How+are+you+using+technology+in+your+classroom?

__//**How is technology changing your classroom today? What is different from 5 years ago?**//__
I am adding a final thought at the beginning, and you can read comments below this. After some of you looked at a wiki for the first time, you told me how excited you were about the possibilities it presented for your classes. I know that one person has already started a lesson plan for next year that incorporates wikis into an existing lesson being taught. This is exciting for me as well. I want to get something out of this course to make me a more effective teacher and if others can benefit as well it will all be worthwhile. In my classroom, just the design of my room has changed. The overhead is gone. The chalkboards are covered and their are carts for technology I thought I would never have. There are more padlocks to protect the monetary investment the district has made. (kdls)

Yesterday, my students could finish their test review with their DI designated groups and the go to the SmartBoard to play a vocabulary game to continue the review. The Ambassadors are using cameras and computers to create large rack cards to advertise both the school and the panhandle. A week ago I had never heard of "large rack cards". Today I am typing a Wiki about technology in education. (kdls)

My classroom has totally changed, and I along with it. Before I used a computer to type up letters, now I use it to communicate with my students and their parents. The kids have taken to the technology like ducks in water, I am a little bit more reserved. They believe that it works and I don't. In order for me to understand I have to be able to take it apart and put it back together, this is hard with those little tiny computer chips. Most of the work I do in the classroom now is on the computers, but my room makes the wireless a little bit hard to use because it blocks all the signals. We have to get creative at times. The students teach me when I get nervous, and that is great!!!

I have been in this classroom and I think it meets the needs of our 21st century students more than any other classroom I have probably seen. Not only does the room look different, but the atmosphere is completely different too. Students are fully engage in the learning process and are more hands on in the lessons because of technology.

Five years ago there was not even a wireless connection in my classroom. My teacher station is still not wireless, but I can borrow laptops occasionally from the library and they are. Today some of my kids expect to go online at home for their book and are upset if they have to use the paper copy if the site is down. They google for information on projects and some don't even know we have print resources for some topics in the library. Many of my students still don't have a computer at home since we are a borderline Title 1 school and so there is a big gap in technology skillsets. Money is a big factor for us.

My classroom is totally different from 5 years ago. I used to depend on the overhead for my notes and discussion. I now have a lap top, document camera, and projector that I use for my lessons. I can use United Streaming to supplement my lessons. When we were discussing Louisiana Purchase United Streaming allowed my students to watch a short video presentation about this. This makes teaching more fun and interesting for my students. My classes now can put together videos using Movie Maker. These are used to reinforce the lessons that take place in my classroom.


 * I don't know if I am putting this in the right place, but as a parent this is how I view technology in the classroom. I have one child who is now in college and who was NOT prepared for what professors expected. My child could not use the technology proficiently like other students from other parts of Texas and and US. I wish I had known more about what should have been taught. I would have been a better parent advocate. Instead, I thought my child was getting the right education because the school had good TAKS scores. I was wrong. Technology is so important for our children today. I will do better now because I know more. ||

As an instructor for the Amarillo Police Department, I teach academy recruits to experienced police officers. Five years ago I would merely lecture and use an overhead projector, audio recording player or a VHS player and television. Over the last five years technology has drastically changed my job as a homicide investigator. I now use a digital camera, digital audio recorder, a laptop and portable printer everywhere I go. All of my interviews are recorded digitally in audio or video formats. Numerous facets of the new available technology is now part of my instruction in my interview-interrogation classes along with my instruction in more general subjects. Extensive Powerpoint presentations are now the norm for my classroom and Grand Jury presentations. The increased use of technology has dramatically increased the understanding gained by my students and the Grand Jurors making a decision about a proposed indictment.

As an English teacher, the most important use of technology is instructional support. In this day and age, students are very "visual" and it is helpful to be able to use a projector to show examples of assignments and illustrations for stories. This allows my students to get a "mental picture" of what we are discussing. When proofreading writing assignments, a projector allows me to make corrections on the papers while the students are actually watching! (with the names covered, of course). This is a fabulous learning tool! The kids learn from their own mistakes and from other students' mistakes, also. Updated technology brings my lesson plans into the 21st century and makes the material more interesting and relevant to the students.