Kate Wampler's Chapter Four Reflections

3 Learnings From the Reading

• As a teacher, I often take advantage of recent technologies such as calculators and spell check. For example, I rarely think about the meaning of pi as the ratio of circumference to diameter; I think of pi as a button on the calculator to solve problems on tests or in books. Nor do I ever think about the spelling of a word as I know I can click on the spell check button at the end to correct the words I have spelled incorrectly. Education has changed focus to teaching students how to use the technology to solve problems, than understanding the raw skills necessary to solve problems.

• Instead of assuming that students are ready to use a technology you want to use, it is important to determine students' readiness to use a particular technology for learning. As teachers, it is important to pre-assess students' readiness for using technology for learning as research shows negative effects are associated with practicing a skill without understanding it.

• Understanding technology terminology is important in understanding its inner workings and meaning. I feel so much better now that I know what WIKI means as I will be using it for this class every week. I had no idea that WIKI is simply a Hawaiian word for fast and sometimes referred to as "What I know is" html for web communication.

2 Ideas for Integrating Technology Into the Classroom

• Mr. Dixon's sixth grade lesson gave me the idea to have my kindergarten students create a math trail as a class. Instead of having them identify the plane and 3-D shapes they are introduced to in kindergarten such as circle, oval, square, rectangle, diamond, triangle, cube, sphere, prism and cylinder in a traditional way, I will take them to a park or around the school grounds to find real-world objects that have the same characteristics as the shapes they are learning about. For example, I would encourage them to find a real-world object that was a square, and they may identify a window as an example.

• In the Classroom 4.1, provided me with the idea to use a power point presentation to teach an oral language lesson. I would have the students help me create a power point presentation with informal versus formal language. In one font I would put a slang term such as gotta, and use it in a sentence; we would talk about how this term would be okay to use with friends, or family, but when at school they should use the formal version. In another font, I would right the formal version of gotta, I have got to. I would continue the power point with each slide focusing on a commonly used informal words such as notta, seeya, etc.

1 Concern For Integrating Technology After This Week's Reading

With teachers and students heavy reliance on technological tools such as spell-check and calculators, will we lose sight of how to perform the important skills that are necessary to be successful learners?