Technology is certainly changing the face of education. Incredibly it seems like just yesterday I was using an overhead projector to display notes and activities, but it's actually been about eight years since I actually had any need for an overhead. Reportcards are no longer mailed home but instead grades are posted to our website. Parents no longer call to schedule a conference but now email you or schedule via the website calendar. I am an advocate of technology I think it has made my job much easier in many respects but there is an underbelly to technology within the classroom that has also complicated and in fact foiled many a lesson plan. I think technology should be used with discretion. There is something to be said about doing things the old-fashioned way.
I have found the start of the class particularly frustrating. It seems activities and deadlines are scattered throughout the class. Making it nerve-wracking to complete all the tasks. I am really having trouble finding a decent blog in which to subscribe for this weeks application. I teach Spanish so if anyone out there knows of a good blog please let me know.
I know I have to do a better job of reading through the weeks assignments and highlighting due dates. I have missed deadlines and I am the kind of person who does not take that lightly.
ReplyDeleteI have been keeping up with a blog about laptops at http://www.good.is/?p=14863 where there has been some great discussions about technology in general. Discretion is important. Yes, students need to learn how to use computers and it can be a great learning tool but what good is technology if a middle schooler or high schooler is at a second grade reading level? Technology can be great but user beware.
An idea that I thought about is that you can give a Spanish word and students can display the meaning of the Spanish word. You can then have like a Spanish dictionary of words.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great idea. I want to use a blog in class I think if anything it will disrupt the monotony of a lesson and will appeal to the students' curiosity. My concern is how to scrutinize cheating with a blog. If I post a prompt how do I maintain that students aren't just copying each others' responses? I am not sure there's an answer and I realize it is not much different than students sitting in the halls before class copying each others' workbook assignments.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it seems with new technology comes new excuses for why students did not do their homework. Now I hear I do not have internet at home, my program is incompatible with the school's, etc. These are in a sense legitimate excuses. Does technology only cater to the bourgeois and higher?
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