Monday, March 7, 2011

Technology Crazed

I love most things having to do with technology.  Ipods, Facebook, Twitter, Blogging (obviously), imovie, laptops-both pcs and macs, digital cameras, document readers, LCD projectors, and the list goes on. 

I like the creativity that technology gives me. I can't draw or paint and thanks to technology, I don't have to.  I can create slide shows set to music, photo collages, and about a million other things for both personal use and for teaching.

For example, today in my classroom I am using a clicker game.  I've created several different files of questions with multiple choice answers.  They are projected onto the white board by computer. Each student has a remote-like clicker and "buzzes" in their response.  When everyone has buzzed in, the program will tell the correct answer and how many students buzzed in for each response.  When we finish a game, there is an instructor report that will project a summary of how each student (by number of clicker) performed on the set of questions.  It's a lot of fun and can be used in a variety of ways. Oh, and it is a great way to cram in one last review of terms for the State Assessments.

I've been eyeing the Ipads.  I think I would probably like using one.  Of course, it isn't in my budget right now, but maybe someday!

One technology that isn't hard for me to resist is the electronic reader.  I like books.  I seem to have a shorter attention span reading on a computer.  I don't need a short attention span when I read books.  I might like reading newspapers or magazines on an electronic reader:  no clutter or inky hands.  (Of course, for a magazine it would need to be a color e-reader. Add another chunk of change.)  I guess I like paper.  In fact, putting this blog in actual book form is a goal of mine.  One of these days...!

The problem with all this technology:  it is expensive and it becomes outdated so quickly.  I also have to confess that I can spend an awful lot of time creating lessons.  Technology doesn't really save much time; every form of technology that I use to teach a lesson represents quite a bit of work.

I love technology, but have I mentioned that I only like it when it works?  When there are problems or malfunctions I'd pretty much like to pitch it out the window.  And I think that makes me a typical American!  Most of us know just enough to be dangerous.

4 comments:

Mary said...

One of the speech paths had her ipad in our meeting last week, showing us the neat speech apps she had. Very, very cool, but another person said that she heard that in 5 years they are going to be obsolete. I hinted (okay, I just came out and told him!) to CH that I wanted a kindle for my birthday. We'll see if he comes through!
Have a good Monday!

holybovine said...

Books on a reader don't appeal to me, either. There needs to be an interesting, artsy cover, a chunk of earthy-smelling paper pages to flip and a spot for a bookmark with a cow at the top. There's also the side of me that wants to keep the cover designers employeed, as well as the bookstores open. I have a love/hate relationship with most technology.

Beth said...

That's impressive that you've already mastered the clicker game. Good for you! Only two teachers at our small high school have attempted it. I finally got a Smart board and plan to begin learning how to teach with it. Of course, it will be a student who teaches me!
I'm for hard copies too. I like the feel of paper.

Katie (Can't Get THere) said...

We are so alike! I refuse to even entertain the notion of a ereader. I would miss the smell & feel of a book. Real books are like friends! Annnnd, I often print out my blog in chunks (minus comments)and keep them stacked in the attic for the girls to find someday.