User:Gilbertson884

'''Here you will find my final paper for the technology class. Brenna Gilbertson'''

Before I started this class, I was not aware of all of the technologies that are available to teachers to use. I knew about computers, had heard briefly about smart boards, and I also knew about probeware. However I did not know all of the uses for probeware or the smart boards. There is so much more that you can do with those two pieces of technology. It’s amazing. Also I thought it was cool that you can have a calculator that can go on the overhead and that you can have a microscope that can project on the projector. Hopefully I will get to use those things someday. I do believe that technology should not take the place of a teacher or an activity that can be done by the student. Technology should be used as an aide. I think technology is a great tool for teachers to use and we should not be afraid to use it. I think for the teachers who are afraid of technology should not be, and should embrace the technology. I especially like the application of probeware. I think this is a great tool for students and teachers as well. Eventually someday I would love to have probeware in my classroom. I think that probeware is great for students to use in the class and a great way for teachers to introduce accurate data collection. Probeware also allows the students to collect real time data and this will enable them to have more time to look at the post lab and other aspects of the experiment because they will not be working on creating a graph or getting all of the data collected. With all of the adaptors that probeware comes with I believe that it will open up my classroom to a whole bunch of new labs that I could perform with my students. I am a little concerned about fitting all of the new technology into my classroom. I do not want to be so focused on technology and using it that I actually lose the focus of my teaching. I do not want to be one of those teachers who let power point do their teaching because it is easy to use the same power points year after year. I would like to use the technology, and change it class to class to make it work. Also I would love to have a smart board to use, but I want to make sure that I use them to my advantage and not to take over what I am actually supposed to do as a teacher. I hope that when using the technology I will not have any malfunctions and I know that is not the case. I just hope that I will be prepared and have back up and I know that is something that I will have to work for and make sure that I have a backup plan. If I am going to give a power point I want to make sure that I have the notes in case the computer is not working or something. I do not want to be that teacher that everyone wants when their technology doesn’t work because they spend the whole class time fixing the problem. I want to make sure that I have a backup plan of notes or a different activity that I could use instead of the power point until it gets fixed. Over all I think that technology is a great aide in the classroom and I want to be able to utilize it. I know I will need to take refresher classes, and I am not worried about that. I feel that to be a good teacher you should continue taking classes and improving your class. I feel that technology is something that I will need to take more classes of to better understand and use the technology to my advantage. I do not want to be one of those teachers where my students need to help me use the technology that I have in my classroom. I want to be able to keep up with technology and use it in my class to help teach students about biology. I believe that technology will help me do just that and add a few extra cool things to teach about with the help of pictures from the internet, videos that I can get off of the internet and even online games for the students to play.