Teacher
Jennifer Corcoran is an early childhood special education teacher at Pond Center. She also serves as a part-time technology integration specialist for Early Learning Services. Three mornings a week, Jennifer works with three- and four- year-olds in an inclusion preschool classroom.Instructional Strategy
During a 30-40 minute block of choice time, students move freely between different activities around the room. Options for students might include art projects, fine motor activities, sensory play, dramatic play, book corner, puppet theater and creation on an iPad.For students who choose creation on the iPad, Jennifer utilizes apps such as Seesaw or Chatterpix to give her students opportunities to practice both social-emotional and language development standards. Both apps allow students to take pictures of objects around the room or things they have created and then utilize their voice to explain what they are thinking. Students practice the social-emotional standard “Takes turns” as they watch and listen to their peers create videos. The app Chatterpix allows students to make inanimate objects talk by simply taking a photo, drawing a line to make a mouth, and recording their voice. Jennifer finds that this app allows student voice and choice as they select objects based on interest, culture and background. Chatterpix also allows students to practice the language development standard “Uses short sentences to share information about experiences, people, places, and things.”
Jennifer has noticed student growth in both of the early learning standards mentioned above. One of her students, *Samuel, a dual-language learner, started preschool with very little functional language. Jennifer utilized Chatterpix as a fun and engaging way for Samuel to listen to words and phrases and repeat them back. “Samuel’s face lit up with pride when he heard his voice played back on the iPad,” Jennifer reported.
At the beginning of the year, *Ethan, had trouble opening up and expressing his wants and needs at school. In the fall, he spent time watching other classmates complete tasks before he was willing to try on his own. After introducing both Seesaw and Chatterpix, Jennifer noticed a huge boost in Ethan’s confidence. His personality began to shine as he willingly selected objects around the room to take pictures of and was ready to share his thinking when Jennifer hit the record button.
Jennifer helps her students upload all of their Chatterpix creations to their individual Seesaw portfolios. Parents who have signed up for the Seesaw family app get notifications when their children’s creations are uploaded. Jennifer enjoys connecting families to the classroom and including them in the learning process.
*Student names have been changed for privacy.
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