The Wave of the Future

          My Pinterest board has been a process of including technology.  How does a classroom look if there is technology in it?  What does it look like in terms of learning for the students and how does a teacher ever stay on top of everything they should be using?  I have struggled with this considerably.  By doing this blog I am saying, yes I want to embrace this.  I'm not sold on it however.  I think that there has be a time and a place for it. 

I think that there needs to be consideration given for students who may not have access to the technology itself or to the internet required for some of it.  I have seen many a Smartboard under-utilized in a classroom.  I actually saw a teacher once use it as a blank canvas for her overhead projector.  That might not be the best way to include technology in the classroom.  There has to be a combination of not only having it in the room but using it, for all of its advantages. 

          There are websites, tablets, apps, and devices that can make the learning process more engaging and can help a student bridge the gap between what they think of as boring and what they can do to learn the material.  In reality everything should be as interactive as possible.  This can be done via technology but it can also be done in simple activities.  Using different websites to research material would not have been anything I had thought about.  Who knew there was more to this universe than just Google. 
          As teachers we need to figure out what is out there, we don't necessarily need to know anything about it right away, but we should make attempts to figure it out quickly.  Students are so much better at the technology, use it as a learning process to allow them to teach others and yourselves.  I'm scared, I use technology regularly, what I think is, but there are so many more things to learn.  My mom struggles to turn her computer on.  I blog regularly, I use email, Pinterest, Facebook, other social media, an iPad, a laptop and a desktop.  I can text without looking at my phone.  I am familiar with dropbox and other websites to be used for classroom work.  However, I still use Internet Explorer which my children tell me is drastically outdated.  I can search for things but just discovered Google Scholar this past year. 
          Technology is changing so quickly, sometimes before we have learned what is here right now.  I'm not going to have all of the answers, but I'm certainly going to try.  I owe it to my students.