them when they are finished. 

08:49

The third tech skill to teach your students is your school-wide norms when using technology in your building. This might be site-specific, and you probably want to modify the lesson I have linked in the freebie. What are your school's expectations when using technology in your school building? Is there a specific checkout system for that? Our kids bring the devices to and from school, or the students using devices from their classroom bring them into the STEM classroom. 

09:21

A big thing that I like to tell my students is that we're not changing the backgrounds. That is just so tempting for them. I know some teachers are okay with that. Now, you might be the technology lead in your building, just like I am. I'm our K through five STEM teacher, but I'm also our school-wide tech person. So whether that's your role or the tech teacher's role, think about those school-wide technology norms that all teachers follow so that you can relay that information to the students. 

09:58

The fourth tech skill you want to share with your students is troubleshooting tips and tricks that they can use. In general, with most pieces of technology, this is extremely helpful to teach all students instead of just having one or two tech experts in your classroom. I don't like having that role in a class because I think all students can learn. Some kids are more comfortable with technology, but these are all basic things that all kids should know, even teachers. So teach kids those basic skills like refreshing a page, closing a page out or closing something out when it doesn't work, turning something on and off, and unplugging and plugging back in a device. So it's those basic troubleshooting techniques that can work with most pieces of technology that are helpful to teach kids and keep referring to throughout the year. Whenever there's a technology problem in the classroom, instead of me touching on the issue, I always ask, “Well, what did you do? Talk me through the steps you took.” So if they didn't try anything, we could think of a solution to solve the problem. My role is to teach them how to troubleshoot these things, not just to be their superhero. I want to help kids troubleshoot those issues. So go through those things. You'll have to go through them all the time, but trust me, it will be so worth it throughout the year when you have kids who are problem solvers and not problem makers. 

11:30

The fifth technology skill you want to share with students is cleaning devices. Another important part of digital citizenship is ensuring that we care for those devices and use them the right way, but also clean them periodically so that they look good and are the best they can be. You could make a cleaning video with students and have this on your school-wide news. I've done that in the past. You can email the video to teachers, so everyone knows the proper cleaning methods for your school devices. When I have students come to STEM, I try my best to have kids help clean devices at the end of the week, so they're ready to go for the next group of kids. If they bring in their own devices from their classroom, they will also clean them with me. So again, this is a great skill to teach kids to keep your technology squeaky clean and looking good. 

12:28

The sixth tech skill to teach your kids is knowing their username and password. Depending on your school, there might be one username and password used for multiple platforms, or you might have a bunch of usernames and passwords for other platforms. Now, it's okay if they don't know all of them. That can be a lot, even as an adult. I have probably at least 100 usernames and passwords. They need to know how to get that information and type it correctly. As a STEM teacher, I don't hold on to all of the kids' usernames and passwords. I know this sounds very counterintuitive. However, my role is not to be the gatekeeper of knowledge. If I always have their usernames and passwords, they're always relying on me for that information. 

13:27

In episode nine, I talked about how I have students in grades second through fifth who bring their devices from their classroom. They use them so they can connect that the same device can do the same things that we do in STEM and their classroom. The big thing I tell kids and their teachers is that if they bring their device and still need support with their username and password, they need to get that information from their classroom. It's taken a lot of training in my school to ensure students have access to their usernames and passwords independently instead of relying on the teacher to pull those out for the kids. So this has helped students be independent and responsible for their username and password and know where to gather that information. Some classes have them taped in their pencil boxes, homework folders, or planners. Wherever that information is in their classroom, the classes will bring that in if needed, so I'm not the gatekeeper of all the knowledge. I just can't keep track of that information, so do what works best for you. Teaching kids their usernames and passwords and how to get that information and login will be a great success. 

14:52

The final tech skill to teach your students is how to log in. Now, you could make a separate badge for specific platforms you like using with kids. For example, I use Seesaw with all of my classes, so I might want to show them a couple of ways that we can log into Seesaw. You might use Google Classroom, Schoology, or epic books and make a separate badge for each platform. You can keep adding in badges throughout the year. Working on those systems and routines using those same tools repeatedly will help build the independence and responsibility of the students. I don't always expect kids to be the experts at logging into unique platforms, such as when we're using LEGO education tools or 3D printing. That will come with time. Instead, I want to be explicit in teaching those platforms that we will repeatedly use so that they know that's a resource they can get to and be successful for our projects.

15:57

Let's review the seven tech skills you want to teach your kids and be explicit about what we discussed in today's episode. Number one, going over those general technology rules. Number two, caring for your headphones. Number three is understanding school-wide technology norms. Number four, being a problem solver and troubleshooting with technology. Number five is learning how to clean devices. Number six is knowing your username and password and how to gather that information. Number seven, logging into various platforms that will be used consistently throughout the year. Of course, you can add in more skills, but these are the skills I have taught with my K through five STEM students throughout the years and when I have co-taught in their classrooms. You can refer back to these things and have that consistent language with kids so that they can be successful when using academic technology in your classroom. 

17:07

Also, don't forget to get the freebie for this episode. It can be found in my TPT shop using this link: Naomi meredith.com/tpttechskills. In this freebie, you can get all the badges that relate to the skills that we talked about in today's episode, video sample lessons of me teaching that you can share with your students or watch on the side and teach the lesson yourself, and a system where students can collect those badges either digitally or in the printed form. Thank you so much again for listening to today's episode! I can't wait to chat with you on the next one.