Tara Miller

28 January 2024

ENGL 426

Professor Allred

Classroom Technology Resources Profile

I work at Cascade Elementary School in Orem. The grades in this school are k-6, and I

work with the 6th graders everyday which is lucky for me because they are technically secondary

students. For this assignment I talked with Mrs. Taylor Gaudi, who while observing I noticed

really cares about and emphasizes ELA in her classroom. When I spend time in her classroom, I

mainly help the students with their ELA needs. She is a big advocate of using technology in the

classroom because she believes “participation goes up in the classroom” when technology is

used and incorporated. So, I reached out to her and asked her what types of technology she uses

in her classroom and how she believes it helps the students.

At Cascade, every teacher is provided with a Macbook air, Ipad, apple pencil, and an

apple tv with a projector. The teaching assistants, like myself, are even given access to Ipads

where they are able to test students on their reading fluency. The students are all given

chromebooks. The chromebooks stay at school and are not taken home, but they do each get one

of their own. I have seen that Mrs. Gaudi and the school as a whole believes in the “both/and”

principle because there is a time for technology and a time for no technology. The school mainly

uses google classroom when uploading assignments and sending messages to students. There is a

feature that allows Mrs. Gaudi as well as other teachers to put a “heads up” screen on their

Chromebook which basically locks it so they can’t be distracted while the teacher is talking. This
is helpful because it teaches the students that the chromebooks are a tool, and there is a time and

place for them.

Mrs. Gaudi uses other tools as well such as: Kami, Utah compose, and nobility on her

ipad. Kami is a tool that allows the teacher and students to work interactively on any uploaded

document. Students can insert text boxes, use the highlighting tool, draw on the document, and

add comments to ask questions or clarify. Mrs. Gaudi said this is her number one tool that she

likes to use to keep them engaged in assignments because it is so interactive with the other

students. Mrs. Gaudi didn’t mention this, but the only potential drawback of this one I can see is

students getting off task and not inputting meaningful comments or material in the document, but

that can happen with any tool used. Utah compose is another tool that she uses which allows her

students to import their writing into Utah compose and receive feedback on what they have

written. The students use this after they have done research online to start creating their papers.

This is a great tool because it allows students to take the initiative to learn on their own and make

choices about what corrections they want to make to their writing without going straight to their

teacher and asking them if it is okay. Finally, she uses nobility on her ipad which allows her to

project things onto the board like passages or even student writing. It then allows the teacher to

highlight and edit things so that the students can all see it clearly.

From this interview and careful observations, I have received more confidence in using

more digital tools to enhance my classroom and engage my future students. It’s interesting to see

that many schools now are providing their teachers with apple products to enhance their

capabilities. From talking with Mrs. Gaudi I have learned a few more tools on how to engage

students in the classroom while also helping them to become digitally literate for their future. I

like that Mrs. Gaudi doesn’t use technology for the sake of using it, but uses it for a purpose to
help her students be engaged or to help them perform better on their assignments. As a future

teacher I hope to also be mindful of what tools I am using in the classroom and take careful

consideration of what is helpful and what is not. I also want to help prepare my students to know

that online has infinite resources to help them with their projects as well as their writing.