Technology Has Been My New Best Friend!

Over the past five years or so, I have been struggling with keeping up to date with all the current trends/updates out there when it comes to technology! However, within past year or two, I have recently started to finally step out of my comfort zone, take the plunge, and just TRY! I can honestly say that certain things have improved, both professionally and personally!With teaching, I have taken some recent classes that have been all geared towards using technology! Some things I have been doing more in my English Language Arts classroom that involve using technology include using more websites to explore with our learning (www.newsela.com is one of my favorites for informational text!). I have been using this website for a couple of years now, but recently started to want to use it more. Did you know this website has quizzes (common core based) that students can take online and sends you the results? Another "plunge" I took was creating a Figurative Language WebQuest for my students. This is something they are currently working on & I feel they are enjoying it! And coming here very soon, my students will be doing their Literature Circles, where I have now revamped it over the past year and they are half in person/half virtual. Taking the Literature Circles online has been a huge success! The platform I decided to use for that is Edmodo!Now, when it comes to my personal life at home with my husband and our three daughters, I have also tried to "technify" our lives a little bit more. One way is a new app that we have started using with our fourteen year old. The app is called "Life360." This app I found out about through a coworker and let me tell you, it's going to be so beneficial in the next upcoming years as she goes through her high school years! This app basically is a GPS that keeps you up to date with where your child is. Another way I have tried to "technify" our life here at home was through shared calendars online. We attempted this a year ago, but didn't have success with it! I am an old school type of lady and still like my calendar that we hang on the refrigerator and actually write on that! However, there's times when I'm somewhere and need to check what we have going on and don't have my calendar with me. (I usually will then text my hubby or daughter and have them take a picture of our fridge calendar and send to me...haha!) Also, note that I am really bad with keeping things in my phone, and I don't want to also then keep track using a smaller sized calendar in my purse. Way too much!  I still want to give it a try with using online shared calendars with my family and am looking for any tips that people might have with this! So please share!!! :)