Technology MUST-HAVES for Teachers

hello there and welcome back to my channel if you are new here my name is michelle emerson and i love helping teachers with all things technology organization and productivity if you've been around a while you may remember the days when i did favorites videos i have not done one in a while but today we're bringing it back because i am sharing my technology must-haves for teachers [Music] now before we jump into it just to clarify when i say technology there's kind of two categories at least in my mind there are the physical devices which is what i'm going to be sharing in this video but then there's also the apps and the programs and the websites and all of the kind of behind the scenes online digital realm so to help you out with that i have put together a freebie it is the ultimate technology starter kit for teachers you can grab it using the link down in the description box or head over to pocketfulprimary.com technology starter kit and you can have that sent to your email inbox right away but in this video i'm going to be highlighting five technology devices that i truly believe are staples for teachers but keep in mind everyone's needs are different and there's a lot of other devices that i could have included but i really wanted to stick to those essentials first up we have a wireless presenter also known as a clicker that's what i always called it in my classroom this allows you to click through slides while you're teaching from anywhere in your classroom i got this one on amazon it was about 18 i've been using this for over three years it still works perfectly there's a couple of features of this particular one that i really like first of all it is rechargeable so it just has a little plug and then you can charge it right in the usb of your computer which is very convenient whereas if you have batteries and then the battery dies and you don't have more batteries i just feel like it's a lot easier to have one that's rechargeable it also works with both windows and mac which is very convenient because my school computer was always windows and then my personal computer was always a mac i also love that it has a built-in laser pointer which is helpful if you're trying to point out you know something particular on your slide i also sometimes used it like on my student's desk so i would like circle the little laser to like bring their attention to something but it's just a convenient feature to have now this one has a 100 foot control range which means if your classroom classroom's bigger than 100 feet like we got to talk because i need to figure out where you're working but it will work from any point in your classroom all you need to do is plug in this little usb piece into your computer give it a couple seconds to connect and then you are all set i really like that this one stores right in the device it's actually kind of magnetic so once you start to push it in it will like slide the rest of the way that way you don't have to worry about losing it if you look closely on the back you will notice i do have velcro dots i'm notorious for misplacing small objects and i needed a central location to keep my wireless presenter when i was not using it same thing for all of the little remotes that i had in my classroom so i actually kept them attached to the side of my document camera i just found it to be a very convenient location to put it plus it was right by my computer so i could charge it speaking of which i only charge this not even once a week i feel like i would charge it once every other week and it would last all week long so the charge on it is phenomenal funny story for you when i was preparing for this video i looked through all of my different like amazon purchases so i could really narrow down like what are my must-haves i knew the wireless presenter was going to be included but i was looking at the posting on amazon just to read through the features and read through the comments to make sure that you know people weren't leaving really bad reviews because the product had changed or anything like that i got about four or five comments down and the person reviewing it said that i recommended it to them so i just thought that that was kind of funny my second must-have is a wireless mouse really quick let's talk about the difference between a wireless mouse and a wireless presenter a wireless presenter is really just for clicking through slideshows so google slides powerpoint smart board presentations all of those but a wireless mouse has more capabilities it's going to allow you to actually move the mouse around on the screen click different areas the reason i like having a wireless mouse for my classroom is because i don't want to be tied to my desk i want to be able to move around my room but still use things on my computer when needed so for example if i'm pulling up a website and i need to show my students something specific on the website a wireless mouse will allow me to do that from anywhere in my classroom rather than going back to my desk to use my regular mouse now this particular one i got on amazon it was around 15 but this exact mouse is no longer available so i will link some other options for you you can get them as cheap as like five to ten dollars but they also go up in price this particular one does run off of batteries if i could go back i would have gotten one that was rechargeable just like with the wireless presenter i feel like it's a lot more convenient just like with the wireless presenter the wireless mouse does work with both windows and macs once again school computer was always windows and it worked my home computer is a mac and it worked with that as well it also has a little usb piece that you plug in in order to use it and once again it does store inside of the mouse which i really like because you don't have to worry about losing it the reason i actually purchased a wireless mouse was during virtual learning i was using a school laptop that had a trackpad that i was just not a fan of i don't like using trackpads very much so having a actual mouse to hold on to was super convenient but this can also be used for example if you're back at a small group table and you need to do things on your computer without going up to your actual computer you can have a wireless mouse that you keep in that back section of your classroom to make it super convenient now i will say a downside of a wireless mouse like this is that you have to put it on a flat surface for the laser to work i don't know like how that all actually works but i know you have to put it down on a flat surface you can't just carry it around and click it's not going to work but i have a solution for that they actually make