When I elected to take this course last fall I was a little weary of what I was getting into. I wasn't sure how much work it would consist of, which was important since I would be student teaching. I was not sure if the technology would be way over my head and to be honest I just wasn't sure how I would use this class. After many praises of the class from fellow classmates, and the recommendation of Amy Berry, I enrolled.
Wow! That's about all I can say. I came into class with some background knowledge of simple software like word, excel, and PowerPoint. I knew how to operate the technology in the classroom like the document camera and the projectors. If you would have asked me what a podcast and a wiki were I would have laughed.
Now, I feel like I know what it means to integrate technology into my teaching. Technology is not about using computers and having cool tech savvy stuff in your classroom. Integrating technology into the classroom means making meaningful technological lessons that enhance student learning. If there is one thing that I took away from this course, it is that technology should never be used just to say that you used technology. Planning a lesson solely to say you used technology is an injustice to students and yourself. When we use technology in the classroom, it should be because it makes the best sense for the lesson we are teaching. There are so many tools that are available that we as teachers could use technology all the time for meaningful reasons.
Our biggest hurdle is getting the buy in from other teachers that technology is not the bad guy. We have to sell our colleagues on the fact that technology doesn't have to be difficult. Using technology can be fun and an engaging way to involve our students.
I have learned several new ideas for use in my future classroom. The possibilities are endless.
For a person that only had basic technology skills on back in August, I feel that I could walk into my future classroom and create some real meaningful and valuable lessons that use technology as a delivery.
Every week as I would read about different tools, I would say to myself "I could really use this. I think this must be the coolest thing I've ever heard of." It just kept getting better every week. I have learned how to use search engines (five months ago I couldn't tell you what a search engine was) I now use search engines on a regular basis. My favorite would have to be souple where I can find PowerPoint presentations on any topic I desire.
Thank You to all of my past classmates that recommended this course. I am so glad that I took your advice and enrolled. I have learned how to integrate technology into my lessons so that my students are engaged and learning. I to will recommend this course to my peers.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Choose Your Tool
Dear Mrs. Cheek,
With the growing fascination of technology with our young students, I have taken the initiative to learn more about what is new in the technology age. I have been taking a Teaching with Technology class this semester that has opened up many venues for the use of technology in the classroom. The most important thing that I have learned this semester is that we as teachers do not use technology just to say we've used technology. When we use technology, we should have a true educational purpose.
With that being said, I have researched many ways to incorporate technology in the classroom and would like to approach you with one way that I feel could be beneficial for our students. The Web quest. What is a web quest? A web quest is an assignment where the teacher asks a student to use the world wide web to learn and synthesize their knowledge on a specific topic.
This web based activity can be more engaging than your typical read the chapter and answer the questions lesson. This web cast activity also allows students to research a topic more in depth but at the control of the teacher. Which provides a safe and ethical venue for students to become familiar with the world wide web.
The significance in this tool is that the materials selected to be in the web quest will be age and ability appropriate. Since the information that will be selected will be filtered and scrutinized by the classroom teacher first.
Not only is this an engaging way to grab the interest of our students, it is a highly visual activity that will meet the needs of our diverse learners. This activity can also be done independently or in small groups where students can collaborate with one another which addresses the needs of other learners as well.
I think allowing our technology savvy students the opportunity to use their skills in a safe and controlled environment will help them become better researchers and more advanced learners. I would be happy to take the lead on creating content based web quests for our team of teachers to use to enhance the learning of our students.
Sincerely,
Whitney Cox
With the growing fascination of technology with our young students, I have taken the initiative to learn more about what is new in the technology age. I have been taking a Teaching with Technology class this semester that has opened up many venues for the use of technology in the classroom. The most important thing that I have learned this semester is that we as teachers do not use technology just to say we've used technology. When we use technology, we should have a true educational purpose.
With that being said, I have researched many ways to incorporate technology in the classroom and would like to approach you with one way that I feel could be beneficial for our students. The Web quest. What is a web quest? A web quest is an assignment where the teacher asks a student to use the world wide web to learn and synthesize their knowledge on a specific topic.
This web based activity can be more engaging than your typical read the chapter and answer the questions lesson. This web cast activity also allows students to research a topic more in depth but at the control of the teacher. Which provides a safe and ethical venue for students to become familiar with the world wide web.
The significance in this tool is that the materials selected to be in the web quest will be age and ability appropriate. Since the information that will be selected will be filtered and scrutinized by the classroom teacher first.
Not only is this an engaging way to grab the interest of our students, it is a highly visual activity that will meet the needs of our diverse learners. This activity can also be done independently or in small groups where students can collaborate with one another which addresses the needs of other learners as well.
I think allowing our technology savvy students the opportunity to use their skills in a safe and controlled environment will help them become better researchers and more advanced learners. I would be happy to take the lead on creating content based web quests for our team of teachers to use to enhance the learning of our students.
Sincerely,
Whitney Cox
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