Thoughts on Technology

Within the last year I bought a macbook, smart phone, joined facebook and twitter. That is where my technology background begins and ends. Although I do not have much of a background in technology, I think it can be very useful in the classroom. I recently attended a technology seminar at Montclair and was fascinated by all the different ways to bring technology to the classroom. One thing that I took from the seminar immediately was the use of twitter. I never really understood the idea behind twitter and was never really interested in reading about what someone else was doing all day long. But I learned that a social network such as twitter is a great place to share ideas. I can connect to other math teachers and find great ideas for lessons and view feedback about ideas I have. The best part of these types of communities is that they stretch across the globe.

In the article "The World is Integrated!", it was suggested that teachers from different disciplines can come together and create an integrated curriculum for the students. This is such a great idea. Students go to school each day and wander from class to class without realizing how these subjects are connected. In the working world there is not much of a distinction between these subjects and the major subjects taught in school can all be applied to just about every job out there. This division in school is not really preparing the students for life after high school. The students need the opportunity to make connections between these subjects and more importantly they need to make a connection between their subjects and their individual interests. Technology can help this be possible. Even if we are unable to find other teachers in our school to help us integrate the curriculum, we have access to a nearly unlimited number of teachers out there that are willing through the use of technology.

Students today are very different than when I was in high school, which was only ten years ago. Most students are very savvy when it comes to technology and then they come to school and are forced not to use everything that they are familiar with. Something as simple as a powerpoint presentation can have more of an effect on these types of students than writing the same information on the chalkboard. In the video it was mentioned that we need to connect the real world to the curriculum. This is very important. Technology makes it very easy for students to connect the current curriculum to something they are interested in. I am a math teacher and I can think of so many different ways to connect math to things students could be interested in. For example, a student may be an artist and love his/her art class but hate coming to math. What if I allowed the student to do a project showing me how math and art are connected? Through the use of technology the student could make a presentation showing that many artists use what is called the golden ratio in order to do their paintings or drawings. This is just one example of how math and art are related. I feel as though these types of projects can be used to supplement our standard teaching of math and it can be much more effective.

This course can be a tool that I can use to effectively bring technology to my classroom. I am already much more comfortable using the GROUPS and PBWORKS websites than I was just a week ago. These websites along with the blog should allow us to share many ideas and can help us all make strides toward becoming a better teacher.