Our Brains Extended Question 6

As we talked about during our class discussion today, although he had some interesting ideas, the curriculum suggested by Prensky is unrealistic. But I think we can take some of his suggestions about technology and try to incorporate them into our classrooms. A technological tool in my classroom that seems effective is the smartboard. It, for the most part, really holds the students attention, especially those who have a challenging time staying still. It seems to be particularlly effective when there is an interactive game or activity on there for the students to participate in. The school I currently work in has a smartboard in every classroom, but I know this is not the case everywhere. I know we were discussing in class the other day that there is something even better then the smartboard coming out, so whatever that is, schools should invest in getting them. They are an incredibly useful tool that all students seem to respond to. In addition, I liked the idea we discussed in class today about incorporating technology into center activities. While not all centers would have to be technology related, one could involve a game/activity on the classroom computer, and maybe another center could involve a listening center. What is great is that many computer games, such as many on Starfall now have built in assessments, so it would make the teacher's life easier in assessing student progess. Another technological tool we can incorporate into our classrooms are blogs. Instead of always responding in writing, the students, maybe during literature circles, or guided reading could respond on a blog. Then the students could respond to each other's posts, learning from each other. This could especially be effective for top reading groups in the upper elementary level. I think that including these newer technological programs into the classroom would not be overly challenging, especially after what we have learned this week. I think that these would be very effective ways to incorporate 21st century technology into the classroom, and the students would benefit from it, and really enjoy it.