What I Think ABout Ed Tech Discussions

I want to scream! These people have no clue! They are the people who sat in the smart board introduction class and fought it all the way. It is crazy! These people need to wake up and starting thinking about the needs of students and not themselves. I use tech all the time in my classroom and still have TONS of student contact time. I know how to use the technology in my classroom so I don;t waste time getting it ready and wasting student learning time. My student's have extended learning because of the ipods, it is not replacing any student teacher contact time. I have a reading endorsement and use current best practices in my classroom. This is crazy, yo have a lot of work to do to convince these people that they need to start learning how to use tech and not fight it. It doesn't work! 

I can't believe that these are pre service teachers, I wouldn't want any of them in my building...

Week One: Ed Tech

Week One: What I think about Ed Tech. 

It is going to be interesting. It does seem like a lot of busy work and assignments. I feel like the use of technology should make our lives easier but it does seem like we are doing a lot of the same "stuff" in our discussions and then again in our assignments... not very fun. 

I would also like to see the use of some apple products since that is what a lot of schools use. We are currently having a discussion in the district that I work in weather we should be teaching students how to use Pages or Word. We decided to teach students Pages, the problem to many teachers don't know how to use Pages, they are still using AppleWorks... Crazy. We need to prepare our students to use many different platforms and word processing programs. Pages is a lot easier to use and more user friendly for "aliens" and students. I just think that it would be great for teachers to be learning how to use a MAC and a PC. 

Here's a Link to My School Website! 

"Using Blogs in the Classroom"

I think that using blogs in a classroom can be very effective. What a great way to reach students and their families. I really like what the math teacher in Canada did. He had daily lessons and students were very easily able to go back over what they learned. It was also a great place to post assignments and other important events. I can really see the students using this resource A LOT. 

This last year I used a wiki with my 2nd graders. The students were sharing their learning about what they were reading and learning how to type and use technology. I am also currently using a blog to keep parents up to date. The tech department has been having server trouble so I have not been able to update regularly, but I hope to do so in the future, and not have to send out a paper copy of the newsletter each week. The wiki would be a great resource for students to post work, and to respond to others work. 

I also enjoyed the Don't Feed the Trolls article. I agree, we need to teach students how to use technology correctly instead of not letting them use it at all. We need to teach them how to respond to each other in the correct manner. This is where their world is headed. They may never need to leave their house again. This maybe the only way they communicate with the outside world, they need to learn how to make friends, nicely! 

Start Blogging

My name is Jamie Semrad, I am currently a 2nd grade teacher in Oregon City. This is my 4th year teaching. My favorite animal is my Saint Bernard puppy Troller. He is 2 1/2 years old and very cute.