Technology in the Classroom

As we move into the digital age, teachers are doing more and more technology integration into their classrooms.  I, too, am one of those teachers.  If I were able to integrate more technology into my classroom, my students, who are 21^st century learners, will benefit greatly.  More technology would mean more opportunities to learn in different ways and to reach more learners. 

            Some teachers, including myself, are a little apprehensive about all these changes to our classrooms.  It makes us nervous to try new things and we worry about taking on more work and how it will impact teaching and learning.  But like Marc Prensky says, “Feel the fear and do it anyway!”  That is the attitude we need to take when implementing technology into our classrooms.

            When I integrate technology into my classroom, I see student engagement increase greatly.  They are excited to learn something new or to interact with a new piece of technology.  They are teaching each other things and are excited by that.  You see light bulbs going off on students who maybe struggle with traditional learning.  You see creativity, collaboration and imagination. 

            One of the most recent things I have done with technology is to film my kids doing behaviors that are both on and off target.  They then worked in small groups to create a video using Animoto.  We shared these videos with the school during an “On Target” assembly.  They loved seeing themselves in front of the whole school.  This was a great opportunity for my students to plan, work together and come up with a shared project.