My Current View of Technology in the Classroom

After a quick and thorough introduction to the use of technology in the classroom, I feel more comfortable saying that there are many tools available that can be easily manipulated by the teacher to reach any designated educational audience.

At the beginning of school, my biggest concern was finding an efficient way of reaching the parents and families at their leisure. I strongly feel that a blog is an instrumental tool for the teacher regardless of the students' abilities. The blog allows me to easily post any thoughts or pictures from the classroom and has the security settings appropriate for educational use.

I am excited to bring my director the idea of creating a classroom or department wide blog. I think this will excite the parents and help keep them interested in their child's educational journey. The comment section could potentially be one of the most useful aspects of the blog because the parents could give me their feedback or even post the words or ideas of their children.

Post #12

The Computer Delusion

Todd Oppenheimer's article The Computer Delusion brings up many points that I think are crucial to the development of school curricula. I strongly believe that school provides the foundations we need to pursuit our innate skills. It is the uniqueness of each person's skills that creates the advancement of society. I think it is necessary for schools to introduce students to their skills and support them along the way, as varied as the skills may be.

Oppenheimer brings up the point that now many vocational oriented classes are being replaced with computer classes. It is very important to stay current with the technological trends, however, I think that by removing the vocational classes we are doing a disservice to society.

Our society, as technologically advanced as we become, is always going to be reliant upon those people who do our dirty work. Not everyone is going to have the brain power to advance on to college, and it is important that we develop the skill set for those who wish not to continue their education after high school.

Post #11

Class Experience

Educational Technology has often been a topic that I would consistently avoid within the classroom. Because I teach in Early Childhood, it is difficult to due the research to find developmentally appropriate uses for technology. The technology department at the school has spend many meetings within our early childhood building, and each time it seems that they were pushing materials, such as smart boards, that would have little use other than collecting dust.

I am excited to be learning ways to explore and create technological teaching and communication tools on my own, making me less dependent on the busy people in the technology department. Much of the material we have covered thus far, including the website and the blog, are of high importance to me because I have been thinking of updating the way I communicate with families.

For the future, I would love to be able to review a list technological tools that are developmentally appropriate for stated ages. This could help teachers narrow down the vast search of classroom tools, making it less daunting.


Post #8

Copyright issues for teachers

Copyright issues are becoming increasingly worrisome for teachers. As teachers, we are constantly being pushed to utilize numerous technological tools to reach all types of learners. For many teachers who are not entirely comfortable with all the technological mediums, copyright issues can be very tricky and confusing.

I find being in the field of education makes copyright issues even more confusing because teachers are allowed to use copyrighted material depending on how and where they use it. For others who are not in the field of education it is pretty straight forward; if you are not paying for the right to access and use the material then it is illegal.

Based on experience with other teachers who are not too technologically savvy, it seems that it would be very beneficial for IT professionals to explicitly describe what teachers can and cannot do when presenting material to the class.

Universal Design for Learning

The universal design for learning is essentially the foundation for special education teachers. It is important to always be aware of the numerous different learning styles within one classroom, and because of this, the teacher must create numerous different ways to have a similar impact on all students.

Technology helps teachers accomplish this task. For many teachers, the idea of differentiating your lesson plan to custom suit each child in the class can be overwhelming and frightening. The more I learn how to navigate the technological tools that are aimed at teachers, the easier it seems to reach a broad audience within the class.

The key point of the UDL is flexibility. The flexibility is reached when a student is able to access different resources with links that are embedded in the text. The UDL also emphasizes the ability to use whichever medium you prefer, not limiting a student to a medium that is extra challenging for them. Flexibility is key for a student to teach students with special needs, but it could be extremely difficult for a teacher to be flexible enough if they are not familiar with all the recent technological teaching tools.

Post #5b

Healthy and Active Life

My focus is Healthy and Active life in grades k-4. I enjoy teaching young children how to live healthy and happy lives. Much of this comes from basic techniques that can be demonstrated or shown to the students. The younger the child the more interactive a lesson needs to be.

