In the words of Marion Ginapolis (Superintendent, Lake Orion Community Schools, Michigan), “It is not about the technology; it’s about sharing knowledge and information, communicating efficiently, building learning communities and creating a culture of professionalism in schools. These are the key responsibilities of all educational leaders”.
Technology in the classroom is something that was difficult for me during my first practicum. The school did not have any smart boards and the library only had 11 computers. I attempted to do a lesson with the computers; however, this was difficult because students had to pair up. Since it was a math lesson, students had to take turns answering questions.
I plan to use technology in my lessons/classroom whenever possible during my next practicum and in my own practice. I am hoping that there will be at least one smart board in the school that I can have access to. I have completed smart board training part one and smart board training part two. I would love to be able to put this new knowledge into practice to enhance my lessons and keep my students engaged in what I am teaching.
Although a smart board is the most common piece of technology that I would ideally like to use in my class, there are many other resources that I would also like to use. Edublogs is a resource that I would like to use so my students can blog and I can also blog on behalf of the class. This will be a great way to communicate with parents and guardians. Skype and Epals would also be neat to use to communicate with people in other schools around the world or even with people with various careers around the world. This would be great for social studies. Educreations is also something that I would like to try in my classroom. This Ipad application allows for students to create various types of videos to showcase their knowledge in an area.
My ideal classroom would have a smart board in it. I would use it at least once a day and allow for students to come up and interact with it as well. My classroom would have (or borrow) a cart with either laptops or Ipads so my students would be able to use resources such as the ones that I listed earlier. I would use technology and media as a classroom management strategy as well. Class Dojo is something that I recently signed up for; however, I have not had the chance to try it out in a classroom yet. This is a website where teachers give each student a monster avatar. The teacher can give each monster rewards on the website. Rewards can be discussed with the class so they know what is expected of them and what they should be striving for. This website also allows for parent communication. This is probably not a realistic expectation of a common classroom. After discussing practicums with my peers, I have come to realize that a lot of schools do not have a budget to fund technology pieces such as smart boards and iPads.
Reference links can be found on my reference page.
Talk soon, S.
Technology in the classroom is something that was difficult for me during my first practicum. The school did not have any smart boards and the library only had 11 computers. I attempted to do a lesson with the computers; however, this was difficult because students had to pair up. Since it was a math lesson, students had to take turns answering questions.
I plan to use technology in my lessons/classroom whenever possible during my next practicum and in my own practice. I am hoping that there will be at least one smart board in the school that I can have access to. I have completed smart board training part one and smart board training part two. I would love to be able to put this new knowledge into practice to enhance my lessons and keep my students engaged in what I am teaching.
Although a smart board is the most common piece of technology that I would ideally like to use in my class, there are many other resources that I would also like to use. Edublogs is a resource that I would like to use so my students can blog and I can also blog on behalf of the class. This will be a great way to communicate with parents and guardians. Skype and Epals would also be neat to use to communicate with people in other schools around the world or even with people with various careers around the world. This would be great for social studies. Educreations is also something that I would like to try in my classroom. This Ipad application allows for students to create various types of videos to showcase their knowledge in an area.
My ideal classroom would have a smart board in it. I would use it at least once a day and allow for students to come up and interact with it as well. My classroom would have (or borrow) a cart with either laptops or Ipads so my students would be able to use resources such as the ones that I listed earlier. I would use technology and media as a classroom management strategy as well. Class Dojo is something that I recently signed up for; however, I have not had the chance to try it out in a classroom yet. This is a website where teachers give each student a monster avatar. The teacher can give each monster rewards on the website. Rewards can be discussed with the class so they know what is expected of them and what they should be striving for. This website also allows for parent communication. This is probably not a realistic expectation of a common classroom. After discussing practicums with my peers, I have come to realize that a lot of schools do not have a budget to fund technology pieces such as smart boards and iPads.
Reference links can be found on my reference page.
Talk soon, S.