Playing Technology Catch-up. Teachers Integrating Technology into the Classroom.

  

  

The field of technology is the fastest growing in the country, yet many teachers struggle with integrating technology into the classroom in a meaningful way. The purpose of technology is to enrich learning, and it is important to teach our students how to retrieve information in a responsible and safe way. Many teachers would love to utilize technology more, but with availability constraints, technology usage can be limited. 

I try to utilize technology into my classes weekly. I wish our school had the availability to offer each of our students a personal device, but that’s simply not a reality at this point. We all know integrating technology goes beyond having a device for each individual, but if possible, one to one parings can be liberating for a classroom.

Differentiation is difficult in a 21st century classroom, but with technology integration, a teacher can differentiate while acting as a learning catalyst. Rather than spending hours creating lengthy presentations, teachers can utilize technology to prompt student directed discovery on a chosen topic. Imagine the possibilities! Technology can also promote creative thinking and problem solving skills for students of all levels. Technology is the way of our future, and in education, we appear to be a bit behind. 

Cell Phones In School. Once Taboo, now the way of the future.

Cell phone use within all public school classrooms, is the way of the future.  Almost every student has a cell phone on them at all times, and to not utilize the phone as an educational tool; is a disservice to students and teachers. Daily, new educational sites are added to the web, and the information on makes our access to information limitless. Students don’t use books anymore to look up questions, they Google it. At home, students use their phones as a means of interacting with the world, and so should teachers use them to connect with our students.

            With the increasing fiscal strain on schools, cell phones provide opportunities for academic help, where one to one computer capabilities are not possible. With the advancement of devices, students can now use cell phone as calculators, cameras, computers and note taking devices. Our students should be using them to help with research rather than having them hid away in a locker or a coat pocket.

Cell phones can provide ways to differentiate classroom learning, to the growing number of diverse student’s learners within our schools. As a way of checking for understanding, teachers can use online resources to provide instant feedback, valuable for both the student and the teacher.  Some have argued that cell phones provide distractions that can interfere with classroom learning. Such an argument only strengthens the need for cell phones in school, as it shows how badly we need to model ways of using technology responsibly.