Digital imagery will help the students identify a theme or activity with their limited vocabulary. By manipulating digital images, I could engage them with funny photos or incorporate some of their iconic figures.

The inspiration program would be most applicable to the teachers during the planning phase. It is useful as a brainstorming tool during meetings that could later be organized and accessible for all teachers.

Post #6

Concept Mapping

Concept mapping would work for me in Early Childhood by creating a map of different lessons and possibilities. My classroom is student driven, and whenever a topic intrigues the students we explore it further.

With concept mapping I could have some ideas already mapped out from previous years as a potential guide for the paths and tools that are applicable.

Using the Inspiration program makes concept mapping very easy. You can begin with your initial idea and stem off of that. After I entered my data, I decided I wanted to change the way it looked to better suit my needs. The program allowed me to easily drag the bubbles to where I thought was best.

Blog #5

Our tableaux was the ant and the grasshopper. This fable is about an ant who works hard gathering food during the summer so he can eat and survive during the winter. The grasshopper on the other hand, would rather relax and enjoy his summer months. In the end, the grasshopper ends up dying from starvation while the ant eats his food he had stored.

I used the photo of the ants working and found a cartoon image of an ant on the internet. In photoshop I moved the cartoon image so that it was part of our tableaux.

Digital imagery is a crucial component in my classroom. We use it daily to document the tremendous growth experienced within Early Childhood. The manipulation of digital imagery is not widely used in our classroom and I may need to play around with it more in order to find an appropriate use for it.

blog #4

Teddy Bears Go Blogging

In response to the article, Teddy Bears Go Blogging, I am intrigued how I can use a blog within Early Childhood. It seems like an easy way for both the parents and the teachers to communicate at one's leisure. Due to the security settings available, I feel comfortable sharing photos and stories on a blog.

I envision at least a weekly, possibly even a daily post on my classroom's blog. Scattered with pictures of the children engaged in different activities, the posts could help the parents create a better connection with the school, teachers and their own child. I am curious to explore how else you can customize your blog. Having links to my email and the schools website fixed at the top would be very useful.

Blog #3 a and b

My current use of technology

Over the years we have had many meetings regarding new technology in the classroom. I find comfortable working with computers, digital cameras, and other technological tools found in the classroom. This past year specifically, we have utilized a flip camera as a way to document behaviors within the classroom for professional advice. Personally, I use technology daily. I am very comfortable with uploading and editing photographs, doing research online and using the internet to communicate with friends and family.

With this class I hope to find developmentally appropriate ways to reach the children within the classroom and outside of the classroom. I would like to be able to have a technological tool that can help the family view the learning that is taking place within the classroom. We currently have a system in place, but unfortunately it is not entirely time efficient.

Blog #2

eTIPS-Educational technology integration and implementation principles (PDF) by S. Dexter

Sarah Dexter writes about how the use of technology adds value to the teaching and learning that takes place within a classroom. I find this to be a very general statement. As a teacher in an Early Childhood Program, I find technology to aid curiosity and an important tool to capture a students learning within the classroom, yet I am very cautious with the use of technology. The child’s brain is very delicate, and it is important that as teachers we are able to provide developmentally appropriate material to stimulate the brain accordingly. Although many computer programs for young children are becoming popular with parents, we often encourage families to find creative ways of encouraging learning at home without the use of the computer.

As a program we came to this decision through research and consultation with professionals in the cognition field. It was a very difficult decision to come by, but much of the technology that was marketed for parents of young children was not entirely developmentally appropriate for the age. As Sarah Dexter asked, “what is the cognitive demand on the learner?”
Technology can be a tremendous tool for the classroom when used appropriately. Technology can bring the solar system to life and take children on adventures to lands they have never seen. I feel that technology has the potential to promote curiosity and motivate students.




Blog #1