I found that the tech in my placement assignment was a really good way for me to begin to get to know not only my own classroom better, but also the school that I will be spending the next year learning in.
I am not placed in a wealthy school district for my student teaching, so I was unsure of what kinds of technologies I would encounter. I must say that the discoveries that I made about my school were surprising on both ends of the technology spectrum, there were somethings that I was surprised and impressed to hear that we had available at my school, while other things I was disappointed to hear weren't available.
One fun peace of technology that the students at my school have access to is video and video editing equipment, while this does not take place in my classroom I think it is great that our announcements are put together by a group of students. Using that kind of equipment and getting that kind of experience is something unique that I think could be really valuable to students in the future, I wish we had that in my high school! Another awesome thing that is available in some classrooms in my school are Google Chrome Books and Smartboards! Woo! While almost all of the teachers in my school do not have access to these technologies, I think that it's pretty awesome that some students get to experience using them!
Some of the other technologies that I learned about were pretty standard, there are computer labs that teachers can reserve for a class period if they want to do online research, and my mentor teacher has taken advantage of this more than once already this year.
What I could NOT believe was that my mentor teacher had to pay for her own projector!! Doing power points in class is a pretty standard way of getting dense scientific information across to students before we move on to the hands on learning.
So while there are so cool flashy technologies at my school it is easy to see that there is still a serious funding issues at play here that are creating a large gap.
Lauren, I'd be curious to hear a bit more about that digital projector. Your teacher chose to pay out of her own pocket for technology she saw as critical to learning. Is it a common practice in your placement? Are the teachers used to paying for certain technology in the same way that they pay for dry erase markers and notebooks and binders?
ReplyDeleteIn the Army, I was told before I became an officer that I should expect to pay roughly $200/mo for my troops: for equipment, snacks and chow, supplies, social events, etc. I have heard very little from either our instructors or from my own mentor teacher regarding this problem in education, but having spent some time in retail management during the back-to-school season, I know that many teachers shell out money for basic supplies, and increasingly expect parents to do the same.
My concern is clearly not limited to technology; but, since we're talking tech, I'll return to my starting point: did your teacher feel compelled to buy the projector?
This is really interesting Lauren. It sounds like our placement schools are really different so I'm interested to hear more about yours! I'm wondering how the various types of technology in your school are delegated between teachers and students. Do you have to sign out the chrome books? Or are they only for specific classes?
ReplyDeleteI'm also interested, like Michael, to know more about the projector that you use in class. I'm curious to know how frequently you use the projector in your class. I'm also curious to know whether or not students have access to computers (like in the computer lab or library) during lunch or free times. Thanks for sharing!
I wanted to seek out your tech/placement post because I know we're in similar districts. Sounds like our schools are equally confusing when it comes to Tech in the Classroom. Fortunately, our district gets some Title 1 type funding that can go toward technology so they have working Smart Boards in most (if not all) classrooms, an iPod cart, a kindle cart, and some laptop carts that appear to live in the library. There are also a couple of computer labs that seem to be dedicated to certain content areas (but I'm not 100% on that).
ReplyDeleteDo you know how many students are in your building? I'm starting to think about data, specifically, how many exposures our students have with technology throughout the year. I have no way of figuring this out with any accuracy but I'm thinking about it. If these kids are going out into the world with little more than their smartphones and some computer lab time, are we setting them up for failure? On the other hand, I hope your students understand how much your MT cares about giving them a solid education by purchasing her own projector!!! Not to mention the Chrome books we know Mr. Hughes had to raise funds for...