Journal 6

I decided to look at my old middle school's website. I specifically decided to look at the website of 8th grade teachers at RJ Murray Middle School.  Most of the teachers websites have yet to be set up. However, from the websites that are set up, I noticed that the teachers included a list of classes that they teach as well as a brief introduction to what those classes will entail. The teachers also provided links that would help their students study at home and clarify information. On these websites, the teachers included a list of supplies that the students would need for that particular class. Also, each website has a link to Schoology which is how the teachers communicate with their students. Work sheets and notes are also posted on these websites.

Although I would not want to be completely reliant on technology as a teacher, I would definitely use some form of online communication with my students outside of emailing to make me more accessible to the students outside of the classroom. Something like Schoology is ideal because not only can the students easily communicate with the teacher but they can communicate with their peers as well which could foster a better classroom environment. You can also quiz students on Schoology and they earn badges which is a good form of positive reinforcement. Kahoot is also a good way to review with students and it also fun for them. No matter the technology I would use its purpose would be to make everything more efficient for not only me but the students as well.

I was introduced to many different kind of technologies while at the Tech Sandbox. I particularly liked the 3-D printer. If I were to teach History this could be useful because I could replicate artifacts through the 3-D printer to add a more hands on dynamic to the classroom. Also when, teaching about geography I could us 3-D printed pieces of countries to test my students on where the countries belong. The virtual reality headsets could also be used well in a history classroom. Sometimes it can be hard to picture or imagine how certain events in history happened so the virtual reality software could be used to help students picture real time conditions of historic events. Of course nothing extremely graphic or detrimental would be displayed through this. Lastly, the Promethean ActivBoard would be very useful in the classroom. This board doubled as a projector and it also had built in games for all subjects. My favorite thing about it is that it is more accessible than a SmartBoard because it can be wheeled around and the height is adjustable.