Each month, we will be highlighting educators from around the world who are using Collaborize Classroom in innovative ways to engage students in their classroom.
Our October Educator Spotlight is dedicated to Anna Lenardson, a High School English and History Teacher at the International Christian School of Cascais in Cascais, Portugal (originally from Michigan).
Why did you get into teaching?
I pretty much fell into this teaching gig. Although my background is education, I had spent a significant amount of time as a stay-at-home mom. Then, my husband decided to make a pretty drastic career shift from the business world to teaching. This eventually led to our move to Portugal and our work at ICSC. Over the last few years, my job has evolved from librarian/office work/ special needs teacher to teaching High School English and History.
What was your first interaction with educational technology?
My oldest child (now 19) has special needs so I suppose interactive communication devices would be my first interaction with educational tech. But my first significant experience with classroom technology was on the receiving end when I did a distance learning degree completion program through Ashford University.
How long have you been an active Collaborize Classroom user?
Although I signed up for the service last year, I didn’t start using it in the classroom until this fall, just about 6 weeks ago. I took Collaborize Classroom’s professional development course over the summer and was really inspired and empowered to make Collaborize Classroom a daily part of our classroom regimen.
Do you have any special titles or are you part of any clubs at your school?
I am the school librarian.
How do you integrate technology into your classroom or field of work, specifically Collaborize Classroom?
We use Collaborize Classroom on an almost daily basis for homework, discussion questions, journal entries, and writing/research projects.
What projects are you leading using Collaborize Classroom?
Currently, my English class is involved in a multiple-step writing project. Collaborize Classroom allows me to see their work at each step and helps as another avenue for me to present material and delineate expectations. Also, we are getting ready to study Julius Caesar and I am planning to do a series of pre-reading Collaborize Classroom-based activities before we get started.
What are some of your goals surrounding the use of Collaborize Classroom in your classroom curriculum?
One goal would definitely be more participation in classroom discussions. I am also excited about the ways it allows me to use media and online resources to augment our curriculum. Frankly, I appreciate that I have much less paperwork to correct! Instead of assigning a page of questions about a day’s reading, I can post one or two questions to Collaborize Classroom and get a much better response.
How do you view education?
Education, in my mind, is the process of helping a student acquire the skills he or she will need in order to become a lifelong learner. Critical thinking and other higher order skills are far more valuable in life than fact recall.
What skills are you teaching your students/peers/colleagues by using Collaborize Classroom ?
My students are learning how to communicate respectfully and meaningfully. They are also learning how to ask good questions.
How has the use of technology in the classroom impacted your teaching/professional practice?
Although I’ve not been using it for long, the quality of classroom discussions and homework answers has definitely increased. Also, as I suspected, it is much easier for this organizationally challenged teacher to keep track of and keep up with homework assignments.
One of the things I really appreciate about Collaborize Classroom is that it lets me use my creative side so often. Before Collaborize Classroom (BCC), I didn’t have a lot of outlet for creativity and stuck very closely to the book for activities and homework assignments. Collaborize Classroom really allows me to easily and creatively pull resources from the Internet that complement and enhance our curriculum.
Check out our September (Heidi Siwak) and August (Katie Fryzel) Educator Spotlights as well.
