Technology
is a tool that needs to be used and integrated into the classroom. It is
very important as an educator to increase our knowledge and skills. We
should also be willing to learn and adapt in order to meet the needs and raise
our level of competence to that of our students.
I am a Kindergarten teacher in a small
community that is outside of the largest city in Texas. Our school enrollment is 553 students in
grades Kindergarten through 5th grade. The total number of students in our district
is 26,983. Our district strives to
provide the students and staff with access with the latest technology. Each summer, teams of teachers from the various
schools are selected to attend INTERACT Academy.
This is a week long intensive training where teachers learn how to use
technology and integrate it into the classroom.
This summer, I was fortunate to make our school’s team and attend
INTERACT Academy. It was amazing!! We were immersed in technology driven
instruction. It was an eye opening experience
and I am excited to use what I have learned in my class this year. I am no expert but I am willing to learn and
adapt and of course ask for help and not be scared to ask questions. I like the
idea of using technology to enhance my students learning and allow my students to
share their understanding in a creative and meaningful way.
This year, I am planning on using more
technology in my classroom. Since I teach
Kindergarten, there will be a lot that they cannot do on their own at first. But of course with practice and time, I know
that my students will be to develop wonderful products through meaningful
activities. These are some of my technology
strengths that I will be using in my classroom:
·
Movie making programs –
Movie Maker and i-Movie
·
Beginner to Immediate
level on the usage of the Promethean Board for games and interactive flip
charts
·
Very comfortable with my
use with i-Pads and i-Pods for work stations and various apps for storytelling
and for math
As for my weaknesses, I feel that I just
need to overcome my fears and just do it.
Our district has a wonderful team of technology specialists and it is
their job to assist and train us in technology instructional strategies for the
classroom. I am looking forward to using
Activ-Votes and Activ-Expressions with my kids.
I also want to use our technology specialist as a work station in my
classroom and have her assist me in having my kinder babies create products and
expand their use of technology.
For my continuing education on technology,
I am going to continue following and reading
blogs of technology driven educators who are using technology in innovative
ways in the classroom. I am going to
look for teachers at my school who are using technology in their classrooms and
ask how did they do that? Teachers are
always learners and I am going to be the best learner that I can be! It will only make me a better teacher and my
students better 21st Century learners.
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