February 2020 -Rachel Jarreau
Name
Rachel Jarreau
What Do You Teach?
9-12 Biology and Aquatic Science
Where Do you Teach?
IMPACT Early College High School
How Long Have You Been Teaching?
13 years
How Does Educational Technology Play a Role in Your Classroom?
Ed Tech is a vehicle of learning, demonstrating knowledge, and creativity in my classroom.
How Do You Find Technology in the Classroom Helpful?
It provides opportunities for students to showcase talents in unique ways, while demonstrating content mastery. It lends a way for the non-science, loving students to connect with content. It seamlessly allows me to share resources with students. Technology provides many ways to receive immediate feedback from students to help me adjust learning based on student needs.
What Is Your Favorite Piece of Classroom Technology? Why?
This is a hard one, but I will have to say that I truly enjoy the freedom my iPad and Apple TV provide. I can easily move around the room and go from showing something to everyone to just one student. I am able to use video or the camera to share with the whole class what is happening or created by one table group. I use app smashing to provide unique ways for student to share what they've learned. This year, students have used green screens, iMovie, and Flipgid AR to create an interactive marine debris art display. Students have also enjoyed creating their own animations of biological processes with Keynote.
What Is On Your Technology Wish List For Your Classroom? Why?
Equipment to enhance making movies with a green screen, such as tripods for iPads, lighting, and microphones.
What Do You Love Most About Teaching?
There are several things I truly love about teaching. One is watching a student's confidence in his/herself grow throughout the year. Another is listening to a student communicate his or her ideas whether it be through a passionate debate or a poetic verse. Lastly, I love seeing what students can create.
Nominated by:
Lori Roberts, Educational Technology Specialist - High Schools
"Rachel is constantly coming up with new and innovative ideas for integrating technology into her Science classes. Last year she had Biology students creating podcasts with their iPad and the Anchor app. Already this year her Aquatic Science students created Marine Debris projects using debris found in the ocean. In addition, students created an accompanying video using iMovie and it's green screen features. Students then uploaded their completed videos to Flipgrid. Rachel then used Flipgrid's Augmented Reality QR codes to set up a display of the students art work, projects, and QR codes that linked to the digital projects. Rachel is always willing to try something new with technology!"