Adopt and Adapt...Will educators see the importance of technology in the classroom?

"An important question is, how many of these new ways will ever be integrated into our instruction -- or even understood by educators?"

As I read the article, Adopt and Adapt: Shaping Tech for the Classroom, many thoughts were running through my head. The quote above is talking about the "new ways" in reference to the integration of technology in the classroom. As I was reading, first I reflected on past experiences in field placements and in my current student teaching placement and how technology is used in each of those situations. Then, I reflected on the technology that I have seen used by educators and how well those educators knew how to use the technology provided. Overall, I can say that with the technology that has been provided to educators, MOST is not being used in effective ways and MANY teachers spend MOST of their time trying to figure out how the technology works.

"...it is crucial for educators to learn to listen, to observe, to ask, and to try all the new methods their students have already figured out, and do so regularly."

Can technology be implemented and integrated in our daily instruction? Yes, educators have to be open to learn NEW ways to teach and address their students needs in the classroom in NEW ways. Motivating students is essential in teaching, in order to motivate students, you have to first know what motivates them. It is obvious that technology is a HUGE influence in students lives. Students are apart of technology just as much as they are apart of this world. I strongly believe that technology can be that link to motivation that many educators are in search of. While all of this sounds so easy to implement, I know it's not. That's why you have to go back to the quote above and know that educators are going to have to LEARN, ASK QUESTIONS, and try their best to stay with or AHEAD of what students already know about technology.

"So, let's not just adopt technology into our schools. Let's adapt it, push it, pull it, iterate with it, experiment with it, test it, and redo it, until we reach the point where we and our kids truly feel we've done our very best."

I know that as a new teacher, I want to provide my students with what's current and fresh. I want my students to be motivated by ALL lessons and LEARN as much as possible. In order to achieve this goal, I will have to stay "with it" as an educator and be willing to LEARN all the "new ways" of learning and teaching that are out there for my students! I believe that technology should be adopted and adapted by ALL educators.

Should blogging be apart of your classroom?

Blogging is somewhat knew to me. I really had never heard of a blog or blogging until this past semester where I had to first create my own blog. In my college class, we used the blog to build community within our class and respond to different readings each week. It was actually a pretty effective way to communicate with my peers I wouldn't normally have talked to in the classroom. As a college student I found it pretty interesting to see everyone opinion's on different texts we had read and how differently everyone thoughts were. The blog was a way that everyone could have a voice, state their opinion and feel very apart of the class.

While I liked having a blog for my college class, at first I didn't know if I completely liked the idea of blogging with elementary students. The reason I was a little hesitant at first was mainly the safety issue. The blog is very public and out there for anyone to read. I at first felt that parents and many school authorities would not like the idea of putting students at any risk. But as I was reading, my opinion of blogs in the classroom began to change...

Like I said before, blogging is very new to me. As I was reading in our text this week, I began to learn more about ways that you can protect students and the class on the blog. Of course I would have to teach students the do's and don'ts of blogging and it may even require meeting with the parents/school officials to teach them of the safety measures to take when blogging. By teaching the students/teachers/parents/school authorities to be responsible bloggers and monitoring the site often, blogging could be a safe way for students to express their thoughts in a new and creative way.

I am really beginning to see how beneficial blogging could be to the classroom. Students would have the freedom to blog from home/school, whenever they wanted with questions and comments on their learning. It could also be a way to build community, just as it was in my college class. Teaching students to read/respond to classmates thoughts/opinion will only prepare them more for the real world and life.

I am excited to learn how to bring blogs to the classroom!

Strategies I use when researching

-I love google...I google almost everything!!
-Once I find a site that looks like it is credited, I start printing off information I think will be useful
-If I find that google does not supply me with the best information needed, I then go to the text I think may have the answer or be of some help

Ready to Learn!!

I am really excited about this class!! There are so many neat ways to incorporate technology in the classroom and it's exciting to know that by the end of this class I will know how to use some of the new technology!

As I was reading chapter 2, I read about school websites and how they can be used as a tool for communicating with parents! I think school web-pages can be a great resource!! I enjoy looking at school and classroom sites to see what's going on in different areas! I think that when used appropriately, they can be very effective! I would love to learn how to create a school web-page for future reference!!

Like I said before, I am very excited to see what the semester has in store!! :-)