Technology in the Classroom

I, as an educator, can see myself using technology in my classroom in the future. I had never really experienced using this level of technology in any of my educational experience, and I feel that it was really beneificial to me. Using technologies allow students to think at higher orders of thinking and allow them to think outside of the box by using their imagination and creativity. I can really see myself using interactive powerpoints that allow the students to get involved in the lesson more. I also like the use of google documents because it allows me as a teacher more freedom to assign group projects. Group members can collaborate their ideas at home or a different location outside of the classroom whithout actually having to sit beside each other to do the work. I also think that using audio and video files would be great to attract those auditory or visual learners that usually are forgotten about. These can really aid the teaching process in that they provide a real life example of how the topic is really used in every day life.

My views of technology in the classroom have definitely changed over the course of the past seven weeks. In the beginning, I was overwhelmed with the amount of technology that I would have to learn and be able to use. However, I now realize that it really isn't that difficult and is very effective to use in the classroom. After seeing my classmates lesson presentations, I have realized that the lessons that they taught were more effective than any lesson I have experienced in my educational career. They really allow the students to think at higher levels. Without having to teach and tell the students everything, a teacher can allow the students to figure it out on their own by researching or collaborating with others to find answers. I think that if teachers would have used these lessons in my schools, it would have reached a lot more students. It also made learning fun. Being able to create a blog, and write in google documents were all fun for me to do, yet very educational. The key to educating children is to make it seem as though they are not learning, but that they are only playing or having fun. I believe that using technology really allows students to have fun.

Copyright Issues in the Classroom

I think that the first and foremost rule about copyright issues in the classroom is always cite the source you use no matter what. It is the simplest rule, yet probably the most overlooked. Another simple rule is to make sure that the source you are using is going to be used for educational purposes and will provide some sort of aid to the students' learning process. A lot of teachers in my school would just show movies in their classrooms to take up time, or when they were absent, they would tell the subsitute to play a movie. Most of the time these movies had no relavance to what we were learning, and now I know this was a clear violation of copyright laws.

When I researched this topic on http://www6.district125.k12.il.us/staffdev/Copyright.html, educators are only permitted to use the specified amount stated below in their classrooms:
"Motion media: 10% or 3 minutes, Text: 10% or 1000 words, Music, Lyrics, Music Video: 10% or 30 seconds, Numerical Data Sets: 10% or 2500 fields or cell entries , Illustrations and Photographs: 10% or 15 images in a collection; no more than 5 by a single artist or photographer." I didn't realize that we were only allowed to use such a small amount of these resources even if we cite them. I know that most of these guidelines are not followed by most teachers because most of my teachers in my educational experience have violated these.

I think that dealing with these copyright laws in the classroom can be very difficult if educators are not educated on the topic. I think the first thing that teachers need to do is to attend seminars and conferences dealing with this topic because it is obviously very important in the educational setting to set a good example for students. My teachers never knew about these rules, and therefore did not apply them to their instruction. I also think that principals or supervisors of instructors need to rutinely check up on instructors to make sure that they are following these guidelines. If schools are available to be sued for these copyright issues, it is important that advisors make sure that these rules are being applied if they do not want their school to be sued. I think educating the teachers and making sure that they actually use these guidelines are very imprtant to assure copyright laws are taken more seriously.

When I become a student teacher...

When I am student teaching, I would like for the students to have not only interactions with the me, the teacher, but also with the other students. I would like for their desks to be set up in groups of four or five depending on the class size. This way, when they are working on something, they can ask each other for help without me having to attend to every single student. I feel that it is important for students to be able to address their problems with other students and start solving problems on their own. This will help them to obtain responsibility and independence characteristics. Working in groups also helps students to learn concepts like sharing, kindness, and leadership. However, I would have to test the group seating arrangement out for a few days. If the students abused the privilege and were talking to much and not getting their work done, then I would have to put them back into rows.
I would also like for students to be able to develop information themselves. I would like to have them research answers on computers or in books, so that every answer is not always coming from me. Children need to know that they will not always have a teacher to tell them the correct answer; they will need to find some solutions on their own. Research will help them to learn more than just the information a teacher would provide. They have to read through articles or summaries to find answers; the answers are not just standing alone waiting for someone to find them. Technology is a very important topic in education now, so it is important to start implementing technology concepts at a young age so that it stays consistently with them throughout their education. Using effective power points, audio or video examples, and simple programs like Microsoft Word and Excel can be tactfully implemented into the lessons to make learning more fun.
I also think that instruction should not be the same thing day after day. There are times when activities are appropriate for kinesthetic learners, but power point presentations and videos might be more suitable for visual learners, and audio examples can be used for auditory learners. There are so many different types of learners out there, so it is important to vary instruction to be able to reach every child.
I have a lot of ideas for my instruction as you can see, but mostly I would just like to vary it as much as I can without losing the students. I think that it will really keep the students interested. Hopefully they will think: what does she have planned for us next??

