Twitter in the classroom
I can see that there are uses for it in the classroom, but figuring out how to draw the line of separation between students using it for personal reasons and educational. I personally don't want to follow students if they are tweeting about their weekend activities or asking them to create an account and feeling obligated to look at each student's account to make sure they are being safe.
As an educator I feel that not only do we need professional development for the teachers on how to use these tools in their classrooms, classes need to be held for students. At RCPS I feel the students are left out of technology because of the lack of support for CTE classes. I taught at MCP and their CTE program is great! They teach web design, computer repair, game programming, networking, and Microsoft Office class. How can we just provided training for teachers and nothing for the students? It is left up to the ITRT's who are already strapped for time as it is. I would LOVE to be the teacher to bring this to the students!!!:-)
Most of my web programming knowledge was either self-taught or I took an AP class in high school to teach me the basics. I agree that classes need to be held for students as well in respect to those areas. With some much pressure around preparing students for the SOLs; I don't see that being possible. Maybe suggest an afterschool class to be used to help teach different subjects in technology.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree that as a CTE teacher we need to be on the cutting edge to teach technology to the students. One of the problems I face as a middle school computer technology teacher is finding the time. We have the competencies to follow. Just getting the basics covered in 9 weeks can be overwhelming.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
I think that we will find that students will come to us knowing how to use these tools efficiently. The one thing that concerns me is teaching students about computer safety. As a classroom teacher, I am always so appreciative when the ITRT is able to provide lessons and resources that teach these important skills in a relative and developmentally appropriate way.
ReplyDeleteDebbie,
ReplyDeleteI agree that we need to get the teachers and students trained on the technology available in our schools. It does no good to throw technology at them if you don't train them how to use it effectively.