Don’s 632 Blog

This is the next to last day of the class.  Time flies when you are having fun. Today in class we talked about the use of GPS technology in elementary classrooms.  We also saw two demonstrations on how to download pictures from a camera and make movies using both an Apple computer and a PC.

Before coming to class I read over the article by Bernie Poole entitled “What Every Teacher Should Know About Technology”.  He said that every teacher should be proficient in the use of productivity tools like a word processor, spreadsheet, database and presentation software.  I do use a word processor on a regular basis and presentation software at times.  According to this article I am far from being proficient with a word processor because my skills are certainly limited.

I do not think about the Blackboard gradebook being a spreadsheet, but I do use that all of the time.  It is fairly user friendly as far as what I use it for.

Mr. Poole reminds us teachers that presentation software such as PowerPoint is not for the teachers to be proud of their slide shows, but that the slide shows should be great for students.  I thought that was the idea behind any teaching tool that we may use in the classroom, even if it is only markers and a whiteboard.  I always thought that teachers were to teach and tools are there to make them more effective. It is possible to be proficient at the six “essential technology-related skills” listed by Mr. Poole and still be an ineffective teacher, or at least that is my opinion.

It is pointed out that drawing tools are cool and can spice up handouts and such things.  These tools are supposed to be good for learning. 

Every teacher who has used technology even on a limited basis has faced the situation where things just did not work.  Mr. Poole suggests that ”every teacher should be able to troubleshoot technology-related problems that commonly crop up in the classroom”. They should also know where to go for technical assistance.  We have good technical staff here at Del Tech, but it may take a few minutes to locate one of them and get them to the classroom to fix the problem.  Hopefully the problem can be fixed before the class is over or it is too late to use the technology that session.

Mr.  Poole also states that “every teacher should be familiar with what’s available on the Web in his or her subject area”.  This sounds like a formidable task to me since there is so much information on the Web that it can be overwhelming and take hours and hours to check out what is available.  Also, the sources should be checked for reliability.

Mr. Poole also says that ‘every teacher should have well-honed Web searching skills”.  This would certainly be an asset since it would save a lot of time spent searching and it would help one eliminate unreliable sources.

The last thing is that “every teacher should be open to new ways of doing things”.  One must certainly be flexible and that includes incorporating new ways of doing things if they make you a better educator.  Just make sure that the “new thing” is not just an “old thing” that failed years ago that has been resurrected under a new name.

I got to spend some time working on my final project.  It looks like I have a long way to go, but I did make some progress.