January 2020 - Waneta Hebert
Name
Waneta Hebert
What Do You Teach?
8th Grade English Language Arts
Where Do you Teach?
Gentry Junior School
How Long Have You Been Teaching?
6 years
How Does Educational Technology Play a Role in Your Classroom?
I think it would take less time to say how technology doesn't play a role in my classroom. I use technology on a daily basis in a variety of ways, from games like vocab jams and Quizlet Live to lessons using Khan Academy or Pear Deck and activities using Google Drive and FlipGrid. I've had students spend a class period outside to record FlipGrid videos about the books they're reading. Just last week, my students wrote their own fiction stories using Google Docs.
How Do You Find Technology in the Classroom Helpful?
I believe my job is to teach more than just the content of my class, and I often use technology to teach my students the skills they'll need when they leave my classroom. We use Google Docs and Slides to create collaboratively, and we use technology to find information and evaluate sources. I also believe taking care of the iPad cart in my classroom teaches my students to respect technology and the responsibility of caring for something that doesn't belong to just them.
What Is Your Favorite Piece of Classroom Technology? Why?
Often, I find the simplest things make the biggest difference in my classroom, like having a wireless mouse for my presentation laptop that lets me move around the room and still click through a presentation or game of Kahoot. I love my teacher iPad with Apple Classroom to keep an eye on student progress. However, I think my iPad cart has the biggest impact on my instruction. I wouldn't be able to use vocabulary.com or Khan Academy or Pear Deck or any of these other wonderful tools if I didn't have a class set of iPads for my students to use.
What Is On Your Technology Wish List For Your Classroom? Why?
I would love to get new cases for my iPads - the kind with built-in keyboards. The cases that I have are starting to show their age, and my set of keyboards aren't the best. We do a lot of typing in my class, and having a better set of keyboards would be awesome.
What Do You Love Most About Teaching?
To me, the best part of teaching is the relationships I build with students, even if they aren't mine. I love that so many of my kids are comfortable enough with me to come and talk to me when they are upset or to share the things that excite them. It really brightens my day when a student stops by my classroom for a hug between classes.
Nominated by:
Denice Massengale, Technology Integration Specialist - Junior Schools
"Mrs. Hebert is constantly looking for new innovated ways to integrate technology with her students. She is always willing to share new technology with her team and school."