Technology Journey

Have you ever wondered what people used to do without the internet, computers, cell phones, digital cameras, or even DVD players? Now more than ever technology is making life easier not only inside the home but also throughout the work environment. It is important to learn and find out all the new technology that is available because it is only going to get better with time. My perspective of technology has definitely changed over the past few months and I have come to a realization of how much I will use technology on a day to day basis within my home as well as inside my classroom.

Have you ever wondered what people used to do without the internet, computers, cell phones, digital cameras, or even DVD players? Now more than ever technology is making life easier not only inside the home but also throughout the work environment. It is important to learn and find out all the new technology that is available because it is only going to get better with time. My perspective of technology has definitely changed over the past few months and I have come to a realization of how much I will use technology on a day to day basis within my home as well as inside my classroom.

Throughout the past couple of months I have learned so many new and useful ways to incorporate technology within my classroom environment. There are several educational websites that are available for teachers to use to help increase the understanding of the material being taught within the classroom. I think this is a great and effective tool for teachers to help their students in the learning process. Educational software is also available for teachers to use within their classrooms. Using different software helps the students become more familiar with what they are learning and also gain more knowledge because of the different experiences they can have while learning the material. If the students have a computer at home it may also be a good idea for their parents to buy the software so that the students can play on it during their free time instead of playing video games and watching television. Keeping up with technology is not always easy because it is changing on a daily basis. However, the readings that are available help it become not so complicated and unfamiliar to use. The different readings that were available helped answer questions that I had about technology as well as gave an insight for my future use with technology. All of the educational websites, software, and readings that I have used will certainly have an impact in my future teaching and inside the classroom.

Even though technology is a great tool for students to learn with, there are always some issues that will arise. One of the most important issues being that not all of the students will have access to a computer outside of the school environment. This can be hard for a teacher to deal with at first however; I believe there are always ways to go about dealing with this situation. For instance, if a student does not have a computer at home to work on an assignment given, I will always be available before or after school for him/her to work on it. Also, there will be selected computer time for the students to work on the assignment during the school week. Another issue that may arise is how some students may not learn as effectively through technology as they would paper or book based. It is important as a teacher to use different learning techniques so that all students have the equal opportunity of understanding the material given. Technology will always be a helpful tool throughout the classroom environment even if certain exceptions need to be made.

Using different technology within the classroom is very helpful for a teacher. There are many different technologies I want to be able to incorporate into my lesson plans. For example, I believe PowerPoint is a great way for students to take notes and learn different material. I also believe taking pictures with a digital camera throughout the school year is the perfect way to keep a record of what the students have been working on. These pictures can also be put together for slideshows to show the students at the end of the year so they can remember some of their school memories. Even though there is some technology I will use throughout my classroom there will always be a few that will be more difficult to incorporate until I become more familiar with the material. For instance, I do not believe I will use Blogger within an educational setting until I knew the students were at a level in which they could handle all the material. However, sometimes I have to remember to give the students more credit and realize that they would probably be able to understand it quicker and more efficiently than I could because they are way more technologically advanced at their age than I ever was.

Technology is a great tool not only inside the classroom but also within my home. Technology is such an effective way for teachers to incorporate new learning techniques within their classroom settings, which I hope to do one day. Technology will always be changing and shifting in new directions, however, as long as I keep up with all the readings and different software that is available I know it will improve my teaching skills as well as help incorporate different learning techniques throughout my classroom. It is amazing to think of how far technology has come in the past decade and to know that it is only going to get better from here.