Why Technology?

When I think about technology in the classroom so many thoughts and ideas pop into my head, however the overwhelming feeling towards this topic is how “cool” is technology to students. When you get to the root of implementing technology in your classroom the first and foremost thing to consider is, “Will this new application allow student to learn and engage in the content or thinking skill that we as teachers want them to acquire,” and if this is a yes then how, “cool” is this application in a twenty-first century students’ eyes.
As I learn more about technology to use in the classroom my eyes continue to be opened and excited with new programs for instruction. For example the “Wiffiti,” we used in class last week, which allows students to use their cell phones and text answers to a digitalized graffiti screen blew my mind. For myself, wanting to go into high school teaching, I know that I must be on the cutting edge of technology news and events because I know that my students will be. Thanks, to the PLN which I have started building I have been able to begin building a repertoire of interactive materials to engage students in subjects and topics that on the surface may not be that thrilling.
In my opinion, learning how to use technology in the classroom is one of the most important skills for a teacher to have. One of these reasons behind this mindset is the ability to reach all kinds of different learning styles with different types of technology. AS teachers one of the hardest challenges is breaking down how a student learns and then teaching to that individual style. However, with different uses of technology we can easily facilitate more audio exercises for audio learners, more visual aides for visual learners, and many more examples.
Therefore, in this year that I have now before I enter my internship I want to take all the opportunities I can to learn more about technology to implement when I am in a classroom, instead of trying to learn everything at once!