Irene Pérez has been a Primary and Physical Education teacher for 20 years, and Additio App has accompanied her since it first appeared in the educational market to help thousands of teachers. This has allowed Irene to master the tool completely, becoming an Additio Certified Teacher a few years ago.
In fact, technology has been a constant companion throughout Irene’s professional journey, supporting her in many situations she shares with us in this interview. Would you like to learn how Irene uses technology in the classroom and what recommendations she gives? Keep reading!
Are you interested in discovering more experiences from other teachers? Don’t miss the following interviews:
1. Getting to know Irene Pérez… Tell us a bit about yourself and your teaching background
I’ve been a Primary and Physical Education teacher since 2005. I passed the public teaching exams in Catalonia in 2007. I’ve worked, both as a specialist and as a homeroom teacher, in different provinces of Catalonia and for 10 years in Galicia. I’ve been using Additio App since 2011.
2. What levels and subjects are you currently teaching?
I teach PE to 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th grades. In addition, this year I’ve stepped down from cycle coordination to take charge of occupational risk prevention.
3. What made you choose the teaching profession? What do you like most about your job?
I don’t really remember what made me choose teaching; I just know that since I was 5 or 6 years old, I used to say I wanted to be a “gym teacher.” What I like most about being a teacher is the relationship of trust you build with students and seeing their progress both as learners and as people.
4. How would you define your teaching style?
Honestly, it’s a bit of a mix of everything. I look for the best approach for each group, moment, or Learning Situation we’re working on. I combine and/or alternate different teaching styles — more or less guided, self-learning, cooperative learning — with sessions that include varying levels of ICT use. I try not to get too comfortable or stuck in a single style; I always look for what I think will work best for my students to help them acquire the area’s competencies as effectively as possible.
5. What role do you think technology plays in teaching today?
In today’s society, it’s obvious that technology plays an important role. It serves as a tool for the teaching–learning process, provides support for SEN students, facilitates communication with families, and — in my case (Additio helps me infinitely) — makes teachers’ work more practical when it comes to yearly and weekly planning, collecting evidence, recording daily data and evaluation information, and generating reports/summaries to transfer into the official system with competency comments.
6. What do you think are the main challenges in education’s digital transformation?
I think there are two:
- Keeping up to date with all the changes and advances to make the most of them.
- Understanding — and helping families and especially students understand — that everything related to digitalization is a tool, not an end in itself.
7. Artificial intelligence is increasingly present in education. Have you integrated any AI tools into your teaching practice?
Yes, several. I’ve used them as support to make it easier to create teaching materials for my lessons (except for Visual Thinking resources, which obviously need to be hand-drawn) and to help draft/adapt circulars and reports to the cultural diversity of the families in my school.
8. Do you think AI can be beneficial if used correctly?
Yes, like almost everything — with proper use and in the right measure.
9. How did you discover Additio App? When and why did you start using it in your daily work?
As I’ve mentioned, I started using Additio App back in the 2011–12 school year. I had just started at a rural school with a small class that included four grade levels together. On top of that, I was teaching PE for both preschool and all of primary, coordinating the library, ICT, coexistence, and science areas. The Additio paper triplex wasn’t enough anymore, and I was literally losing my papers. So I started looking for alternatives and discovered the app version of what I’d already been using. With an Android tablet, I managed just fine.
10. How has your classroom management changed since you started using the tool?
It has changed so much (and the more resources and tools you add, the more it changes) that I wouldn’t even know where to start. What I can say is that I’m now more organized, objective, and productive.
11. Which Additio App features do you use the most and why?
Except for communication and the unit creator, I use all the other tools daily: group creation, schedule, calendar, “today” section, attendance and daily records, rubric-based assessment, skills-based assessment, editing assessment instruments, report generation… Shall I go on? [Laughs].
12. Assessing under the LOMLOE has been a challenge for many teachers. How do you use the app to promote competency-based assessment?
Before you even launched the webinar explaining how to import the curriculum, competencies, and criteria… I’d already done it! I had set it up for PE across all Primary levels. So, in each gradebook category, I link the competencies being worked on. And at the end of each term, I use the Competencies tab to write individualized competency-based evaluations.
13. If you could only take one Additio App feature to a desert island, which one would it be and why?
I can’t choose just one — impossible!
14. What motivated you to become an Additio Certified Teacher?
What motivated me was that I was already playing that role in my school. Since I’d been using Additio App the longest and was already very familiar with all its tools, my colleagues started asking me what they could do, how to do certain things, and eventually they became hooked on using Additio App — just like I did at the beginning.
15. You’ve participated in training sessions and webinars — what motivates you to share your experience with other teachers?
Yes, I’ve participated in several Additio App webinars and contributed to a blog article about how PE teachers can manage when it rains and there’s no gym or covered area available. What motivates me? Simple: sharing is living. We’re all colleagues — the work isn’t just mine; it’s the whole teaching staff’s. That’s why I share all the resources I create freely on my site “Com mola EF” https://sites.google.com/view/commolaef/inici
16. If you could give one piece of advice to a new teacher just starting out, what would it be?
Patience — after 1 comes 2. Don’t be afraid to ask your colleagues anything you’re unsure about.
17. How do you imagine the future of assessment and classroom management with digital tools?
Even simpler, more objective, and more productive than it is now.
Would you also like to enhance your teaching practice with technology, just like Irene Pérez?
You can follow her advice by signing up for Additio App with the individual teacher plan — or, if you think your school could benefit from the school plan, you can request a free demo:
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