After interviewing Dennis Baker, I learned some valuable information about what technology tools are necessary in order to be successful in the field of teaching. Dennis Baker is a high school Honors Algebra and AP Calculus teacher at Thunderbird High School. He had started teaching in Pittsburgh, California in 1991. It is clear that technology has come a long way since. Mr. Baker revealed that the number one must-have for teachers today is a website. A website is an advantageous tool. It helps both the students and the teachers stay organized throughout the year. A website can store different files such as homework and note packets. For Mr. Baker, he posts videos on his website. Each day, he records himself teaching. The videos show a close-up of the smartboard screen and includes sound. The sound includes his own instruction and student responses such as questions asked. His videos basically provide an opportunity for students to never miss a day of class even if they are not present in his classroom. Additionally, his website includes other typical essentials such as a copy of his syllabus. While students commonly overlook his syllabus as the year goes on, he has it on his website for reliability reasons. At the end of the semester, students who have borderline grades want him to adjust their grades. Mr. Baker understands that if he provides only one student extra opportunities to raise their grade, it will be unfair to the rest of the students. Therefore, he refers the students in need of a greater grade to his syllabus on his website. There, they can find that he is strict and will not change anyone’s grades by rounding up unfairly. Moreover, a teacher’s website should include additional materials for students. A website should not just include homework and notes, they should have additional study tools. Mr. Baker in particular has AP Free Response questions and answer keys for students to look over. These are beneficial his own tests and the AP exam. The last element he has on his website is his contact information. Students and parents can find his school phone number and email on his website. Even though Mr. Baker is a great source for finding out what tools are best for a secondary education math teacher, I wanted to see what other teachers used too. I went around to the other math teachers to ask them what tools they implement. I found out that the two most common tools used are Kahoot! and Quizizz. I was familiar with both of these tools since not only my high school math teachers used them, but also any other subject as well. Both students and teachers found those tools effective. They are interactive quizzes that were helpful for reviewing. Students liked those tools because they thought of them as games and teachers viewed them as impactful study tools. I had also asked teachers if they were aware of some other tools that I had learned about at ASU. In fact, they have not heard of most of them I had brought up. This proves that there is a great amount of technology tools teachers can use. Teachers have to find the ones that are the most beneficial for their students.
The main devices that I use every day are my cell phone, desktop computer, and my laptop. On my cell phone, I use a wide variety of apps to manage my life. The app that I will admit to using the most is Snapchat. Since my phone is older and running out of storage, it is extremely slow when it comes to sending text messages. An immediate solution to my problem was Snapchat. I use Snapchat to communicate with all of my friends, to maintain streaks and to stay updated. The second app that I use the most is most likely Instagram. I use Instagram primarily to kill time. I generally like the posts of the people I follow. I spend most of my time on Instagram on the search page where I can view a large amount of random posts. Occasionally I do use Instagram to direct message people back. Another app that I utilize frequently is Alarm Clock Xtreme. I set all of the alarms I need for school and work each week on this app. The last app that I use every day on my cell phone is YouTube. I use YouTube to listen to a vast amount of music genres and for watching dance videos. I often play YouTube videos as I work on homework each night. I actually lose focus more when I work in silence. With Arizona’s bipolar weather rolling in, I use the Weather Channel App more often. I take a quick glance at the day’s weather when I am putting together my outfit. I like to know if I need to wear a warm outfit or a warm outfit with a lot of layers. Furthermore, when I take showers I want to listen to music; however, if I do not have songs in my mind, I use iHeartRadio instead of YouTube. On the other hand, for some reason I only listen to iHeartRadio for country music. I used to use Pinterest a lot more before I got an Instagram account. For Pinterest, I would search for new ideas and save them onto my several boards. I used Pinterest for quotes, fashion, wedding inspiration, nail designs, hairstyles, and workouts. While I do not travel frequently to new place since I fear driving, I use my handy Google Maps app on my phone. Google Maps provides pictures so I can identify landmarks as I am driving. I also like the voice feature on the Google Maps app because I can be told when to turn and where without having to look at my phone. The apps that I use the least on my phone is my Drive Safe & Save app from State Farm as well as my Chase app. One tool that I work with on all of my devices is the Internet; it is a necessity these days. Other tools that I operate with on my desktop and laptop are Microsoft and Google tools. The Microsoft tool I run the most is Microsoft Word. As far as Google, I use Google Drive commonly. After reviewing the tools I use regularly, I discovered how prominent technology is in my life.
