Technology in Education

Technology in education is important- it engages children in multiple ways. Technology in the classroom gets children involved in group work, activities, searching, and it helps hold children’s attention span. It allows them to learn and engage in academic work in a nontraditional manner that is oftentimes more interesting to the child.
Instead of learning mathematics through numerous worksheets, teachers could easily have the children get into a math program during that lesson. Mathforum.org or Brainpop.com are wonderful websites for children to get a drill and practice lesson, and for them to engage in different kinds of math questions and activities. Applied to another subject like language arts, when children are done reading a longer book, or if as a class the teacher reads a chapter book, the children could write journal entries on the computer. They could write about their favorite part in the book, summarize, or illustrate using clip art, or Kidspiration. This would get the children listening and comprehending through out the book, then expressing themselves through the computer.
Not only are children able to engage in the technology programs for the different areas of the curriculum; mathematics, social studies, science, language, reading, etc., children are also able to get involved with social interactions. Having pen pals across the world is available for children to learn about the different cultures with in the United States as well as the world around us. Children will not only be making friends and actively engaging in global education, but they will be learning many interesting facts about each other, and the different cultures and diversities.
It is of personal opinion that utilizing sources of technology in education is important, and is a different and arguably better way for children to engage in certain learning activities rather than the typical instruction methods like lecturing, worksheets, etc. Taking supervision into consideration, I feel that technology should be a vital aspect in education.

Blog #11

In my personal opinion, a great non-computer based tech is the interactive white board.What it is is a large interactive display that connects to a computer and projector. There are MANY educational uses for this technology, of which a teacher would surely benefit from. An interactive whiteboard is a type of touch-sensitive computer screen. They are used in a variety of settings such as in classrooms of all levels of education, or in something like corporate board rooms. Applied to the educational world- teachers collaborating with administrators or with other teachers, they can use it to demonstrate.

Interactive whiteboards are used in many schools as replacements for traditional whiteboards or flipcharts. They provide ways to show students anything that can be presented on a computer's desktop (educational software, web sites, and others). Projectors, which are used with the interactive whiteboards, can also be connected to a video recorder or a DVD player, or users can connect to a school network digital video distribution system. They can even be used with online partnered sites.Additionally,teachers can present material and receive feedback from students. They can be connected to the PC, used as a 'drawing' board, or shown videos. Possibilities are literally endless!

Blog 10

The ERIC presentations were very interesting and I enjoyed listening to every group's perspective. It was a great way to pass time in class. Starting off with my group of "Internet in the Classroom" I didn't learn anything too much that class period where we presented for obvious reasons. However, while researching and compiling my presenation, I discovered that the internet is an extremly powerful tool for the teacher when creating lessons, as well as communicating with parents/colleagues, and for students learning. Safety issues became apparent, additionally, as we discovered what "troubles" children can get into on the computer.

The next groups presented some good infrmation, and I especially was interested in the race/gender equity. It's not every day that you actually THINK of the gender related issues in educational technology, and the access males vs. females have. Technology planning was interesting, too. I could relate as a future teacher on how to prepare for the various tasks I'll encounter. Electronic portfolios definitely relate to my life as a teacher and I enjoyed hearing future options. I was surprised to discover how important and relevent these are in the current classroom, and how I will most likely need these for my career as a teacher. All in all, I recieved some good/beneficial information from these presentations on technology.

Blog

http://cherryweb.com/msippel/summertech1.html

This is a site created by a teacher at Newfane Elementary School, dealing with the integration of technology in the classroom. It is a site to help and assist teachers with using technology and computers in their early childhood classroom. It's a basic site offering useful information to teachers- regaurding teacher resources (GREAT sites for teachers to visit to help with lesson planning, classroom management strategies, units, bulletin board ideas, etc.), help creating web pages, good web sites for students to visit to enhance their learning, and multimedia resources (good graphics and such that deal with education). It's basically a one-stop shop for all of what a teacher needs to know about technology. If they are interested in spicing up curriculum, there's organized lists of places that give you what you want. I definitely think that I'd benefit from a site like this as a future teacher, as would a general education teacher. It covers a wide variety of useful topics that are quite relevant to technology in the early childhood classroom. Not only is there "general" professional sites that are recommended, but ones more local created by teachers, schools, and districts.

