Featured Community Member: Meet Claudia Crespo!
Claudia is a kindergarten teacher in Little Rock, Arkansas. Several weeks ago I came across a ShowMe that Claudia had created with one of her students. I was so impressed with the reading, writing and math skills these five year olds were demonstrating in their ShowMe presentations, and I knew I had to get in touch with her. To see Claudia’s complete ShowMe library, visit her profile here.
Tell us about yourself!
I am from La Ceiba, Honduras. I came to Arkansas to pursue my teaching degree (P-4) whictch was obtained December 2008. I decided to go on to graduate school because I felt that as a teacher the more I studied the better a teacher I would become. I graduated from the University of Central Arkansas in May 2009 with a master’s degree in reading. After my graduation I was hired as 3rd grade teacher at Amboy Elementary but the following year I was asked if I would like to teach kindergarten. . This is my second year teaching in the North Little Rock School District. I believe that having taught 3rd grade has helped me a lot to push my kindergarten students to their maximum potential. I am a strong believer that kindergarten students can do anything my third graders could do, although it takes a little more modeling and support. I love teaching every subject, especially now that we started using the common core curriculum because everything is intertwined and it has made planning for technology a lot easier.
How do you use ShowMe?
My literacy coach, Jennifer Kimbrell, actually introduced me to the ShowMe application. We started playing with it and thinking about how we could use this wonderful app in my classroom. I was telling her that I had a hard time seeing all of my student’s work in a daily basis, and that I needed a better way to asses their needs as readers, writers, and mathematicians. I use ShowMe to increase students’ math and writing meta-cognition as well as allow them to reflect on their work using rubrics. The authentic think-aloud provides an excellent assessment opportunity for me to see what students are able to do on their own and what my focus needs to be for them during one-to-one conferencing. This app has helped me so much in evaluating the needs of my students.
What’s the coolest ShowMe you’ve seen?
Jennifer Kimbrell got the idea of using the app in this way from the following blog: http://teachinglikeits2999.blogspot.com/search/label/Metacognition. After exploring the website and watching all the videos, I could just see myself as a high school student struggling to understand my homework, like I so often did, and to just be able to go online and look for my teacher’s video on how to solve for X and Y would be amazing. This website is going to change the way students take notes, and do their assignments. I also have been working on a lot of personal art projects and the videos on how to draw hands has really helped me develop that skill.
How has ShowMe made a difference for your students?
One difference using the ShowMe app has made is change over time in my students’ writing has been phenomenal! Before allowing students to be more meta-cognitive and self-assessing themselves, students struggled with working independently during writer’s workshop. However, after only a week of using the app in this way, students’ dependence on me began to shift and there was a noticeable difference in their writing samples.
Where do you see education technology heading?
Students that are able to use technology in the classroom will have a greater advantage over students that do not because technology offers a way to make thinking more transparent. Students will be better equipped to see how they think as well as how others think. I think technology will allow students to become more reflective and self-regulated if used appropriately. It is important to note that it is not about the technology itself but how the technology is used.
When you’re not teaching and learning, what can we find you doing?
When I am not working, teaching or learning about all the technology out there, which really takes up a lot of my time, I share my time between writing children’s books and painting with acrylics and watercolors.
