Tech+Integration

Technology Integration Of all of the videos I watched on www.edutopia.org, my favorite was “Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts.” I enjoyed the way that she allowed the students to teach themselves and then be the “teacher of the day” and teach the technology to the rest of the class. It seems that, by allowing the students to explore and learn the technology themselves, they walk away with a greater understanding, a higher level of self-confidence, and an enhanced ability to work collaboratively. Also impressive was the fact that she was collaborating with a teacher in Qatar (now China) to found www.digiteen.org.

Having been raised in a privileged and well-funded school district, I have always felt that technology integration in the classroom is incredibly important and, honestly, took it for granted until I left high school and got into the “real world.” Now, after having had the opportunity to work in a public school district that was not as well-funded, I agree even more that technology integration is important. As I want to be a Spanish teacher, I would like to incorporate blogs, wikispaces, and perhaps even podcasting into my classroom so that my students can connect with the material outside of the classroom, as well as allowing them to collaborate with each other, with me, and students in Spanish-speaking countries.