When I think of all the inventions that have happened in my life, I am astonished. If what has been invented in the past fifty years is any indication as to what will be happening in our students' lives, we as educators better get busy teaching. In the past twenty years, I have been involved with hiring the corporate American work force. The expectations placed on the future generation for working is greater than it ever has been. It is our responsibility as educators to prepare these children for the changing working world. That includes all the skills that were taught to the generation before me as well as what I learned and now what is expected in this world.
Technology is certainly part of the world we live in. We are all thankful for running water as well as television and all the advances that makes our society so convenient. In coaching our students to become productive citizens of society, we must make sure that they can make the best use of all these technological advances. We must prepare these citizens to be prepared to take over the world when we pass the control on to them. In short, we need to coach our students to become life long learners.
I remember talking to an expert on teaching reading to children. When asked what worked best whole language or phonics she responded with, "Yes." That is the way I feel about incorporating technology into my teaching. When I am asked what works best in teaching Mathematics - hands on experience, drill-and-practice, discovery, or direct instruction - I respond with,"Yes". We all have different learning styles. Therefore, as an educator I need to use variety of methods in my teaching. That means that I should use all of the technologies that I have available as well as chalk boards and plastic cubes.
I have made use of the technology that we have available at Cocopah by putting my warm ups up on the TV screen using slide show. This has proven to be a natural for my students. They are already use to watching television so this is just a learning extension. My students are use to playing games on computers. Therefore, I make use of math busters to reinforce lessons learned in other ways. I have found that some students go through the process of paper and pencil drill but when the same concept is on a computer screen, they all of a sudden really understand the concept.
So, what am I using in my classroom? I intend using anything that is available to me to teach my students the standards that they need to learn.