Thoughts On Technology

Nothing was the same. Just kidding. I still think that technology can be beneficial if used the right way. I'm less concerned with students getting off-task with technology, although this might be because I haven't really used it with my students. I'm focusing more on how technology can be used to enhance a lesson and really make it stick with students. For example, my flipped lesson was only a substitution for a teacher. I don't think that's especially conducive to student learning because it doesn't add anything.

Social media is something I still want to keep away. I think it could be cool for students to "tweet" out their thoughts in other classes, but math isn't easily summarized in 140 characters. In this case, I feel that technology would make things more distracting. Although I am on social media, I don't see it being applied to a math classroom.

At my new placement, many of the students have TI N-Spire calculators. They are so powerful: teachers can send students worksheets on the calculators. I'm not entirely sure how that works, but that could be used to help students keep track of assignments digitally. Other than that, I haven't seen technology being used to enhance any lessons.

Ultimately, I'm more open to using technology. However, I need to find or design lessons that really use technology to reach the next level.