Incorporating Technology into the Classroom

According to a blog that we had to read in my CEP 452 class at Michigan State University, I gained some valuable insight on why and how the internet can be a positive aspect in students' learning. In a blog by George Couros: "The Responsibility of the Open School," I learned how important it is to use all of the resources that are given to us on the internet in our daily teaching.  Youtube, GoogleEarth, Twitter, Skype educational assessment websites with fun learning games such as Study Island, and even Facebook!

Yes, even Facebook can be incorporated into the classroom.  As I was reading Geroge Couros's blog, I discovered a comment about how one first grade classroom used facebook in the classroom.  I would never think to use facebook; however, with the right tools and goals in mind, facebook in the classroom could really engage the students in learning.  The idea of setting up facebook as a classroom community online has many advantages such as:

• Including the parents in what is going on each day in the classroom with status updates from the teacher and students.
• Teachers can make events invitations online and give the parents information and they can ask questions.
• Pictures and videos can be downloaded online for everyone to observe and show off the student's work.
• Students can communicate with parents at school.
• There are a lot of privacy settings, such as the password being protected and students can only go on the account at school with supervision.

With all of this technology around us, teachers should learn how to best incorporate it into their classroom in order to best prepare our students for the future.  The world is changing and we are not in an age where everything is on paper anymore.  We are in a technology age where new electronics are developed each year.  We need to embrace all of the information we receive from the internet and the technology we use today and apply it to how teachers educate students.  The new ways to use the internet in the classroom may allow children to learn the material in a better, sufficient way to where they may enjoy learning. 

This video below explores the advantages of using Skype in the classroom when teaching about different cultures in the world.  One classroom in Germany interacts with another classroom from the United States and they explain their cultures.  This opens up many doors for the students and expands their horizon of the world. 

VIDEO: Manheim Central Students Use Technology To Expand Classroom

The Design of a Classroom

After reading my Michigan State University Professor's blog on how the architecture of a classroom can play a large role in students' success or failure at school, I could not agree more with him. My Professor explains in his blog how the classroom was purposefully designed at first and how it has been modified throughout time in order to help students feel comfortable in the classroom so they can succeed in education.

All of the furniture in the classroom and how it is set up directly influences a student's educational success. Everything in the school impacts these students academically from the noise in the hallways, to how the desks are rearranged in the classroom, to if the chairs have backs to them or not, to the different posters placed on the wall, to even the lighting in the classroom.  Teachers need to be aware of everything they put in their classroom and how it will affect their students; not just students with disabilities, but all students. 

To some people, a desk is just an ordinary desk, but to a student that simple furniture could impact his success at school.  If by adjusting a classroom desk could help a student feel more comfortable in the classroom and succeed in school, then why not we, teaches, give that simple modification to the student?