Technology in My Classroom

When I was in primary (or elementary) school, technology was just being introduced into schools. Typically, computers would be used to play games. Only adults had cellphones. CD players were a luxury item. And the most any regular school would have is a few computers, stereos that could play cassette tapes, maybe CDs and the radio, and projectors like the one in the picture below.From: http://img.tomshardware.com/us/2004/11/13/supersize_your_tv_for_/beamer_liesegang_s.jpg

However today, the use and knowledge of technology is essential to one's education and life in general. Computers are used everywhere for almost anything. Almost everyone owns a cellphone. To have an ipod is common. And just as videotapes have been replaced by DVDs, which are slowly being replaced by internet sites such as YouTube, projectors like the one above have been replaced by projectors like the one below.

From: http://cdn.gadgetvenue.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/viewsonic-short-throw-dlp-projector.jpg

In my future classroom, I plan to use technology as one of many teaching tools. In this there are endless possibilities.

In English there tends to be a lot of discussion done on books, films, topics and everything in between. Since discussion time in class is limited, I think it would be a great idea to use an online forum. This could be done on Facebook or forum websites such as Joomla. Even the BYU-H Blackboard website has a forum application. Doing this would provide a record of discussions that students could refer back to and allow more quiet students to put forward their opinions.

Blogs, as was discussed in my previous post, would also benefit, particularly in an English class. When it comes to writing, to critique and to have your work critiqued is very important. Students could use a blog to post up written work to be critiqued by fellow students, their teacher and anyone else interested in their work. Blogs also provide opportunities for those who want to go into careers such as journalism or creative writing.

These two are only ideas of what could be done with technology in an English class. As I said before, the possibilities are endless.