Being a teacher in and elementary setting, I find, at least at my school that giving my kids computer time is limited to "Odyssey"-- a program for learning that each child is set up on at the beginning of each year that supplements what is taught in the classroom. I, however, don't want that to be all that my students get out of technology. It seems to be much easier to find interesting sites that can be introduced to the older students, but my first graders are thought to be too immature to understand what is going on with technology even though a good bit of them spend 50% of their home time playing video games on their game systems or computers. I hope that I can give at least a few ideas to teachers to help them incorporate technology into the elementary setting. I am no technologically savvy person, but I am working to grow and hope I can help others grow as well.
My first step..researching and setting up a weekly class computer lab trip so that my students can venture off into learning and exploration using technology. What will you do or are you doing to add technology in your classroom?
2 comments:
You ask what your readers are doing in our classrooms to integrate technology. Well, I feel very lucky this year because it is the first year my students have had a computer class as one of their “special” classes. The classroom teachers just have to send an assignment with them, then a parapro helps them complete the assignment. This has forced me to get online and find neat websites and to be creative in finding classroom extensions that integrate computer technology. On the flipside, the assignments cannot be too involved or complicated because the classroom teacher is not with the students while they are completing the assignment. Also, since the one and only computer lab is now packed with classes all day, we only have access to a full set of computers for 45 minutes a week. One neat site was www.kidwings.com where my students were able to dissect a virtual owl pellet as a follow up to the real dissection in class. I hope to create some larger projects this year.
I am a counseling intern student at an elementary school. One way I see the counselors integrate technology into the classrooms by using a program called United Streaming. This program presents lessons on bullying, friendship, feelings and other guidance topics. Counselors can even download activity sheets to use with students.
Post a Comment