Technology Teaching in the Future

As educational technology continues to change the role of teachers will continue to change as well. Teachers are already starting to teach in online classrooms that did not exist even five or ten years ago. I think the teachers role will change a lot because the communication with the parents as well as the students will change. Many teachers now are beginning to have their own classroom websites and give out their e-mail addresses which make the teacher more assessable to the parents. This could help students succeed in the classroom because parents can be more involved in their education. Even working parents can be as involved as non-working parents. They can see pictures and videos of their students work from the classroom with the existing technology.
As technology becomes more involved in the students lives I think that it will have to become more dominant in the classroom in order to keep the students attention and maximize their learning potential. Students need to have technology in their education and lives in order for the students to succeed in the future. Teachers need to keep up with technologies in order to keep up with their students. We as teachers need to make sure we know what are student are doing and are interested in to keep their interest in the classroom and to keep them on task especially with the changing technologies.
I think in the future there will be much more technology in the classroom. I hope in the future that each student will be able to have their own computer. Students will be able to take notes electronically and communicate with others electronically as well. Teachers will all keep electronic files on their students which will be more efficient when it comes time to assess the students. Students will have access to more information that is not available in the classroom or library now. New videos and ways to communicate with people all over the world students will have access unlimited information. They will do most of their homework and testing online which can be graded and assessed more quickly. Students will also be able to do more lessons on the computer which will be able to help students who are struggling in class or are ahead of other students in the class. When each student has more access to technology each lesson will be able to be adjusted to the appropriate level. In the future students will be more prepared when they come into the classroom because parents will be able to become more involved even at a distance and they will be familiar with text from all the technology they are constantly surrounded by such as video games and television.
The future of teaching and learning will be interesting to see how each changes as the world changes. The important thing is that we as teachers need to keep up with technology as well as our students to be effective in the classroom.

I love educational technology... NOT

Using technology in the classroom or at home can be rewarding and stressful. Throughout the class I have felt both. I have had my internet shut down in the middle of projects or have had issues with things just not cooperating with me at a particular moment. I think the most stressful thing for me is the webquest. Searching for reliable and reputable sources online is difficult. I do not want to refer my students or a teacher to Wikipedia by any means and many other websites are too vague or too detailed for ECE students. In order to use any technology in your classroom it must be previewed first and that has to be the most tedious and stressful task because you are basically reviewing every aspect of the media from visual, readability and information. I think that I could learn any type of technology with the right guidance. I grew up in an age where I was constantly surrounded by changing media like video games, music, television and computers. I am adaptable to learning and using the new technology that is thrown at me which will be very valuable to me as a teacher in the future.

While I have been in classrooms I have seen many issues with technology. I have seen students get “click-happy” with the computers until they freeze and need rebooted which is something I am concerned with being an ECE teacher. I have also been in classes where I have linked a video and it got deleted or moved and did not work for a presentation which is embarrassing and can ruin a lesson if that was a key aspect of the lesson. Another thing that I am worried about with ECE students is them being near expensive technology. They are often pushing and tripping the bumping into things. In the first grade classroom I was in I saw the printer get unplugged at least four or five times in three months!!

When I have my own classroom I would like to keep electronic records on my students, and after being in this class I really thing that would be helpful and efficient but during this class I was working on the RWA project where you fill in the boxes and use Blooms Taxonomy and my computer shut down three times and I lost all my information which was stressful because I had to keep on re-doing it! Also during this class I had to get a new hard drive on my desktop computer where I usually do a lot of my work, luckily my work was all backed up so I learned exactly why that needs to be done almost daily because if I kept electronic records on my students and the computer crashed I would be up the creek when it came time for grades to be turned in!

All in all I found Educational technology to be very helpful because even when I knew how to use a particular piece or technology or a certain program I was able to get ideas on how to implement it into my classroom.

