I feel like technology use is a great tool to utilize in your classroom, however, I do not feel that it should be solely relied upon. I do quite a bit of online research while planning instruction in my Kindergarten classroom. I view teacher's blogs and use social media sites such as Pinterest to "borrow" ideas and activities for my kids. I also utilize my smart board daily in my room and show my kids videos from discoveryeducation.com and brainpopjr. As far as individual use I do not have any student computers in my room, however I do utilize iPads in my room. They are only used as a reinforcement of material already taught. For example I recently did a unit of study with seasons. There is an app dealing with seasons. They view a picture and the voice on the app describes a season and in the picture are a boy and girl. The role of the student is to click on things that do not belong in the picture so that it will change to what is appropriate for the described season. For example the background had snow and bare trees well the boy in the picture was wearing flip flops. The student had to click on the flip flops and it changed to snow boots. I only have 5 iPads available for my room and they must be checked out from our after school program so when I use them they are used in a learning center.
I think it's great to incorporate technology into your classroom because like the article stated it is becoming more prevalent. In my case today I had planned in using Internet videos/activities for my class on the smart board for my grammar lesson and it turned out our Internet was down today so....always have a back up plan!
A Blog for students to comment on their learning process as they expand their knowledge of using technology in the classroom
Technology is great when it works. It seems to me the we as educators sometimes fear the idea of new technology, but once we are comfortable using it, we wonder how we ever lived without it. I think that Ipads are so conveient for teaching the primary grades. There are so many apps to use, and I find myself being challeged, but also enjoying many of the educational games. I think that kids today are learning so much differenty than I did. We have so much information at our fingertips.
ReplyDeleteWhen technology is limited, that's when there is an issue. I only have four computers in my classroom that the students have access to freely. I have used all the technology that you described in my classroom also. I agree with Matt, that we use what we are comfortable with. Those are the only ones I am comfortable using. Also, trying to find the spare time to learn all the new things, can become a bit overwhelming. Then you end up not learning any of it. I believe that if we focus on one topic at a time we might learn a little bit more. But with technology rapidly changing, I don't think we will ever be able to keep up with the latest trends. Maybe the students can teach us teachers how to survive in this new environment and we can learn from them.
ReplyDeleteJamie,
DeleteIt's funny you mentioned the students teaching us. When I did my student teaching in the Spring of 2008 there weren't any smart boards in my school. I attended a PD on them in 2009 but didn't get an official teaching job until 2011-2012 school year... I had worked as the coordinator of the 21st century community learning center after school program so when I finally did get in a classroom I had forgotten the basics if the smart board! After all I had only attended one 3 hr pd! So my 2nd graders were literally teaching me how to use the smart board!!!
Jamie,
DeleteIt's funny you mentioned the students teaching us. When I did my student teaching in the Spring of 2008 there weren't any smart boards in my school. I attended a PD on them in 2009 but didn't get an official teaching job until 2011-2012 school year... I had worked as the coordinator of the 21st century community learning center after school program so when I finally did get in a classroom I had forgotten the basics if the smart board! After all I had only attended one 3 hr pd! So my 2nd graders were literally teaching me how to use the smart board!!!
Jamie,
DeleteI too only have four computers in my classroom that the students can access . I have used all the technology that Megan described in her classroom. As a teacher you must always be prepared for a technology malfunction. On occassions, I have pulled up activities and my students had to respond on white boards that they keep inside their desks. While technology is good, it is not something you can always rely. I have a third grade class and technology has been a great way to captivate and motivate my students in a variety of subject areas.
Megan,
ReplyDeleteWhen I taught Kindergarten, I also used Discoveryeducation.com and brainpopjr. The kids absolutely loved it! The only thing, is what Matt said, "When it works." I have had many instances when I plan a technology related lesson, and the computers/internet may not be performing. Even with Adult Education, which is what I am teaching now, technology plays a huge role in student performance, test related topics, and scoring of tests. Technology does bring out a different form of learning for students, and I do enjoy it very much. The only problem is, the one day that you plan on doing a technology related lesson, plan a back up because the system may be down. Better to be safe than sorry. :(