A Whole New World

/in /by

I was very lucky this semester to be in a classroom where there was an immense amount of technology access. My students had their own Ipads and used it almost everyday, especially Khan Academy. Since my school is 100% low socioeconomic, having these Ipads are very beneficial.

Technology is an engagement tool for my students. Every chance they get to use the Ipads, they take it and take full advantage of it. When they finish work early, they are to work on their Ipads. The applications/websites that students use on a daily basis are Khan Academy, ixl.com, Accelerated Reader, and extra math. My GATE students have recently started using the Keynote application, which is similar to PowerPoint, to work on a GATE project.

Besides the Ipads, we have an Apple TV and an ELMO. We consistently show videos, as well, when it is aligned to our lesson.

Since I was able to experience technology in my placement, I was given a different perspective of technology in the classroom. Now that we have it, I can’t imagine technology. Students are constantly given extra opportunity to learn with these Ipads. When they are done with work, they continue to work and learn, but in an engaging way. My lesson plans and school days would be more dull, if it we did not have technology. I really hope when I have my classroom, I will have the privilege to have access to technology, just like this placement. I will provide my students with as much opportunity with technology implemented in their education as I can, even if it will just be with my own Ipad.

Technology in my Future Classroom

/in /by

If I am so lucky as to teach in a school that has access to technology I will definitely put it to use! Technology is such an important skill for students to learn. We as a society are moving to a technologically based world and learning to use technology is definitely a needed skill. Students will only be ahead the sooner they learn how to use technology and how to apply it’s use to other disciplines.

I think the best place to start with technology is to apply it to the classroom. For example, students can learn to use Word Processors or GoogleDocs while typing up a piece of writing from class. Once students grasp the basic programs on the computer and understand it within context of the general classroom then we can start to expand to other things. Students will eventually be at the point where they know more than most of the teachers! The key is to get students started early. By allowing students controlled access early on they are more likely to be able to do more advanced things and apply technology to more disciplines later on.

Through this course on technology I have learned more about technology and it’s use in schools. There is definitely a lot to learn from people and schools that are already diving in to technology in education. It can only be expected that technology will continue to grow in schools and will continue to grow in the world. We as teachers need to educate ourselves so we can educate our students and give them more opportunities for success in the world.

Google Chromebooks in ACTION!

/in /by

Today I visited another classroom in the school in which I am  student teaching. I observed a fifth grade class and a technology lesson! The fifth grade at this school shares chrome books within the grade and this was a very interesting lesson to see. First of all, it was amazing to see these students using GoogleDocs and making multiple tabs in their browser-they were already more advanced than many of us who saw the introduction of the internet! These students are learning important skills that they will utilize for the rest of their education and beyond.

The students were doing a math activity and were putting their information into a table already set up for them by their teacher. The students were being asked to find the cost of giving all of the gifts as presented in “The 12 Days of Christmas” christmas song. https://www.pncchristmaspriceindex.com Has calculated the cost of each item and the students were multiplying the cost by how many days that item was given. Students were also keeping a running total after finding the cost of each item. It was a very fun project and it was really great to see technology in the classroom!