I feel as if there is quite a bit of controversy throughout education on the usage of technology. There are many pros' and equally as many cons. Using telecommunications to connect with fellow teachers, family members or students, using tools such as PowerPoint’s, scanners, multimedia and real world simulations are all positive forms of using technology. On the other hand, technology has some negative features. I believe that technology shapes our student’s lives and education if used properly. If not and the amount used in negative ways can affect their language, penmanship, and spelling. Technology is freezing these important parts in today’s curriculum. Yes, I said I was a “native” in class but I feel that when I was a student technology was just up and coming and the practice was learned, on my own or by my parents, not in school. I believe as teachers we need to lead the students to technology, monitor their progress, and use it as a tool to support their rich and deep learning experiences.
Therefore, as far as the quote from class, it is not the way you use the medium its what is in the message that really counts. The message, I believe, is the content we as teachers are guiding the children in our curriculum to use technology to get that important message across to themselves and their fellow classmates. I am doing my lesson plan on weather, from a science lesson. The usage of technology will be helpful in many ways. The first way it can be used in my information that I give to my students like in a PowerPoint presentation. I feel as if students find looking at graphs, pictures, and animation more engaging then taking notes on a piece of plain notebook paper. The second way I would use the Internet is to let the students explore using “monitored” websites on weather around the world. Finally, the usage in technology in my class I would put up my web cam and talk with my Aunt or Cousin that live in Colorado and Hungary and have them show us what kind of weather is out there right then and there. These three ways are not the only ways I could incorporate technology in my classroom. I can have grades on the Internet for parents to look up. A teacher website for due dates and classroom activities, we could watch dvd’s or vhs tapes in class, and so on and so forth. My main point I would like to get across is to make sure those important lessons in curriculum like spelling, grammar, sentence structure, etc do not get ignored or frozen because the usage of technology in the classroom.
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4 comments:
I really enjoyed reading your ideas about incorporating teachnology into your lesson plan, you are definitely on the right track!
I love your idea of incorporating technology in your classroom even for the families of the students. Most parents might be technologically advanced because of todays society, but they might not understand the same technology students will be using in your classroom. I think it would even be great to get the students and parents on the same wave length in which parents are aware and give ideas and feedback about technology in the classroom. Parents might have some great ideas based on their line of work and/ or feedback about what they feel their child should or should not focus on in response to technology! Great ideas!
The medium, which in this case, is the new communal paricipatory web sites whose content is never static but always changing and growing is more important in terms of the impact it's having on society than any of the acual information it's producing. It's radically altering the current system. Free, but amateurish information is being consumed at an ever increasing pace. As a result, the more traditional, professionally produced information and media outlets are losing market share hand over fist. It's an information de-evolution. Sure the big media giants had too much control and censorship over what information they provided. And they often had their own personal agendas that often biased their reporting. But at least there was a high level of professionalism and you could still find some outlets still holding themselves up to some kind of moral standard and fact-checking. But now, I'm afraid that in more cases than not we have a lot of uninformed amateurs being taken at their word with little if any fact checking. How dangerous is that? I've gone on too long.
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