Reflection from class 12/2

In class today we first watched a video that a teacher made to document her use of technology in her classroom.  Some ideas I liked and could see myself using in my future classroom to make sure my students are "active in their educations"

• SMART boards- to actively engage and encourage student participation by having them use the board
• Collaborative Social Networking- to connect and share information in real time with other students from around the world, to collaborate with experts in their fields (history, other countries, science, etc)
• Blogs- For teacher to use to document her agenda, post homework assignments, classroom news/newsletter, etc. "Open Classroom" "Transparent teaching"  For both students and parents to keep up to date.  Also can post excellent student work online for parents to see examples of projects and motivate students to do best work
• Student blog- to reflect, not recall,  to share opinions, also to motivate students to do their best work since it is published on a public forum

Some of these goals could be accomplished without advanced technology, but ALL of them are more efficient than the old methods.  Some activities can be more efficient without technology, so those good engaging activities don't need to change.  But if something can be accomplished better, faster, or more actively with technology, I need to find a way to use it in class for my students. 

We also read articles on 7 smart uses of technology and 7 stupid ways to use technology.  I saved these articles in my Delicious to reread later.  Basically, it's important to know that technology is not a "phase" that's going to pass so teachers need to stop ignoring it.  Furthermore, we need to learn how to EFFECTIVELY integrate technology to best benefit our students.  Just adding in technology is not enough.  There are some "stupid" ways to use technology also, so we really need to analyze how students learn best and how technology can facilitate that.