Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Response to Preparing to Teach with Technology

The article that I decided to read for class is Preparing to Teach with Technology by Mary Hatwood Futrell. This article begins with a high school teacher talking about the first computer lab she had in her school. She talked about how she didn't think students would become interested in technology and when they did like technology the students that new it better taught teachers and other students. Mary noticed that the students really took to having computers in their classroom. In George Washington's School of Education the pre service teachers are required to be proficient in teaching technology to their students and have a electronic portfolio before graduated. A lot like what we have to do here at William and Mary in our technology class! At George Washington they have electronic classes from teachers of the main campus to other campuses in the surrounding area. George Washington is also trying to deal with the shortage of teachers in Maryland and Virginia and trying to teach teachers the technology curriculum too. The article finishes by talking about the power of technology for all learners. Students are really excited about learning when teachers integrate technology well in the classroom. The author is still amazed about the power of technology that she had seen from her first computer lab to the continuing advancing technology in today's classrooms.

It was really good to read about how other colleges also are promoting the instruction of technology like William and Mary. They were also doing projects like we are going to be doing in class. It is good to know that a lot of programs are noticing the importance of their teachers integrating technology in the classroom. It seems that our society is beginning to realize the importance that learning technology can have for their student's future. This article confirmed my feelings about integrating the newest technology in the classrooms. If the technology the author experienced from the beginning of the article to the technology she is seeing in classrooms today has changed so much, technology will only advance. Increasing the importance to teach about the changes and the opportunities they have using it.

http://www.edutopia.org/php/article.php?id=Art_813&key=039

Technology History

Hi my name is Megan McInnes. I am pretty good with technology. I am the one my family who has to set up and figure out how to work the new technology. I am in no ways a person who knows a lot about technology I just don't mind sitting on the computer trying to figure out how it all works. I also enjoy experimenting and playing around with new computer stuff. So I would call my self average when it comes to technology. My experience with technology from K-12 was limited. We had a computer lab but our computer class consised of us learning how to type usually and computers weren't used in our academic lessons. Not until I was in 8th grade did our school update the computers and technology so we used in our classes. Then in highschool my teachers used powerpoint and some used the smart board and we used the computer lab for classes sometimes. So I wasn't exposed to technology in classes till I was in 8th grade.