something called air mouse or air mice if they're if it's plural i guess but this is a handheld mouse that you can use it has the little ball tracker thing i don't know what that's actually called it also has the scroller but you can use it while holding it in your hand rather than putting it down on a surface now this one is more expensive i did get it on amazon but it was about 28 as opposed to around 15. so it's a little bit pricier it also works on batteries i don't know if they have ones that are rechargeable i'm sure they probably do i will say though a big downside for this one is that the little usb piece that plugs into your computer does not get stored anywhere on the actual mouse so it comes with like a little carrying bag which is convenient you can just throw it in there but you would want to make sure that you're not going to lose the usb piece which i will probably do sometime in the future but once again this can be used with either windows or mac you also can hold it in either hand which is very convenient so if you're a lefty this same mouse would still work for you but this is going to allow you to easily scroll on the page be able to click things you even can right click you have the little scroll piece so it's very easy to use very user friendly and if your hand hurts from like holding a mouse all day this is a much more like ergonomic design and from what i read in the comments it's a lot easier for people to use without having pain i've never had pain so i can't vouch for that but it is something that people highlighted in the comments my third must-have and you will notice as i go through these they do get a little bit more expensive i kind of did that strategically is a voice amplifier if you have been following me for a while you may remember when i did classroom vlogs i had a neck mic so it was a little wireless microphone that i would hang around my neck and it was connected to my speakers through bluetooth and it would amplify my voice while i was teaching i got so many questions about where did you get that how does it work i will link it for you down the description box keep in mind it's very expensive and it's not really designed for like a single person to purchase and use because you need the whole like setup it's more so for like schools to purchase but if you want to pitch it to your school go on ahead i will link it for you but if you do not have a microphone like that in your classroom you can purchase voice amplifiers on amazon so this one was around 33 and there are quite a few features that i really like first of all it's super lightweight and as you can tell it's very small and easily portable so this piece it does come with a strap so you could wear it around your neck or over your shoulder but it also has a clip on the back so you could literally just clip it on to like your shirt or your pants or your skirt and then all you have to do is plug in the little headset piece you put it on you turn this on and it will amplify your voice through the speaker now they do make wireless ones so like the headset would not be physically connected to the speaker they are a lot more expensive so if you want to go that route you certainly can but this is a very affordable option and all you have is the one cord that connects the headset to the speaker so this one does charge through usb and the charge will last all day long i think it's like 8 to 10 hours of use once it's fully charged so that should be plenty to get you through the school day so i'm going to attempt to show you like how loud it will amplify your voice i don't know if it'll come across on camera but we will give it a shot okay testing now this is only like halfway up right now i don't want to turn it up too much because it could interfere with my microphone but hopefully you can at least hear that it does amplify your voice and makes it much much louder than it would be otherwise it's too loud so obviously this is fantastic if you are teaching in a mask all day because it's going to amplify your voice when i was wearing my mask it was very difficult for my students to be able to hear me and my voice was getting strained from trying to project but it's also great if you have any students with auditory processing disorders or even just for your general student population i know i've actually had students in the past who told me that me wearing the microphone and then being able to hear my voice louder help them to better focus on my lesson and help them to stay engaged my fourth must-have is a document camera now i have always had a document camera that was provided by my school typically they were the aver media brand and those are very expensive like several hundred dollars expensive but once we switch to virtual teaching in the middle of covid i wanted to have a document camera to be able to use at home and that's where i found this one on amazon now the brand of this one is oakyocam i think i paid around 84. but i have seen them for a little bit cheaper and i know hugh also makes a very affordable document camera but a couple of things that i really like about this one as you can tell it folds up and it's about the size of like a soft cover book so it's portable easy to take home if you need to it's very lightweight as well but once you actually unfold it so i'm just going to move the cord which by the way all you have to do is literally plug it into your computer with a usb there's no like software to download or anything like that you will notice there is this extra piece so if you want to make it even higher you can and then this all just unfolds like so i used this like i said all throughout virtual teaching and even once i returned to my classroom and i was doing hybrid teaching i found this very easy to use because i could easily switch between the document camera or using it as a webcam so i could literally just take the camera and flip it down when i wanted to use as a document camera and then flip it up when i wanted to use it as a webcam so this works with both windows and mac i've used it on my school computer i've used on my personal computer had no problem with any of them it also just runs off of the usb for power so you do not have to have it separately plugged into the wall there's no batteries or anything it just uses usb it also works with zoom google me skype microsoft teams i'm sure there's other ones those are all ones that i personally have tried it with and it worked so it's very compatible with all the different video conferencing softwares that are out there i know personally i use a document camera all the time when i'm teaching especially during like math if i'm going to have a student share their work and explain how they did