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Sunday, November 1, 2009

Math- Chapter 18

There is a push being made to incorporate technology into classrooms. However, "the new visions of technology-rich classrooms called for by national and state standards pose great challenges for teachers" (Knuth, 277). The majority of the educators currently in the field teaching are not familiar with the use of technology nor the new advancements being made everyday. They did not grow up being taught with technology in the classroom and thus, are not comfortable using it. Luckily, we are in a whole different ball park. Although our teachers may not have used technology very often, growing up we got glimpses of how it could be used: successfully or not. Especially with all that we are learning in this course, we will be very prepared to enter the education field using the technological advancements that the nation and state wants. It is exciting to think that we really are the future of education! We will be able to bring in fresh ideas and even teach other teachers our newest technology uses. 

Since the important parts of the chapter have been well summarized by the other math majors, I thought I would mention one part of the chapter that stood out to me. There are many good reasons to use technology. As Jessica pointed out, technology can help in management, collaboration, assessment and learning. However, we must make sure that when we are using technology in our classrooms that we are using it to support one of those aspects. As the authors of the chapter point out, it is essential that "we use technology thoughtfully, in meaningful ways so that we are not merely implementing technology for the sake of technology itself" (289). Doing so would take away from all the advantages technology has to offer. So don't just show some video or podcast or other online media to your class just to say you used technology. Make sure you use quality technology to help your students learn and become engaged.