I love technology. I may not be super experienced with new technology, I manage to get by. I am currently working on creating a wiki page for my English classes as well as a Twitter site. I wish my kids were as excited about technology as I am. It is hard to get them excited about it when they have limited access to computers at school.
I have two student computers, neither of which are even hooked up. I may go ahead and hook them up, but it's such a waste of space considering how slow they are. There are a few computers (6 if they all work) in the library. The kids can go in there before school, but they don't like that because they have to be quiet. We have a computer lab, but the students aren't allowed in there without a teacher (although they often do anyway).
Many of my students are able to access a computer at some point in time during the day, but some do have to make the extra effort to do so. I'd guess that about 60% of my kids have internet access at home, with a few more having computers without internet access.
None of the tech issues stop me from trying to bring technology into the classroom. I have a teacher web site that I pay $30 a year for even though the kids never use it. I'm going to make my honors students use the wiki page though. I have to finish it, then test to make sure it won't be blocked on the school computers. I'm going to post a new question each week that the students will have to comment on. They will have a week to log on, so they should be able to find time and a computer at some point in the week.
I have also started a Twitter account for just my English classes. I'm going to post updates about upcoming assignments and due dates. I'm pretty sure Twitter is blocked on the student computers, but they can access it at home if they want to use it. I think it would be a really cool way for kids to get reminders on when assignments are due.
We'll see how all of this goes. I've had technology ideas like this before that go to the wayside because it's too hard for the kids to participate.
2 comments:
I have a classroom blog that students can access at school or home. I'm guessing about 90% of my students have internet access at home. Our computer situation is a bit better--thanks to a laptop lab on a cart. I also have 3 computers in my room that work.
Several teachers have wikis that they use. I hadn't thought of Twitter. Great idea! Good luck. It will be interesting to see if you can access everything at school!
So far I have one student and one parent following my Twitter. I have decided it will be just as useful for parents who want to keep up with their kids as it will be for the students.
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