Round Two

No matter how hard we try there is no escaping technology. No matter where we look there it is staring us in the face, in the forms of computers, cell phones, pda's, i pods, mp3 players, and of course video games. Now I love all of these devises just as much as much as my students love theirs. I own the new Blackberry storm, a laptop, an i pod, an XBox 360, a Nintendo DS, and a PSP among others. Technology operates me better than I can operate it.

That said, technology is something that is applicable in my classroom and out. Because technology has obviously captured the attention of my students (and is not letting up), it can be my best friend when it comes to teaching...

Blogs are a great way for students to read each others work and to communicate in ways other than passing notes in my class and talking to each other in some form of sign language that I am apparently oblivious to...

Skype could be used to communicate with important figures in the community. This way the studnents will have a way to interact with an imperative adult instead of torturing them as they are doing our X - Mayor of Racine by playing ding dong ditch at hi house because the community just found out that he was a pediphile.

Google Docs is an excellent way to post papers and messages to classmates and others in the school. Perhaps this will eliminate the need to write on bathroom stalls (or not).

Not only can technology improve the learning of my students it might actually improve behavior.

It's all a pipe dream I know... wishful thinking. :)

Square One

My long journey to achieving a masters degree is just beginning. I feel a sense of excitement followed by a sense of being overwhelmed. This path so far has started off a bit bumpy for my liking. However, the funny thing is that this would not be a technology degree if it ran smoothly! Despite a few bumps and bruises along the way, I am sure that this degree will be beneficial to the way that I teach everyday. In today's world I am being "out-smartted" by my students when it comes to technology. On one hand I am trilled at the amount of intelligence that they possess and on the other it worries me that I will not be able to teach effectively with times moving so quickly. My hope is that this degree will allow me to teach using methods other than PowerPoint. I love to teach science and my students enjoy it even more when technology is part of class. I would like to learn to pass the keyboard into their hands.