"Let's hear it for..." Teachers talk about their favourite technologies to use in the classroom.
I really enjoyed reading this article because the teachers or principals all talked about using technology in the classroom in a positive light. They were all able to address a different kinds of technology that they felt would benefit students in today's classroom environment.
It was especially nice to see one of the principals embracing the use of cell phones and recognizing that for teenagers cell phones are a way of life. I thought that his take on cell phones in a positive light was great, and he viewed them as something that should be used in the classroom, because they are a tool that most students have and are comfortable with using, and therefore, teachers should be taking advantage of that.
Another teacher felt that it was important for the students to be able to connect with information outside the classroom. I could not agree more! If the students are able to research for projects using the internet with things such as an I-pod, or using websites like YouTube, it is a great way to keep the students engaged and learning in the environment which they might otherwise find quite boring. Using this technology that is available is a good way to keep the conversation in the class alive and focused on what the students are learning, and it also makes it easier for them to understand the material if they are able to research it at their own pace.
Interactive whiteboards were also mentioned as a great technology in the article. The teacher likes them because they make it easier to give the students better visuals of what they are learning. He said that it was a better way to teach the students because they get a better idea of the visual he is trying to present to them in a science class. This is a really good point because it makes the elements that the students are learning about, more realistic and with the interactive whiteboard the teacher is able to move and rotate the objects on the screen so the students have a better idea about what it looks like. This can help in their learning because some students are big visual learners, and this technology would definitely help support that learning style. It is also more interesting than learning about things from a 2D text book and more engaging as well.
Overall, I really enjoyed this article because it was nice to hear from the educators' point of view, what their favourite technologies were and how they like to use them, or would like to see them used in today's classrooms. These are the kind of people who are going to make the future for students a really great one, because students in society today need the kind of engagement that these educators in the article stand behind.
Article can be found here:
