Integrating Technology

When it comes to integrating technology into a lesson, whether old or new, it definitely brings some new energy and excitement for teaching it.  The same can be said whenever an exciting new idea jumps into a teacher's head on how to teach a concept to his or her students.  For me, I feel that there is most-definitely a reason to keep a tight grasp on my level of excitement.  Control...plain and simple, control.  Call it paranoia, call it negativity, call it realistic, call whatever you want, but when you are up in front of 24 students and things aren't working, you will understand where I may be coming from. 

The first main area where control becomes a concern is with the reliability of our technology.  Planning a whole lesson, activity, or project around technology could be risky.  Internet connections, log-in issues, and software updates always seem to pop up around us and take time to fix (sometimes too long).  So the question when planning is, "How much "back-up" planning do I need to do if something doesn't work?"  By no means do I want to double-plan a lesson "just-in-case" something doesn't work, however, there have been more than enough times when things aren't working correctly and I felt as though I was standing there with a big spotlight shining on me while my brain quickly decided how we were going to switch gears.  It isn't that this is always a big deal, we are teachers, and this is what we do.  However, looking ahead at my class for next year, and knowing that I have several students who have needs that require a good deal of modification and who also don't always do well with sudden changes, it makes me a bit more cautious...or maybe nervous.

Being able to control things/fix things when issues come into play is the second area where control comes into play.  I completely understand that I am not the only teacher in my district, and while I may think that the issues that I may be currently experiencing are the MOST important and should be taken to the top of the to-do list, in the big picture, may not be.  But to a teacher who has spent time planning and organizing, prepping and building up his/her own excitement for the lesson, an unexpected technical issue can be a HUGE deal.  One of the current frustrations at our school is that the issues that seem to impact students the most, are put on the back burner, while the problems that, while very important, don't impact them as much, get taken care of with more immediate attention.  This is not to sound like a whiny teacher, but rather, one that would like a little information on why some of the problems that seem simple to solve, seem to take forever to actually get solved. 

I may have digressed a bit from the original question, and aside from the impression that the tone of this post may have given off, I really enjoy using and having my students use technology whenever possible and find it to supply great benefit to student learning.

Where To Start?

My brain never has a shortage of awesome things that I want to implement into my teaching and/or classroom.  These ideas come from my own brain, through conversations with teammates and coworkers, through supplemental research, and now, from my Masters classes.

I have added a new component to my classroom blog by giving students another way of participating with it.  Since they still aren't ready to write entries that we will post to the blog, I have started putting up a "Question of the Day" several times throughout the week.  Students can go on the blog at home (which is encouraged) and can submit an answer for their peers and myself to see and possibly respond to.  If students don't have the ability to access the blog at home, they are able to go onto the blog during some of our computer time at school so that they can participate.

Since having my own experience with Skype this past week, I feel much more comfortable setting this up and using it in my classroom.  The simplicity of Skype makes it very easy to want to use because it doesn't take a lot of setup or time to learn how to facilitate.  During a recent committee meeting at our school that is focused around technology, a coworker suggested that we use Skype to broadcast our morning announcements.  This would bring a new and fresh way of delivering the announcements and add a new spark of excitement for the students.  I also feel that by allowing students to see those students who are participating in the announcements (ie: saying the Pledge of Allegiance, sharing Student Council information, and any other student participation opportunities) it will create a better sense of community throughout the school because students will be able to put a name with a face and feel a connection to each other.  I am excited to see if we can get this accomplished this year.

I would really like to find a way to use Google Docs with my students, but there are a few "privacy and privilege" concerns that need to be looked into carefully and then I will really look at how I want to use the tool (possibly for weekly spelling tests or spelling practice).