The text has brought up a lot of excellent points about it being okay to use technology in the classroom but you need to make sure the technology you are using with your students is going to be effective and used correctly. While reading the Pearson's book, Technology to Teach Literacy, I came came across a few topics which struck questions in my brain. One being if we have so much new technology and the technology is supposed to be use to help people out, why are some forms of technology hurting us? Well the first thing that popped into my mind was SPELL CHECKER... this for sure has made people lazy. The plus side of involving technology in the classroom for literacy and other areas is the student involvement. Students are more willing to share ideas and participate in discussions when they have technology to assist in their learning. To everyone learning and technology are different things. Some people think learning does not take place when technology is being used and others feel so strongly about technology in the classroom it is the only thing they use to educate their students. On page 13 of Pearson's it tells us that regardless of how skilled we think we are in using computers to teach literacy, we still need professional development. This is completely true, no one knows enough about to incorporate literacy using technology all the time. Collaboration is the key according to Pearson's, and I am glad to have this class to collaborate ideas with. Trackstar is an application for teachers to use to put websites in for different lessons on literacy that they teach in the classroom.
With teaching special education I try and incorporate technology into most of my lessons. I find it effective, but some times for them it is the old fashioned way, the hands on methods work better for them. With all the advancements in technology it is bound to fail at some point and some times I think it will be when my future kids are at an age when technology is at its greatest and people are talking into technology instead of communicating the old fashion way. Mailmen wont have jobs because snail mail wont exist anymore.
For this class I was able to get a digital book. So far this digital book has only caused me problems. It took three days for the email to get to me to activate my account, and then finally 10 minutes to punch in the codes needed to read my book. Over all I am going to say I like having the actual copy of the book because it causes me less stress. Plus there was no discount on the digital copy. Technology Technology Technology what am I to do...we are in a love hate relationship all the time!