Keeping up with technology

Keeping up with technology alone is very difficult. Keeping up with technology in the classroom is an even harder task. What students need to do it visit websites and read current articles that are updated frequently.
I found this website, http://www.the21stcenturyclassroom.com/, which has equipment, products, and they even have 21st century classroom lesson plans. This website even has a place where you can sign up to get emailed of when they have updates on new products or lessons. I think that this would be a good website to visit a lot to keep up with technology as an education student because it gives you access to a lot of resources that can be used in the classroom, but also are updated frequently.
This website, http://www.21stcenturyschools.com/Designing_21st_Century_Classroom.htm, offers a two day course that helps teachers change their curriculum, update their classroom technology, and help teach them about the new technologies that can be used in classroom settings. A course like this would be very helpful to teachers after they graduate from SU because it teaches them about the most updated programs and equipment that can be used for the students' best learning.
This is another website that would be very helpful to keep in mind: http://21centuryconnections.com/. This website is for teachers, students, and even parents. it has podcasts for parents to listen to so that they can understand what their child is learning and help them to help their child have better success. It also has updates which inform viewers of new updates in technology, tips for how to implement technology into lessons for teachers, tools and videos to help students understand certain subjects better, and it also has blogs that you can ask questions and comment on.
Another website that is good to look at is: http://www.21-learn.com/. It has links to curriculum that incorporates 21st century skills. It also has interative learning for students along with teachers to help keep not only the students updated but the teachers as well. The problem most times in schools is that students know more about technology than the teachers do, so it is important for teachers to keep updated with these 21st century skills. It does no good to have a student know more than a teacher does about how to implement technology into the classroom.
These 21st century skills are important to society, and if a student is not taught them in school, they will not know how to function in society soon. The world is becoming more and more technologically advanced and it is important the teachers, the most important people to know this, are kept up to date with it so that they can teach it to their students. They are in fact the future.

Did you know?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhnWKg9B2-8

This video made me think that our nation needs to spend a lot more time and money on education. I thought it was absolutely repulsive that America spent more than twice as much on creating Nintendo than they did on education. Education is a survival need and needs to be thought of more like that. Educating the children of today will only help us in the future. It was also surprising to me that China will soon be the top English speaking country over America. I think we seriously need to consider what our countries ideals are and we need to focus on becoming advanced in those areas. China and India are not only more populated than us, but they are also beating Americans on tests that are even written in the English language. This video really upset me because it showed the facts of how our nation is not keeping up with others. Other countries are adapting to our language and becoming more sufficient in it than we are. This made me realize, that education is changing and the role of the teacher has become more than what you would normally think it would be. Teachers are expected to incorporate technology into their lessons more effectively and also at younger ages. If technology is incorporated at a young age, it will become easier for students to use and implement into their lives. If teachers start teaching children how to use the internet properly and safely at a young age, it will carry through to their teenage years where many students seem to get off the wrong track. I know that when I was in high school, technology was not implemented other than we had to learn how to type sufficiently. I had never thought of ever making a power point and when I was first assigned a power point presentation in college, it came to a shock to me. I am now very behind in the technology advances and wish that I had experienced it more throughout my life because it would have been easier to use now.

Challenges with Integrating Technology

Some challenges that may interfere with integrating technology into the classroom include access to computers, not enough computers for students, and the curriculum.
Some schools do not have the adequate funding to enable the proper amount of computers needed for the school. Most schools have at least one computer lab. However, the problem becomes sharing the lab with the entire school. If it is a big school with a lot of students, it becomes a dilemma of having adequate time for the students to use the lab. This limits you as a teacher because you will only be allotted maybe one class a week where you can incorporate technology into your lessons. During the limited time, you could maybe assign homework for them to do on their computers at home to overcome this issue. You can have them create a blog where they can submit their homework assignments or have them use google docs to allow them to read and respond to excerpts that you post.
Another problem is not having enough students for each individual student. This could become a problem because it would create the issue that one student may be getting more access than another. You, as a teacher, could overcome this issue by creating groups that are assigned to the same computer each time. Each student will have to share the time. For instance, if one student learns how to make a blog screen name and password, the next student will be able to do the same thing. This is will limit the amount the teacher can do in a certain amount of time because each student will have to do each direction you give.
The last problem is that some schools curriculum does not allow them to incorporate technology into their classrooms. Some schools actually discourage it because they are worried that students will not have enough time to learn how to use the computers. Standardized testing is a big part of curriculum now because more teachers are just teaching what is going to be on the tests. Some schools are more worried about their students passing these tests rather than educating them about technology. This can be overcome by giving the students homework where they can go home and use their computers at home to post things on their blogs or googledocs. You can also just incorporate technology by showing them videos, audio, or even using effective power points.

Blogs relating to technology in the classroom

http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/

Broadband Future & Connecting the Real

This blog was about how k-12 education is going to be the largest market for computers in the next decade because teachers need to start incorporating technology into the classroom or else students will soon not be able to function in society. He gave an example of how with the iphone, you can take a picture of any book, CD, DVD, or video game and within seconds, have a rating, description and several links to amazon, and other links.

http://kathyschrock.net/blog/
In this blog, Kathy Schrock talked about " how teachers that have grown up with technology in their lives, "Technology Pioneers" have effectively incorporated technology in their classrooms. However, the "Digital Immigrants," people who have come later to technology have new ways of incorporating technology in the classroom and it is important for these people with their new ideas to share them with the "Digital natives," the new teachers who have no yet experienced technology in the classroom.

From these blogs, I have realized that technology is a bigger part of society than I had thought. In my high school, technology was not incorporated really at all. We had one class our Freshmen year in which we learned how type. They provided us with the least amount they could have possibly done. From this, it was a shock to me to have to make power points and use technology in my projects, presentations, and papers. I had never heard of online journals or other credited websites such as these. I understand now from our first class and after reading these blogs, that technology is a much bigger part of our world than I had thought. I believe that it is vital that more technology be incorporated into classrooms.


When I was looking for a topic to do my my lesson on for this class, I came across so many lesson plans that had websites for the students to link to and use. I was so excited to see all of the fun games and activities that these websites involved. I think that using these websites would have helped me a lot if I were to have used them in elementary school. Literally, almost every lesson plan I clicked on had a link to other websites that involved fun activities for the students to partake in. I think these are a good way for children to learn more efficiently because it allows them to play games while also learning at the same time. I cannot wait to incorporate these websites into my classroom because I think it will really be able to hold the childrens attention and allow them to learn more information at one time.