Name
Corina Garcia
What Do You Teach?
3rd Grade Bilingual Math and Science
Where Do you Teach?
San Jacinto Elementary
How Long Have You Been Teaching?
22 years
How Does Educational Technology Play a Role in Your Classroom?
My students were born into the digital age, so to me, it is not so much how technology plays a role in my classroom, but that it is central to these learners.
How Do You Find Technology in the Classroom Helpful?
Educational technology allows all students, not just English Language Learners, the ability to study and interact with content areas in a variety of ways, in greater depth, and exposes them to more complex vocabulary and complicated concepts that a textbook cannot provide. Videos cannot replace real-life experiences, but online activities, digital labs, and experience-based videos are a means to help learners engage and explore content and concepts. Plus, it’s fun!
What Is Your Favorite Piece of Classroom Technology? Why?
These days, I like my ActivSlate - in conjunction with the ActivExpressions - the most. I find that the ActivExpressions help me get formative information and adds an accountability piece for the student. The ActivSlate allows me to move about the room to monitor, interact, and become a part of the lesson instead of simply delivering the lesson.
What Is On Your Technology Wish List For Your Classroom? Why?
I wish that I had a classroom set of iPads. The possibilities are endless. For example, as we progress through our lesson and students are answering my questions, they are generating more questions that I can't always answer. It would be awesome to be able to instruct the students to automatically send me their questions or comments via edmodo or some other application. Additionally, I would also like to be able to give others a chance to respond or to begin adding their comments to an online discussion.
What Do You Love Most About Teaching?
Sometimes my students cheer when I announce that there will be a quiz! I love that excitement and it's a short-term motivator. My long-term motivator is receiving high school graduation invitations and news about college plans and post-high school goals.
Nominated by:
Kathy Payne, Science Specialist
"Corina's students have learned and used so many technology TEKS and not in isolation. They chose backgrounds, fonts, and inserted text, researched information, inserted pictures, hyperlinked videos, created a food web with Kidspiration, and sited their research. I was privileged to attend with parents as they presented their project using the Promethean board. I was evident that they practiced and knew what to do when the inevitable technology issue occurred like skipping slides."