I often hear my colleagues retort, "I don't have much technology in my classroom, so why bother with any of it?"
Oh how that pains my heart, soul, and mind.
I'm sure these comments are due to pure frustration brought about the inequities that are out there in the teaching world. I can understand the frustration.
I'd like to propose some suggestions of ways you can incorporate technology into your classroom where you can.
My favorite activities:
1. Create a comic strip to demonstrate a number of skills using writing. I like to use them to teach circular stories. How else can you use them? How about to summarize a particular skill in science? Can you see a way to use it to explain a math concept? Retell the events in history.
Great places to visit?
http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/
http://www.zimmertwins.com/
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/comic/
http://toonlet.com/
http://www.bitstripsforschools.com/
2. Use an educational social networking site to connect students to each other and the world. www.edmodo.com is my favorite. If you don't have time or the computers to use this every day, you can have students do homework assignments as they wish to complete them there from home. With this as an "option" this takes pressure off students who don't have computers and/or internet at home. My favorite thing about Edmodo? They have an "ap" for that!
What can be done on Edmodo? Just about anything you can think of:
a. posts and replies
b. assignments
c. attach documents and links
d. polls
e. quizzes.
My students have learned more from the global classroom and the GA-PA connections we've created. In the global classroom, they communicate with students from Singapore learning more about the opposite cultures, and in the GA-PA connections we are working on a collaborative project on world population with a class from Georgia (hence the GA) while we're from Pennsylvania (the PA).
3. Webinars/Webcasts. Polar Bears International offers frequent webcasts to teach about the polar bear populations in Churchill, Manitoba. By presenting a webinar/webcast in the classroom, all you need is one computer to stream the webcast from and a screen to project the images on. It's as simple as that. My students have loved the webcasts they've been a part of this week. They've learned more from this experience alone that they would have from reading a text book.
How do I manage computer usage?
1. Do you have access to a lab? Try to schedule regular visits. If you can, do it one time a month. Have the activity planned out ahead of time so you can make it fit into the unit you are currently doing.
2. Do you have a few computers in your classroom? Plan a project that can be done by pairs or groups of students together over a couple of sessions. Organize your plans so you have independent work the rest of the class can work on while the others are on the computers.
You can make it work. If you have any suggestions on how you've done this in your classroom or ideas I haven't mentioned, please be sure to reply to this post!
