Three ideas or learnings from the reading
Technology is all around us and is important to use in teaching. Students need to understand how and when to use certain technology; “what is more important is that students are able to determine how to use the available technologies appropriately, using them to solve problems and make decisions” (Niess, Lee, Kajder, 2007, p. 52). We can expose students to technology, but we need to make sure they understand the appropriate times to use certain technology. Another point is integrating technology with all content standards. It is important for teachers to think of how to use technology to help students learn new concepts in a variety of subjects (math, science, reading). Finally, teachers need to realize where students are with their technology skills. Sometimes the skills needed to use certain technology have not been taught yet. Students need a lesson on how to use the technology first, before they can use the technology for learning content. For example, we have a math website students use to do activities at their level. However, before I could take my whole class to the computer lab and turn them loose to work on math, we had a lesson on how to navigate the website. They had to practice logging in, finding their activities, reporting scores to me, turning the volume down, and saving work. Before the students could do the math concepts, they had to understand how to use the technology.
Two new ideas for integrating technology
Explaining and discussing Standard 2 seems very important to me. Having a lesson highlighting some of the rules for using technology would be useful. Students need to be aware of what is acceptable for copying and using information online. I will also integrate Standard 5, using technology research tools, with my students. My students research and write animal reports in the spring. Having students do some of their research using technology will meet technology standards and give students exposure to different sources of information.
One concern about integrating technology
One concern I have for integrating technology is how to fit in teaching the basic technology skills. In my district, Computers is not a class until middle school. My students do not have much for keyboarding skills. They are able to use technology for math activities and research, but they are not able to do much typing, because it takes so much time for them to find the letters. Even just typing poems took them a lot of time.
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Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteI teach 1st grade in a school that has one computer lab shared with 400+ students. We get one 35 minute time slot in the lab a week. What I ahve found that works well for my students is I have them rotate on a 3 week basis. The first week they can go into programs of their choice such as Starfall, Kidpix, or sometimes even into games like I Spy. The next week they work on math skills in programs like our Harcourt Math computer program. The third week I have them use the keyboard for some sort of writing activity like typing their spelling words or composing sentences. I was truly surprised last year as I saw my kids go from struggling keyboard users to somewhat fairly efficient users. The first few times we typed our spelling words it took awile, but each time they got faster. If your kids don't have spelling words you could just give them a list of basic words that they could practice with. I feel with the computer and time limitations, this three week rotating schedule works pretty well for first graders.
Alicia McEwen
Jennifer, you said it "We can expose students to technology, but we need to make sure they understand the appropriate times to use certain technology." That is the key to the whole issue! The same applies to us teachers! We also need to know when best to use technology and when it is best not to! Great comments!
ReplyDeleteJoan
Alicia- I can't imagine a 35 minute period! How do you do it? My students have a 3 hour class once per week! We do get pretty deep in those 3 hours, but I find that it takes time to get them to learn about the tool and then, to think how to use it!