Integrating Technology

Integrating technology was important for my unit on Government in the 2nd grade classroom because it helped transform my unit from teaching about the basic information needed to understand the subject matter into making learning about government interactive and keeping the students engaged. Technology helps create the 21st century classroom that teachers and students are both striving for. In my unit technology was able to help students have critical thinking skills and work together in groups to create collaboratation with other classmates. Technology was also used to help students that are on different levels of learning and development to be able to take control of their own learning and navigate themselves through technology in a way that makes sense for them. When integrating technology it is important to realize the needs of students in your classroom and be able to make changes and understand what programs they understand best and which do not benefit their learning. This is why I am glad that I know a variety of technology tools to use in my classroom because with the variety of tools to use I will be able to find ways to connect with all of my students in my classroom through engagement of technology.

Technology is a great way to get students engaged because it is always changing, and the students love being able to do new things in the classroom. Throughout my unit I used a variety of different technology tools which consisted of: ActivInspire, Virtual Field Trip, Glogster, Pixton, and Animoto. These tools have become great resources for me in creating engaging lessons and the more practice I continue to have making them the better the technology integration has become. The technology integration that I did throughout my unit can be found on my Wiki page; a Wiki is also a great tool of technology to use in the classroom because it organizes information and presents facts in a way that is easy for others to understand and navigate through.

Creating the technology to put into my unit was fun for me to do and this is because of the variety of technology and sites I have been exposed to and taught how to do. My favorite thing I created were my ActivInspires, and I was surprised by this because when I first learned how to make an ActivInspire I found them difficult to make; but with the more practice I had I was able to fit them to meet the needs of the lessons and make them engaging for the students and make the slides come to life for the students involved. The biggest challenged I faced with integrating technology into my unit was making sure that my students would have enough time to complete the tasks that were asked of them and that the technology matched the standards that were being addressed in the specific lessons.

Many people that have not experienced using technology before usually stray away from technology because they are unsure of ways to use it in the classroom. Education World gives many different ideas on other ways to integrate technology into the classroom through tools that are assessable to all. Technology is also important for the classroom because it is a way to assess our students and be able to collect data that is useful in the success of all our students. The video in this blog explains how data analysis can be used to tell how students are preforming and this can be done through technology and help create smarter education societies. This is one of the major ways I plan on using technology in the future is to assess my students and be able to inform decisions of where to go in my instruction and make sure students are developing and becoming 21st Century Learners. The aim is to prepare our students and have them receive the best education, and by incorporating technology into our lessons we will be able to do this and reach the education we have been striving for.