Chapters 5 & 6

I think what I like most about the textbook is the reiteration of the idea that “Teachers should choose [software] for the qualities and benefits they bring to the classroom rather than simply because they are available” (p. 140). I think a lot of teachers feel the need to incorporate technology so they come up with a cool project or activity in order to check off the “uses technology in the classroom” box on their evaluation. It’s a lot harder to really utilize technology, to pick the right programs, methods and assignments, so that technology is supporting learning of content. I wish the text included more information on effectively incorporating cell phones into the classroom. As I hear teachers lamenting that students “can’t live without their phones” I wonder if there’s a way we can harness them for good? I’ve seen a few neat uses in classrooms, but not nearly enough, I think.

I feel like I’m pretty familiar with many of the technologies mentioned in chapters 5 and 6, but have realized that I see many of them as being applicable to math/science classrooms much more than to my English class. My district provides Examview and online test generators that come with our textbooks, but the teachers I know who use them are mostly math teachers, it seems. Maybe it’s because I don’t do a lot of multiple choice type tests. I do worry that I’m not using some of these technologies enough; test generators and online test practice might be an efficient and effective way to get my students practice for standardized tests.

I liked a lot of the activity suggestions and examples in these chapters. Chapter 6 seemed to offer ideas that were perhaps a bit more challenging for critical thinking. For example, I’ve used Google Earth to create Lit Tours for books, and as a basis for a project where students researched a contagious disease and mapped its spread across a region or country, annotating and illustrating the placemarks with their researched information. One of the challenges to using these technologies in the classroom is copyright. It’s hard to find public domain images and students view all easily accessible information as “public knowledge” which makes reminding them to cite a challenge.

Overall, the biggest challenges I keep returning to are 1) the huge amount of time it can take for students to complete hypermedia projects, especially since I can’t count on students having internet access at home and there fore have to do it all in class; and 2) the lack of accessible technology in my school. It’s hard to get access to labs in order for each of my students to have a computer with internet and up to date software. Our classrooms are just getting projectors and document cameras, and a few smartboards. I wish the technology was put into the hands of students, instead of the hands of teachers.