Philosophy of Technology in the Classroom

            Technology has advanced tremendous amounts in just the short time that I have been alive. I remember being one of the first of my friends and neighbors to get a computer (when I was four years old), and now a days  children everywhere can use iPads and cell phones with almost more fluency than I can. As a future teacher I know that I must incorporate technology into my classroom not only because it is so commonly used, but because it will add richness into my curriculum.

Technology can be such an interactive tool, instead of passively sitting in the classroom and watching the teacher lecture students can be actively involved in their own education.  Mitchel Resnick said in his article, Rethinking Learning in the Digital Age, that “many of our best learning experiences come when we are engaged in designing and creating things, especially things that are meaningful to us or the people around us”. (http://a.nnotate.com/php/pdfnotate.php?d=2010-09-29&c=tjsmWPtC) Technology gives students and teachers the means to actively create. When I was in fourth grade I was in a classroom that had one computer to every two students (way more than any other classroom) and as a result I got to create movies about what I learned, interact with games related to what I was learning. I feel that I remember more from my fourth grade year than many other years and utilizing technology in my future classrooms is something I definitely plan on.On the CARET website (Center for Applied Research in Educational Technology) , research has also shown that  “Technology applications that enable student collaboration tend to result in improved achievement”. (http://caret.iste.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=evidence&answerID=2) So not only does it improve achievement but it can lead to better collaboration and teamwork amon the students.

The advantages of technology are many – it enables students to become interactive in their learning, it provides assistance to students who may need it (for example: apps that help students who have trouble speaking), and it is a great motivational tool. Students would be much more likely to work if it meant playing an educational game versus answering drill questions.  The disadvantages are that technology can be costly and need to be updated, and it could create an achievement gap between those schools/districts that can afford technology to those that can’t.

         A lot of classrooms these days have a handful of computers for their students, if not laptops for all of them. I think the most important piece of technology I would use in my classroom is quite simply, a computer. With computers you can access multitudes of resources including; games, movie making programs, podcasts,  websites, etc. I also had the opportunity to work with a SmartBoard this quarter and was astounded by how interactive they are. You can create (or download) games for your students to play, write on them, and use them as a projector. I would definitely use a SmartBoard in my classroom in the future, its like a computer mixed with a whiteboard.  There are also several assistive technologies I would use in the classroom, the most important being an iPad. There are several apps on an iPad that could be used as an assistive technology, like Proloquo which enables students who can’t/have difficulty speaking or apps that interpret words for ELLs.
           There are so many wonderful uses for technology in the classroom, and as a teacher I am proud to say that I will utilize technology in my own classroom. It's important to note that there are several ineffective uses of technology, and I will be careful to monitor how I am having my students interact with technology so that they are using it to its fullest extent.

Assessing Technologies

1. Which technology do you think you would be most likely to use in your future classroom and why?I think that I would be most likely to use the Smartboard in my classroom. I thought it was a really interactive tool that teachers could use to involve students on many different levels. I liked how you could download or make games and activities which would be a fun way for the students to learn.
2. Which technology do you think you would be least likely to use and why?I probably would be least likely to use Schwup because it was very similar to many other slideshow/video making websites, but there were more limitations. It cost more money, required credit/debit card to sign up, and would be hard to access from home. I like the idea of Schwup, but I could get the same effect from some of the other sites like Photopeach or Animoto.
3. What did you did you learn about instructional strategies from your peers that you might put into effect in your future classroom?I liked how many of the other technologies incorporate actively involving the students. Many of the sites had the students do the work and explore instead of relying on the teacher’s input. This is something that I want to take with me into my future classroom.
4. What was the most fascinating thing you learned from your peers today?I would say that the most fascinating thing I learned was the multitude of ways you can use technology. Take the smartboard for example, less-opened minded people might just use it as a sort of “touch-screen” whiteboard, but there are so many possibilities that you can use them for. I noticed this among many of my peer’s presentations, that they were able to think of creative ways to use technology.

Assistive Technology

Speaking Global Translator

Name of Technology:
Speaking Global Translator by Franklin.

Category of Assistive Technology:
There wasn't really one category that the Global Translator fit into as it can help with both reading and writing. The main  thing it helps with in reading is vocabulary and the main thing it helps with in writing is spelling, conventions, and word choice. This devise is kind of like an "English to (one of 12)foreign language dictionary", so you could look up words that you read in a book to understand what you read, or you could look up the right word to use in your writing.

Description of How Technology Works:
This technology looks like one of those "slider phones" where the screen is on top and the full keyboard slides out from underneath (as pictured above). There are several different functions of this technology. You can translate words (much like looking up a word in a foreign dictionary) and get the definitions in both languages, or there are several thousand phrases already built in that it can translate for you. There is a keyboard where you can type the word in to see how to say it in one of 12 different languages. Another great feature is that the speaking global translator will actually say the words out loud so you can hear what they really sound like. There are also a few word games that you can play to get extra practice.

Which of the Universal Design for Learning principles might be facilitated by this technology?
This assistive technology qualifies under the "Engagement in Learning" learning principle. It fits here because it gives students different ways to participate in and contribute to the learning community. If a student who maybe doesn't speak English well, they could look up a word they are unsure of. Once they learn this word they can engage in conversation with other students about it or ask questions about it and really engage in the learning community.

What types or groups of students might benefit from the use of this technology?  For what learning goals might it be most effective?
I think the type of student who would benefit from this technology are English Language Learners (in general education classes) and it would also be effective for English speakers to use in foreign language classes like Spanish or French. I think it would fit most learning goals (concerning reading and writing) for English Language Learners because it is an accommodation for them; they don't know as many words in English as their classmates so this technology would put them more on an equal ground.

Do you have any concerns or reservations about this technology?

I do have some concerns about this technology. One is that it is rather expensive, so it wouldn't be something that a lot of families could afford. I could have some for classroom use, but that wouldn't help if they had stuff they needed to do at home. Another concern is that really only one student can use it at a time, and it has an audio-component (saying the words out loud) that could be very helpful but also it might be distracting to the other students. There is a headphone jack, but my concern there is that it might cut that student off from everyone else in the classroom.

Any other comments, suggestions, or recommendations you might make to a teacher contemplating the use of this assistive technology?
I thought this was a really cool piece of technology. It could be useful to students of many languages that are learning English, and for English speakers learning other languages. As a teacher I would be very clear about when it can and can not be used- like if there was a test on spelling or seeing how much vocabulary a student knows on his/her own then the translator obviously couldn't be used.

A Day in the Life

I wake up in the morning and the first thing I do is take a shower and get dressed for the day. I like to wake up slowly, so I will make my morning coffe and drink it ususally while I am reading. Then I will walk up to my school, Western Washington University. I live in an apartment not too far away from school, so I can walk to school instead of drive which a lot of my friends do. Right now I am taking five classes. I will come to campus and go to my classes and afterwards I go to my job. I am lucky and have a job on campus, I work in the art gallery. I sit at the front desk and answer questions anyone has and make sure no one disrupts the art. After work, I walk home and do any homework and relax for the rest of the day either by reading, watching TV, or hanging out with friends.


Here is a word cloud of things that I love:

This is a map of Vancouver, Washington which is my hometown:

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