it i always want to have a document camera this one is great if you're worried about possibly having to switch between in person to virtual with the state of covid this one is great because you can take it home very easily it's lightweight and super portable my fifth and final must-have is an ipad or a tablet obviously this is the most expensive of all of the items and i know for some individuals it may not be a must-have and if that picture needs that's completely fine for me it has been a must-have so first i get a lot of questions about which ipad i actually have so i have the 9.7 inch ipad it came out in i think 2018. you can still find them refurbished on amazon for around 200 but they do not like manufacture this ipad anymore but there are tons of other options out there there's ipad minis ipad airs ipad pros regular ipads and a lot of times people will ask me well which one do i get it depends on your preferences i have never felt the need to have an ipad pro i feel like just a small fairly portable ipad a little bit bigger than the mini has been perfect for me but everyone has different needs and everyone has different preferences you also could get just a regular tablet there's tons of options out there i personally prefer an ipad because everything i use is apple i have an iphone i have an apple watch i have a macbook i have all of the different apple devices so it makes it much easier for me to like share files but there are tons of options out there when it comes to a tablet but whichever one you end up choosing i do recommend getting a stylus so i personally use an apple pencil this is the first generation apple pencil there is a second generation apple pencil but just make sure that the one you get will work with the device that you have because they're not always compatible but there are other stylists out there i love having it so that i can easily like hand write things on my ipad and i'm going to come back to that because i'm going to talk about ways that i've used this in my classroom but i find it much easier to use a stylus versus just my finger now keyboards are also a very nice feature it's not necessarily a must-have it kind of depends on how you're using it i actually have a case that i got on amazon it was around 80 so it holds my ipad it has the built-in keyboard that's connected to it and then it has my apple pencil i love that i can just close it and it's all one piece but when i'm using it as a keyboard i can actually hold my ipad almost like a mini laptop and actually i just checked i said this was eighty dollars it was 60-ish dollars so i will link the one that i have but there's plenty of other options on amazon as well so let's talk about how i actually use this as a teacher first of all i would take it with me to any meetings or pds in order to take notes i like taking notes digitally because i can insert pictures i'm a faster typer than i am a handwriter and i can go back and search my notes very easily to find the information that i need that is why i like having a keyboard it makes it much faster for me to type on my ipad i also use it for my digital planner hopefully you all know by now bridget and i have our own digital planner that we sell on our website teachingonthedouble.comstore i will link it for you i actually have a full tutorial video on my channel i use the tablet version of the planner we also have a google slides version but i like having the tablet version i use it on my ipad and i actually hand write my notes on there i've gotten a lot of questions about which you know type of planner is best for me i like the tablet version of the planner because it allows me to actually hand write my plans directly on the planner using the apple pencil but if you prefer to type all of your notes you might prefer the google slides version i also use my ipad all the time in the classroom for different like checklists and even virtual data sheets that i had i would carry this around with me while i was checking in on students and their work and i could check things off and make notes and then it made it very easy for me to look at that file later on whether i was at school or at home because it was all stored digitally then during the world of virtual teaching i use my ipad to run all of my earpods off of even though i could run nearpod from my phone or i could run it from my computer by running it from my ipad i could actually annotate right on the screen using my apple pencil so especially for math when i wanted to model problems i loved being able to actually work out the problem in real time so my students could see it on the near pod and it was much neater than me trying to use a mouse and drawing on the screen i also would record videos for my students so if they did not attend class they could go back and watch the video of the lesson and once again i would do screen recordings on my ipad and i would be able to annotate on the screen as i was explaining things i also used it to create like virtual anchor charts and then i would post those in my lms which was google classroom i also in the classroom have used it at my small group table to run slides or run near pods there are so many different ways to use it so for me it is a must-have but i understand it is more of like a splurge item so that is it those are my five technology must-haves for teachers all of the items will be linked for you in the description box and don't forget i also have a freebie for you on my website go to pocketbullprimary.com freebies or if you want to go directly there pocketfulprimary.com technology starter kit that is going to give you my five must-haves when it comes to like apps and websites and getting yourself organized digitally with all of the online tools i hope that is helpful for you if it is please give the video a thumbs up and share it out with your teacher friends hit that subscribe button and the notification bell so you do not miss any future videos as always thank you for watching i love you all so much don't forget to put your positive pants on and i will catch you in the next one [Music] you

Channel: Pocketful of Primary

Views: 43,956

Keywords: teacher, classroom, pocketful of primary, tips for new teachers, tips for teachers, new teacher tips, teacher tips, teacher vlog, teacher vlogger, online teaching, virtual teaching, online learning, virtual learning, michelle ferre, michelle emerson, hybrid teaching, hybrid learning, top tech tools for teachers, best tech tools for teachers, technology must-haves for the classroom, teacher technology must-haves, best edtech, edtech 2021, technology tools, tech devices

Id: rXPEyAtFBus

Length: 18min 58sec (1138 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 12 2021