In 2019, Amy Powell walked into her empty art classroom for the last time. She surveyed the classroom, making sure she got everything she wanted to take with her. Departing from her much loved Northwoods Academy was not an easy move to make. Now it was time to use her teaching skills in a different kind of classroom.
These days, future educators know that technology in the classroom is more of a necessity than an option. While some people may groan at the idea of having to integrate technology into the classroom, it can make the life of both the student and teacher easier. Former educator, Amy Powell has made the transition from teaching K-12 to homeschool learning. Her transition gives us a glimpse into the teaching career and how digital classroom tools can help in the homeschool environment.
After graduating in 2004 from the College of Charleston with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and a minor in English, Amy wasn’t sure where her future was heading. But she never expected to go into teaching. “When I graduated, I got a call from the school I went to for K-12, and they were looking for an art teacher but I wasn’t interested at the time.”
But after three months with no other job opportunities on the table, Amy decided to take the offer.
What originally started as just a one-time deal, soon became Amy’s career for the next 16 years. “I didn’t go into teaching thinking I was going to be in it for so long, at the time it was just the only offer I had.”
Over the course of her career, Amy’s taught students from elementary to secondary education and a variety of subjects. From art, journalism, to computer science Amy has taught more subjects than the one she started with. But in 2019, she hung up her classroom educator hat and quit her job.
That same year, “Powell Academy” as Amy calls it, was born. She began prepping her two sons, Jaden age 11 and Vincent age 14, for homeschool learning.
Amy described her previous experience with digital tools, “When I taught at Northwoods, we did a lot of Microsoft Office and we used RenWeb as our school software for gradebooks, parent interaction, and all that stuff. Toward the end of my time there we switched over from Microsoft to Google Suites.”
Amy’s top priority for classroom programs was usability. She said with a chuckle, “The first thing I did was get rid of that stupid RenWeb, it was obviously not designed by teachers because it is terrible and I hate it. Now I use a program called Homeschool Minder which was designed by teachers so it actually makes sense and I can do record-keeping, grades, that sort of thing.”
Google Suites is a key digital tool that Amy has continued to use in her classroom. “Vincent and Jaden will share documents with me in Google Docs, and it’s nice because I can just make comments instead of having to print out paper and mark it. The other way we’ve used Google is that I share a calendar with them and they each put their assignment due dates in that calendar so we’re all on the same page.”
Her sons are also a part of a homeschool learning community where they are taught certain classes from other homeschool teachers. With these other classes they are often assigned work in Google Classroom which she can access and view as well.
Amy described some of the programs used at her job that she still has access to, “I use IXL which we used at the school too, but it basically gives them [students] problems to work through for pretty much any subject, Spanish, math, spelling, I can see their scores, it’s just a great tool.” IXL is one tool that has made Amy’s life easier, especially when teaching subjects she doesn’t have as much experience with.
Along with the tools from her old school, Amy has also taken advantage of free digital tools that are online. “I will use YouTube a lot too. It’s really convenient if we’re in history I can just look up a video on the Civil War it’s just super-fast.” YouTube is not a tool that she typically used when she taught at Northwoods, but now it serves a purpose in her classroom.
Not only does Amy use her computer and online tools to help make her job easier, she also uses her iPhone. “I use Apple Photos a lot because I take pictures of all of their work so I can have it for the records.”
Like all educators, Amy tries to make lessons more interactive and engaging for her sons. “I actually bought them two keyboarding games to help them learn that skill, like in the game they have to type the correct thing quickly to get to the next level.”
When asked how else Amy has used games in the classroom she began to laugh and say, “We actually used Minecraft for when I taught them about surface area, it was perfect for talking about the difference between perimeter and area because it’s literally a game with a bunch of blocks.”
She described how she’s used Minecraft for other subjects, “I’ve used it as a project for history where they had to replicate a U.S. city but add their own creative twist to it. They’ve used it for a science project where they had to create a zoo for a type of animal like pandas.”
Outside of the classroom, Amy uses iPad apps for interactive learning. “I actually have Jaden use a spelling app every day to work on that skill, and we use math apps frequently too.”
With so much technology around us, it’s hard not to imagine it in the classroom. For educators like Amy, there is no doubt that her digital literacy practices have changed over time. She uses tools like Google Suites, IXL, and even Minecraft to make sure that her sons are learning in an interactive and effective way. Future educators can take Amy’s story as insight into how the use of digital tools can make the life of both the teacher and the student easier.