My Dream Classroom

My wish list for my classroom would have many different types of technology. I would like to have five computers with at least one color printer so I can use the computers in my center time for my students by splitting my class of thirty into six groups of five. On each computer I would like to have Microsoft Office so my students can learn how to use these programs and I can also use them to set up files for student. Each student could have a file on the computer and pull the information they need out of each file, or use the file to keep a journal or write stories. Other software I would like to have is kid pix and some other educational software on my computer besides just what is available on the internet to help my students reach their maximum potential. Each student would be able to use a computer by themselves and they would not have to share, this way the students would get more out of the activities they are doing on the computer by completing them by themselves. The printer would be helpful to print out newsletters or other student work they do on the computer.
It would also be nice to have a scanner, a webcam and a digital camera/digital camcorder in my classroom. I could use the scanner to scan student work into the computer to keep electronic files. It would be easier to communicate information about student progress with students virtually if their documents were in the computer or in an online account the parents could access to see how students are doing. The webcam would be helpful for students to make videos of themselves reading, where I could assess their fluency and their pronunciation to make sure students are saying the words correctly, or it could be used to computer chat with pen pals from other schools or say hi to a student who is out of the classroom for an extended period of time. I would like the digital camera/camcorder so I could take pictures of my classroom to share on our class website or post videos of our skits or classroom activities.
I would also like to have a digital projector, because this device is so versatile. I could use this to show videos in my classroom, display internet activities or software to my class or show power point presentations or other documents on the computer. I would also like to have a document camera we could use for show and tell or to do in class activities, like to work on math problems so the entire class can see the processes.
Since I am an early childhood teacher I would like to have some tape or CD players to play audio books my students can hear and follow along with. These would also be helpful to us the CD player to play sing along CD’s to help my students learn information, like the vowel song, or other educational music.
Lastly I would also like to have a smart board in my classroom. The students are always eager to use the smart board and they are so versatile. They can be used with the computer in word or they can be used as a note pad like our tablet computers. Students could use these to practice their hand writing, make lists in class or link it to other computer applications in the classroom. A flip chart, a white board, and a pocket chart would also be helpful to have in the classroom with ECE students to write on, organize spelling words, and do sorting activities. I think these materials are feasible for a classroom. They would be beneficial to both the students and the teachers as well as enhancing the learning environment.

First Blog-Incorporating Blogging in the Classroom

I think that in the classroom there are many opportunities to incorporate technology into your lessons. Incorporating these different outlets will help keep students interest and allow for more ways to assess understanding and learning. Many students already blog or have a website that allows them to post their thoughts or blogs on their own page; such as twitter, facebook, myspace or xanga. I think in the classroom even with ECE students blogging could be a very useful tool. Allowing students to use the computer to write stories or a personal journal they are becoming familiar with typing and using the computer and keyboard. The writing skills and computer skills they would gain from writing a formal blog that would be assessed by a teacher would be valuable to these students in the future.
In my classroom as an ECE teacher with a language arts focus I would use blogging in my classroom to allow my students to have a personal journal. I could give them a topic to write about or just let them write about what they choose for the day. I think by giving the students the opportunity to be creative and write about what they would like on the computer would create excitement for the lesson and keep their interest in the journal throughout the year and this could be used as an assessment for how their writing is progressing. The students blog posts could be saved into their electronic file for assessment and able to be shared with parents at conferences. The concern with student blogs is to make sure that they understand how to use the technology available and that their blogs are private to ensure that they are not in danger when online.
Students could also use blogging to write their own book. They could make each entry they post a page or a chapter. They would be able to add pictures or videos which could inspire students to think on their own and think creatively. Students could work on stories together if their blogs were connected. They could read each other's stories and comment on what they thought of the story or what they think should happen next or what they would like to happen next. It could be a creative jumping point for the students to think critically about their work and other's work. Technology is a great tool to utilize in the classroom and blogging is just one of the many tools available for teachers to use to make their lessons more diverse and exciting!