Blog 8

This is a good video that helps with teaching. Teachers obviously need to have top-knotch classroom management skills if they want to succeed. So, they need to worry about discipline in the classroom. If they do not have the respect of the children, proper classroom climates are difficult to achieve. A video like this one gives teacher more time to TEACH students and does not waste time in the classroom on meaningless things, but content required for success later in their lives. This would be useful to other educators, because it teaches teachers/gives them expamples of how to deal with discipline issues and gives examples of constrictive strategies in the classroom. I liked this :)

Blog #7

So how are things going???? Now that you've made it half way, what are some of your thoughts on using technology in early education? &/or what's the most important lesson/concept you've learned so far?

Things are going pretty well in class, however, I am quite overwhelmed every week with a lot of work to do. It's a beneficial class with TONS of new ideas being brought to me every period. I definitely have learned a lot regaurdng the use of computers and the internet and relating it to my future career as an educator. I love the websites that will be available to me as a teacher/ someone preparing multiple lesson plans and spending so much time preparing for the classroom. I've learned how to use a MAC, and honestl, that's an accomplisment in itself :) Imovie was really neat, I feel a lot more confident using the computer, as well as more advanced programs.

Blog #6

Part 1- There are many pros and cons to internet use in the classroom. With the current day in age, technology is increasing at fast speeds, and it's vital to keep up with the way society is run. There are MANY ways to use technology to help students learn better, differently, and creatively, as well as teacher management skills. Students can use the internet to have the world available to them as they researcha particular content area. They can play educational games or browse websites and learn their numbers or alphabet. Using specific, appropriate websites, students can engage in learning taking on a different perspective. Teachers also can benefit from using the internet whether it deals with making lesson plans or communicating with parents. The internet allows teachers to grasp ideas and concepts to use with students, instantly. There is SO much available- whether it be bullitin board ideas or cute newsletter ideas or classroom websites. Possibilites are endless! I think internet is a wonderful tool for teachers to fully utilize. THere are obviously cons, like internet safety and properly navigating sites, or losing sight of a world OUTSIDE of gadgets that 'do the work fo you'. However,I think the vast number of pros outweigh thses cons. If I were questioned on this topic, I would state that it is a great communication tools. I can reach parens in ways other then personal contact or phone calls, just one more wya to make sure parents understand why and how I would be teachign their child. I could create websites to boost creativity, and learn and share lessons with other early childhood educators. I feel that there is a whole "new" world to explore and utilize with the world wide web!

Part 2- My website I discovered is educationworld.com. It's very interesting! You can use the internet in your classrom in so many ways. Lots of reative lessons are there for teachers to use, adn there are SO MANY ideas it almost hurts your head. It's amazing- your whole career can be positively affected by the simple website. There are main focuses of this site, under constantly updated headings, like "lesson planning", "professional development", "administrators desk", "technology integration", "school issues", "education world at home", "lifestyle/marketplace", and "early childhoop corner". From purchasing new iems for the classroom to learning to use technology with students, you can spend hours exploring this site to help make yourself a better teacher!

Blog #5: State Standards of Kindergarten

I believe that these stated kindergarten standards have both positive and negative aspects. The ripe age of 6 or so is very important to the development of a child. A stepping stone to life, kindergarten is the place where children learn to prepare themselves for the primary grade levels. Preschool is just what the name indicates, "pre" school. Standards set forth by the state do not need to be as strict or set in stone, that can be acheived at a moderate level in kindergarten. In my opinion, having standards of some sort is necessary to make sure that all students across the state are learning similar things and are on similar levels. Kindergarten is a great place to start OFF on these standards. The children indeed are young, but their brains work in mysterious ways and they are capable of quite a lot. Teachers will have a better idea what to introduce into lessons and have more purposes as to what to prepare the students for.

Though I generally feel positive towards kindergarten standards, there are some negative aspects of it that need to also be considered. Children/teachers may be so focused on "learning" some sort of state specified content that the true education and broadening of perspectives may be lost. This can be effectively avoided, however. If our state sets moderate criteria for teachers to follow, studnets will have the basic skills to use as a base for their learning in first grade and beyond.

Looking through the standards posted on that website, it is evident that this topic is given a lot of thought, time, debate, etc. Throughout their scholastic career, children are constantly required to learn certain things by certain ages. This jsut sets a standard sso all children cna have all the knowldge available presented to them. Not only does this exist in kindergarten, but all the grade levels. If the children are accomodated, they will succssfully learn. Isn't that what we want? The best interest of the CHILDREN, and by "the"I mean ALL!