Barriers to Technology Use in Schools

I have found that a large barrier to using technology in schools is safety. No school wants to introduce technology to students at the expense of their safety. However, I feel one of the most important skills a student could posses would be to know what is safe and how to keep themselves that way. Blocking websites and restricting use is one way a school protects students, but on the other hand as I have seen in this class sites such as youtube could be used in almost any classroom, but many schools block it. Instead of blocking sites such as these I feel that teachers should be more vigilant when a student is using the internet in their class so that these sites can be utilized. I have also found that if a student really wants to see something they know a way around the blocks, this just illustrates how important it is to watch what your students are doing on computer as in most cases they are going to do it whether the school wants them to or not.

RSS Readers = Relief

If it weren't for RSS readers I would probably not be able to keep up or keep in touch with the other students in this course. These are great! They put all the information I need in one place. I could see this working well for students to have a different one for each class or subject matter and teachers could make make suggestions about what pages to add to keep up with the class. At first when I watched the youtube tutorial on RSS Readers I felt like I would have information overload but once I got into mine on Google and began exploring I did see how it made my life much easier. The harder part will be to disconnect from time to time.

Wiki Use for Teachers in the Near Future

In the near future I can see teachers using Wiki’s in classes where group projects are assigned. This was the most relevant use for Wiki’s that I could see. An example of using a Wiki would be for a jigsaw activity. Take a science class where students are put into groups of 3 or 4. Each group member is to become an “expert” in one area. After each group member does research on their topic they could combine their findings in their wiki, where each member could review one another’s information and add to it or ask for clarification before having to submit the final product. Some of the 21st century skills that would be covered by a project like this would include: creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, communication and collaboration, ICT literacy, flexibility and adaptability, initiative and self-direction, and productivity and accountability.

Blog Use for Teachers in the Near Future

In the near future I can see teachers using blogs personally and professionally. Personally they can be a way to branch out. Professionally there are many ways to use a blog. A blog could be used to get new information and ideas from other educators in the areas of unit plans, projects and more. An educator can also use blogs in their classrooms with their students. It could be used as a way for students to participate in class outside of the classroom. They can also be used to communicate with students in other districts, state or countries. A French class could talk with students in France about customs and their culture. A social studies class talking about World War II could blog with soldiers or Holocaust survivors. These few examples I have given hit on many 21st century skills including: global awareness, communication and collaboration, media literacy, ICT literacy, and social and cross-cultural skills just to name a few.

The Pros and Cons of Blogging

I believe blogging can be useful in schools. I see many drawbacks to blogging as well. The pros to blogging would hopefully include greater student participation, easy access to student work, incorporating additional skills into classes such as reading and writing into math, and peaking student interest. Some of the cons I see to blogging include access to the technology be it at school or at the student’s home, having to do a lot of preparation ahead of time to set up the blogs, and having to take the additional time to teach students how to use the program, specifically with my students their understanding of technology is sometimes poor. Occasionally I give my students a website to use in class and I forget I need to explain to them that once they log in they need to click on the Internet Explorer link and then type the link in at the top of the page. However, I do feel that the pros outweigh the cons in this situation and I do hope to use this new technology in my classes to help my students find greater success.

Professionally and Personally Useful Blogs

As a teacher some of the more interesting and useful blogs that I found include:
http://free.ed.gov/
http://www.educationarcade.org/
http://www.edweek.org/ew/index.html
The first two blogs had a lot of information that I could use in my classroom including project ideas. The third one follows current issues in education.

As a coach there are a few websites and blogs that I follow:
www.nike.com
www.livestrong.com/blog/
www.bodybuilding.com/
http://www.ustfccca.org/
http://www.usaswimming.org/
Each of these gives me workout ideas as well as nutritional and motivational theories. It also keeps my practices from getting stale as there are always new ideas on these sites that I can try with my athletes.

Personally I follow blogs on:
www.themonroetimes.com
www.msn.com
I enjoy the first site as it keeps me connected to my hometown and the interesting perspectives of individuals in a small town. The second website is high interest as well as current so I can keep up with what is happening around the world in addition to topics of personal interest.

A little bit about me.

Hi, my name is Sarah Eiserman and I am a Special Education Teacher at Badger High School in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. This is my third year here and I love it. We are a fully inclusive school so I co-teach in the math department. This is the first year that I only teach math, the past few years I also taught Freshman English. I teach Algebra A and Algebra B (Algebra B is new to me this year in place of the English). The school decided to split Algebra 1 into two years to help meet the needs of more learners. I also teacher a Consumer Math class which is the only special education class offered in the school. I enjoy this class as I am free to be as creative as I want and the pace of the class is great for my students.
I am most excited about learning everything in this class. I relate well to my students as I can't remember a time without the Internet or having a cell phone and I sometimes feel funny around my not so tech-savvy co-workers. However, I do worry about this class because I do not want 60 students joining in on my blogs or Twittering me. In the future I would like to use what I learn with my students but not while I'm learning it. I want to learn how to better incorporate technology and blogging into my classes. One of our school goals is reading in the content areas and I would like to include more reading into math and then have the students post about the readings.