The Huffington Post:Technology In Schools;Weighing The Pros and Cons

In new schools that have incorporated new, different forms of technology all of the children seem to enjoy the technology, and feel that they make education more fun, appealing, and more relatable to them, so easier to understand. In Huffington Post they mention how different schools in the United States is counting on technology to revive students' performances. This year different Board of Education has been given around 7 millions dollars, and last year $300,000 in order to incorporate technology. Bill Gates donated $20 million to open up tech savy schools in Philadelphia and New York.

Then CNN is mentioned, discussing children in South Korea. They, instead of having regular teachers have robots. They use IPods and IPhones etc;  however, they often take statistics and the form of technology have proven to be helping their students tremendously.

Then Finland was discussed, which is basically the opposite of The United States. They do not use any forms of technology. They start school a year later. They do less homework on an average, However, in 2006 they ranked 1st in Math and Science. Therefore, for Finland, without any form of technology, they students have increased in their test scores.

What would be better for us, The United States? Technology like South Korea? or No technology like like Finland?

NY Times: In Classroom of Future, Stagnant Scores

This NY Times article ( http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/technology/technology-in-schools-faces-questions-on-value.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0) was a great article. It first explains how different forms of technology were being utilized, but then it goes on basically asking the question whether or not it is worth it.

First a sixth grade English Teacher students are all laying on the floor on their laptops as their doing their Shakespeare projects. Some students made facebook pages to imitate Shakespeare. Others found different songs, such as one belonging to Kanye West, that could represent some of Shakespeare poetry etc... So, being that they had their form of technology they were able to turn Shakespeare into something that they can do something fun with. Students are also able to learn at their own paces.

Then the article discusses how because of this technology teachers are not lecturers anymore; they merely guide children in how to use the different new forms of technology. The questions still rises in my mind "Is this a good or a bad thing? Can this possibly take away a teacher's job all together? The increase of technology may equal a decrease in teachers sad to say.

Then the article touches on how even though technology is building all of this enthusiasm and delightfulness inside of the children as they began to use all of these forms of technology, the test scores has not increased one bit. So, the schools are spending over $33 million dollars, while even facing cut offs, and laying off teachers, all for something (different forms of new technology ) that they are not even sure will produce good results yet. How do you feel about the matter?

My Technological View On The Future

A few months ago I bought a new truck. I do not have to open the doors with my hands, I can heat the car before I get into it, start it without a key. operate the radio, GPS, etc... without the touch of my hands. I can do everything by merely using my voice.For me, this is a very new form form of technology that I am having to get used to. However, so far I am loving it! Having this new vehicle has caused me to think of how this world will be in the future with even much more advanced technology.

I started to think of an old, famous, cartoon show called The Flinstones and The Jetsons. In The Flinstones they went from riding cars with their bare feet and having dinosaurs as pet. Then, in The Jetsons, everything in which they did was made from technology. They flew wherever they needed to go, even the children. And, they did not even have to brush their teeth, get dressed or do their hair; the machines did everything for them. This has caused me to view our future with technology as being like The Jetsons.

My life in the  future will be like I would not have to do anything. There will be robots as maids. I would not have to wake up extra early to get ready for school and/or work, I would just have to wake up 20 minutes beforehand, have the different forms of technology to get me together and the I will fly to work and/or school. My life would be so much easier. This is my future life of technology! I cant wait wait to experience it to see how it feels.

New & Old Technology

As I helped my grandmother to clean out her basement yesterday, we were throwing things away. I cam across and old game that I used to love, and haven't seen in years. She was ready to throw it into the trash, but i Hurried up and snatch it away. I was so offended that she wanted to throw away my old special game.

Growing up, I always imagined technology to basically incolve the computer, and only beginning in the 2000s. After this course, I have learned that as you look down history , technology has existed way before my time, and it does not merely involve computers and the internet.

That night after putting my daughter to sleep; well, I thought she was sleep anyway, I plugged u the game and began to play. It was just like the old days; I was having the time of my life. My daughter walked into the room and asked "Mom, is that game for me?". I wanted to say no so bad! However, I told her that she could play one time, and then she would have to go back to sleep. As she played, she looked just like I did as a kid, having the time of her life.

Today, I just thought about how there is so much technology now in days, and more and more technology is being created every other second. However, old technology is also great! Just because it's newer technology, does not mean that it's better. Ole technology is still cool!

Interactivity #4 : https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Am4bd1tcQ-F4dDcwakY0TkNJeVpxRmYzbC1SSDlKUHc#gid=0

The reason I decided to choose my lesson plan was for several reasons. First, it cold be utilized for grades 6-12, and, I feel that it is great to have a flexible lesson plan. I would probably be able to even pair up with another class or even another grade in order to see the lesson plan work on different levels. Then, I felt that it was a useful lesson plan because not only did it touch on several different teaching topics such as vocabulary words, history of spiders (which could be connected with the Science teacher), research being done, and papers being written. Being that all of these fields were being touched on, I felt that it would have been perfect for my subject. The bonus was that some technology was already incorporated into the lesson plan, even though I felt that I needed to add some of my own as well, and being that this lesson plan was created in another country, I had to alter to Core Standards to New Jersey's.

One gap that I found between the curriculum goal(s), teaching stratagies, and technologies being used was the idea of the idea of going on a field trip, utilizing a camera to take pictures of spiders. IF this is supposed to be a lesson plan for an English class, I feel that it is not necessary. I feel it was being done just because. The computer would have already been used to find research and history and information, and pictures on the spiders. Also, the entire book is based on spiders, so what would be the purpose of having a field trip for spiders? There is none!

I feel that the technology utilized is essential to achieving the curriculum goals because not only does it teach the students new ways to do research, and give children new ways to complete assignments and to do research, but it also make learning appealing to them. It makes them want to learn What better way to achieve our goal than it is to help children want to learn? There is none!

To what extent is this particular technology essential to achieving the curriculum goal(s)?


https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Am4bd1tcQ-F4dDcwakY0TkNJeVpxRmYzbC1SSDlKUHc#gid=0

Interactivity 3 Generating a State of the Art Inventory

This technology inventory from Interactivity 3 has definitely contributed towards not only my READ 411 and CURR 314 courses but also my future as a teacher. Before looking up the different forms of technology for my major of English, I only thought that there would be a few forms of technology that would be useful for English class. I felt that there were not a lot of forms of technology that could be utilized inside of an English course. However, after seeing all of the different forms of technology, I now see that there are many different forms of technology that can be used for English classes as well.

This technology inventory has helped me greatly with both my CURR 314 and Read 411 courses because instead of creating simple lesson plans, I am now able to incorporate some forms of technology, which will make it more appealing not only for myself, but also for my students.

Many different ideas swept through my mind of how I can utilize and incorporate these many different forms of technology inside of my classroom when I become a teacher. I think these forms of technology would definitely make students want to lean, and English class would be more appealing to them. This is basically the entire purpose of teachers; to make learning appealing to the students so that they can want to learn. Different forms of technology will help me to meet my goal.