Do you know what technology your school has that is at your immediate disposal? I am guessing that there may be more than you think. There is a lot of money floating around today for technology in schools, more than most realize, and schools are using the money. One of the problems is keeping up [...]
Archive for the ‘Why Tech?’ Category
Unused Technology
Posted in Why Tech?, tagged ed tech, education, learning, web 2.0 on March 12, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Think about the homework you give students
Posted in Cell Phones, Why Tech?, tagged cell phones, education, texting, web 2.0 on March 6, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
I was listening to a few of my 7th grade students yesterday. They were talking about how they use their phones to work together to get their homework done. When they come to an problem or question that they can’t solve, they text a friend to see if they have the answer. This makes quick [...]
Don’t ask me. Look it up.
Posted in Why Tech? on March 1, 2012 | 2 Comments »
Surely you remember hearing your own teachers say that. The class would be reading, and a student would come across an unfamiliar word, raise a hand and ask for the definition. Asking what the word meant often resulted in the teacher pointing toward the neatly stacked dictionaries in the corner of the room. With today’s [...]
Don’t just sit around and watch; join in the conversation
Posted in Random Stuff, Why Tech?, tagged ed tech, education, learning, teaching on February 28, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
The internet is supposed to make us more connected. For most people, it is definitely a tool to keep on top of what is happening. The email is checked several times a day, along with Facebook walls and twitter feeds. We (I am included in this) are great consumers. However, when was the last time [...]
Transforming education with the use of technology
Posted in Why Tech?, tagged ed tech, education, teaching, web.20 on February 23, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Most teachers agree that it is time to start using technology in the classroom. However, using technology in the classroom looks quite different from teacher to teacher, and it’s possible that many are using in the wrong way. I was reading Scott McLeod’s blog, Dangerously Irrelevant, and his latest post features a list of actions [...]
Purist or successfully diverse?
Posted in Random Stuff, Why Tech?, tagged education, mac, pc, web 2.0 on February 13, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
One of my favorite ways to spend a day outside of school is to go fly fishing. There is something deeply satisfying about tricking a fish into biting a fly that I tied myself. It’s fun and relaxing as well as a good challenge. However, as much as I like to fly fish, I also [...]
The forgotten tool: Telephones (or maybe communication)
Posted in Random Stuff, Why Tech?, tagged education, learning, teaching on February 10, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Lurking in the corner of almost every classroom is a technological tool that often get overlooked by teachers: the telephone. I know. You don’t need to use the school phone because you have one in your pocket, or maybe you don’t talk on the phone much at all. Most people either text or send an [...]
Research is hard work
Posted in Research, Why Tech?, tagged ed tech, education, research on February 9, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Currently, I teach an 8th grade class that focuses solely on research, and my two Senior classes writing research papers. For the last several days, I have listened to students complain that they can’t find enough information for their papers. I have explained that there are books written on many of the topics they have [...]
Unpredictable
Posted in Random Stuff, Why Tech?, tagged ed tech, education, technology, web 2.0 on February 8, 2012 | 3 Comments »
Tonight, I was working on some fake Facebook resources and clicked on My Fake Wall, a resource that I have used in the past. The link took me to a page that said the site was offline. There was no indication of when it would be up and running again. There is a chance that [...]
Show students how to use the internet for research
Posted in Random Stuff, Why Tech?, tagged ed tech, education, teaching on February 3, 2012 | 1 Comment »
I’m not just talking about preparing students to write a paper. Show them how to discover the world. This week, I read a cool article about the climbers who recently climbed Cerro Torre, a wicked mountain in the Patagonia. I decided to share the story with some of my classes and use the article for [...]
