Too much technology? (online reflection #3)

How would you incorporate technology in your classroom? How much technology is too much? Is it okay to let students have their phones out when they are in class? As the time goes by there's more and more technology. Most students have a smart phone which is quite distracting, but it can also aid them in their everyday learning. The only problem here is how do we as teachers incorporate this technology in a way that aids more than it distracts. Also how do we incorporate every student?

We are in the era of technology. Every year there's a new phone with new apps. Every year new technology enters our classroom, we as teachers need to keep up with the new technology. It’s not only about the books and the handouts now. You can teach your students using video clips, movies, songs, and even social media. Technology serves teachers as visual aids. Technology not only keeps our students engaged but it's also information at their finger tips. As much as we all love technology and all of its wonders, technology can also help our students not learn. How easy is it to be on your phone looking up a work and somehow end up on Facebook? Technology can be very distracting to our students.

My CT uses technology in her classroom. She uses video clips when they start a unit to help the students understand concepts such as point of view, or how important it is to be acquainted with your teachers and counselors. She also uses this cool thing called "Reminder 101" which is a free website from which the teacher can email or text students reminders. She just sends out a message about important work that is due and all of the students get the same message. She also allows them to use their phones during class in case they need to look up any words or listen to music when they are doing independent work or reading.

In Building Adolescents Literacy in Today's English Classrooms Randy Bomer explains why it is very important that we teach our students these skills 21st century technology skills, he states that "literacy is most importantly expanding in online environments". Technology is constantly changing and we need to learn to adapt to it not only as teachers but also as students.  Even though most students have a smart phone there are a select few that don’t. How would you include those students that don’t have a phone? They wouldn’t be able to receive all of the reminders. They may not have a phone or they may not have internet at home to view the email. Also what kind of technology would you incorporate in your classroom in order to teach them these 21st century technology skills? Most schools don’t have a lot of technology available. Most schools share a laptop cart which is on high demand by every teacher in the building.

References

 Bomer, Randy. Building Adolescent Literacy in Today's English Classrooms. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2011. Print.

KATE Conference

This past week I had the pleasure of attending the KATE conference and it was awesome! I got to learn some pretty cool things that I can use in my future classroom. I also had the pleasure of seeing my old high school English teachers and meeting new teachers. Not to mention I also had the pleasure of listening to Taylor Mali recite his poetry which was pretty fantastic.

On the first day of the conference I listened to quite a few helpful breakout sessions. My favorite was the first session that I went to titled Rethinking Language Arts and Crafts. This session provided me with ideas to make my classroom fun with some hands on activities that didn't require too much technology. This session not only showed us some student examples but they also provided a packet that we could take with us with all of the arts and crafts assignments. One of the sessions was a little disappointing mainly because it was a bit short. The speaker had to leave early so we only got about 10 minutes of Shaking Up  How we Approach Shakespeare. I wish I would've learned a bit more on the one because I think that would be useful when dealing with high school English.

The second day of the conference was also very useful. I learned about classroom management and using social media in your classroom. In Nonfiction: Unlocking Creativity and Critical Thinking I learned about quite a few interesting sites that I can use as a teacher. My favorite session was Command Control and Conquer your Classroom. This session focused more on classroom management and how to interact with your students in order to have a successful and comfortable learning environment. One session that I did not attend that I wish I would have was Facing the Joys and Perils of the First Year of Teaching I think this would have been an interesting and helpful session.

My favorite part about the KATE conference of course was having the opportunity of listening to Taylor Mali in person. He is amazing. I have seen his videos on YouTube but there is nothing like listening to him in person. I was absolutely amazed. Overall the conference was great and I am very greatfull that I was able to attend and listen to all these great ideas of how to make your classroom successful.