CLASSROOM ETI CASE STUDY 1

Mary Lehmann

Professor Topper

EDI 619 01

15 February 2020

Classroom ETI Case Study

The educational context I chose to focus on for my classroom ETI case study is Waukazoo

Elementary within the West Ottawa School District. My case study will focus solely on the kindergarten

classrooms of this elementary building. We have five classrooms for kindergarteners, three general

education classrooms and two Montessori classrooms. I am currently student teaching in a kindergarten

classroom within this building. Ironically, our elementary school has been chosen to see if the ratio West

Ottawa’s Technology plan has presented is age appropriate. We are participating in a Tech. piolet for the

district that is being put into action as I’m writing this paper. Our school has just recently put into

practice each classroom having a one to two ratio for young kinder through third grade. I’ve gathered

my information for this case study through personal interviews from kindergarten teachers within the

building. This information was taken before the 1:2 ratio was being put into place.

Most of the kindergarten teachers within our building, on a scale of one to ten, rate about five

or six on how comfortable they feel using and integrating technology. Most can figure it out, but they

seem unaware of how to incorporate it functionally within a kindergarten classroom. Many use

Chromebooks to introduce children to technology, which is developmentally appropriate, but don’t

naturally integrate it within their teaching. Upon asking one teacher, I found her response interesting as

she stated she felt comfortable with kindergarteners and technology but if she had to use it in a

classroom with older students, her confidence with it would decrease. The one kindergarten teacher we

have that is about ten years younger than the rest, said his comfort level is around an eight. I’ve noticed

that he integrates technology within his classroom much more, using it for extension activities and as a

reward system.
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One kindergarten classroom uses six Chromebooks for 22 kids, another uses 14 for 23 kids,

another 3 for 23 kids. Both Montessori classrooms use one Chromebook and an iPad. I found it

interesting that the classroom that uses the most Chromebooks is also the classroom where the teacher

feels around an eight on a scale of one to ten regarding comfort with technology. Every classroom uses

these Chromebooks everyday but in various ways. Many just use Chromebooks for students to explore

ABC mouse or to create videos using Flipgrid. Student’s individual work is not documented or checked

regularly. Technology is integrated more into teaching and less into the work life of the student.

I have seen technology integrated within the classroom by these Kindergarten teachers in a

couple different ways. Reading Street is used as the language curriculum and each classroom has an

online component. This includes daily videos of a weekly song, grammar lesson, story concepts, and

story sort activities. Two classrooms include scholastic, where students can follow along with a

scholastic newspaper and watch videos online related to what they are reading about. This program

does a great job of incorporating technology and using it to enhance learning instead of taking away

from learning. Our class personally has had many rich discussions after watching videos or learning

about certain things via scholastic.com. The projector and YouTube are used daily in the classroom to

model lessons, for brain breaks with go noodle, or as music while the kids are working. A couple

classrooms still use a CD player for music and occasionally use YouTube. Again, I found it interesting that

the youngest teacher and the one who felt the most comfortable with technology was the one who

tended to use more updated forms of it within the classroom. This affirmed the reading we have been

doing regarding the comfort level of staff and how this plays a role in the likelihood of how they will

incorporate it within the classroom.

I have noticed that our building and grade level do a great job of using technology to

communicate with parents. This is the main avenue used to get information back and forth quickly
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between both parties. Some classrooms use SeeSaw while others use Class Dojo, both work well for

posting photos, videos and little messages about what is being learned or what is going on within the

classroom. Parents and teachers alike have found that this is an easy way to communicate where

responses can be a short sentence. Other kindergarten classrooms use google in all different forms to

communicate with parents. Our school uses this avenue for communication among staff, survey

information, etc. Assessments done within kindergarten classrooms have scores recorded in google

sheets, but this was the only form of technology used for assessment among the grade. Benchmark

information is found within google and used for discussion during PD meetings.

I am using the LOTI model when looking at Waukazoo Elementary specifically within

Kindergarten classrooms. Most are in between the infusion and integration stage. All classrooms provide

students with an opportunity to use technology and explore it within the classroom, affirming that all

classrooms are within the infusion stage. However, all classrooms also use projectors, Youtube, and the

Reading Street Curriculum daily placing them within the Integration stage. Technology has found a place

within the routine of the classroom and is used to provide structure daily. It is used as a tool to enhance

learning and aide the teacher in executing lessons. Technology within these Kindergarten classrooms is

not used for PBL learning and student use is not given a specific purpose. I would not place these

classrooms at the expansion level just yet, however, some are taking baby steps towards this. I

mentioned before that one classroom uses Flipgrid to enhance literacy skills. Students film themselves

reading poems done in class and can watch and hear their own reading. This is a small step towards

expansion, where student work has a purpose and could even be used to assess reading comprehension

among students.

In closing, I wanted to highlight the fact that our building is being chosen to piolet the new

technology ratio. I was at the PD meeting where this was mentioned to staff for the first time. There was

a great amount of push back and sighs from many within the room, but not from the younger grades. I
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heard more from older grades within the district, which I found surprising. Technology can be integrated

in a productive way within older classrooms, as students are more self-sufficient. This piolet is being

done to see what age is appropriate regarding the ratio of technology with children young kinder to

third grade. With this being said, I’m interested to see how this goes within the Kindergarten

classrooms, particularly within the classroom where the teacher is more comfortable using technology.

Kindergarten classrooms at Waukazoo Elementary are just tapping into the benefits of technology

within the classroom and are currently in the middle of the LOTI model.