South Carolina
Ashley loves to find new technology to engage her students, but points out that the best lesson she has learned from integrating digital content into her instruction is to keep the focus on student learning and not the technology. “This,” she says, “is the truest innovation.” Ashley uses a “workshop” model with her second grade class to encourage critical thinking and independence. This method allows students to sit around the room and decide what they would like to focus on that day: some may read to themselves or a partner, some may code on an iPad, and others may record themselves reading or explaining their thinking on Seesaw. “My students love to share what they are doing with each other and their families,” Ashley says. “But the important work they are doing is explaining their thinking and demonstrating their learning.”
Fun Fact: Ashley likes to keep it local: she and her children attend school in the same district in which she teaches.
Follow Ashley on Twitter, @MrsAshleyBFort.