Current Trends in Technology Essay

School is no longer limited to simple reading, writing and arithmetic. The use of technology has expanded the prospect for education, giving us never-ending possibilities. Therefore, technology deserves significant school attention in order for students to possess technological survival skills. The positive effects of how it can be used in the classroom to enable learning for teachers and students will be explored as well as the need to ensure job stability in the future. What lesson ideas can teachers do using technology? Assign a digital presentation. Students can express themselves more clearly using technology. Technology can be used extensively for language arts. Student reports no longer have to be limited to a written report. Students now are able to have access to unlimited books online. Therefore, teachers are only limited by the student’s ability to access a computer. Web quest is also a tool used for literature exploration. Teachers are able to use media clips to show in class. Videos are available online that help many teachers provide a visual aid to the lesson that they are teaching. Power point presentations enhance instruction in the language arts classroom by storing daily objectives in a PowerPoint presentation and begin each class session by sharing the daily objectives. Creating PowerPoint presentations for essential notes and providing students the slides using the â€Å"handout† option will prevent students from focusing on simply copying the notes from the board or overhead. They will listen to teacher comments and make meaningful notes in the spaces provided. The amount of information on each slide should be limited to one or two important bullets. Students should be encouraged to use PowerPoint presentations when they are required to present to the class. Their self-expression and creativity can be explored with the program’s design options. Reading strategies can be done with the use of technology. During reading teachers can help students activate prior knowledge and generate predictions in order to comprehend text. Teachers can do this when they introduce a reading lesson or topic. Using a multi-media approach, the teacher shows pictures, slides, or clips that is similar to the story concept. Real life connections can also be made with the help of these visuals, as well as helping them create mental images. Students can be asked to make predictions on what they think the story is about. Their answers and responses can be recorded and played back to them after the story is over. This stimulates their interest in the current reading lesson. They will be keener to paying attention and listening. They will be eager to hear their responses played back to them to see if their predictions were correct. Internet provides access to public domains. It also gives students the freedom to read some of the greatest written books and materials. Using websites provides students with a greater knowledge of historical and social foundations in which many pieces of literature rest upon. Printouts of short stories found on line can be distributed to the class. They can be required to read the text and highlight the story concepts such as setting, characters and etc. Teachers and students can also set up a blog that is viewed by their class only. This allows the students to express their ideas and thoughts with the teacher and vice versa. Students can share ideas with classmates and also read one another’s post. This helps tighten the bond between teacher and student and bring classmates closer together. They will all have something in common that they are a part of. There are a number of strategies that can be used in the teaching of reading for students. If a teacher is uncertain how they can integrate technology into their reading instruction, there are many websites that gives lesson plans and ideas. Technology also can be used with writing. Teachers are able to have advance writing instruction with the help of technology. Projectors can be used for students to see the writing process modeled by their teachers. This gives students a chance to see how the procedure works from rough drafting to final revisions. There is a lot of software available that help kids make their story come alive. Programs are available that read their story back to them. How awesome is that? Kids can hear what their writing sounds like and this offers a chance for them to critique it even farther. Microsoft Word is a poplar application program that is used widely in education. This program allows and helps students recognize grammatical and spelling errors. This provides students with guidance on writing a correct composition. It also guides students as well as help them overcome and accomplish the task of terminology difficulty. They are provided with a vast selection of terms. Websites are available that demonstrate proper organization and correct format for writing. It helps with the building and organization of thoughts for a paper. These websites serve as a learning tool. They assist teacher and students in recognizing rational and well thought-out writing ideas. Researching these web sites inspire students with many writing ideas they may have been blocked from. Not to mention, the expansion of the writing curriculum for students with disabilities have greatly been expanded. These students are now able to use voice and touch screen programs as a way to express their ideas. This method is much more effective than the use of paper and pencil. These programs assist these students in developing language skills as well as writing skills. The internet allows for the publishing of student’s work. This procedure makes the idea of an audience more real to them. It can motivate students to become authors and possibly encourage a future in the writing field. There are many websites that offer contests for student’s writing. Teachers should take time to find challenges for their students and inspire them to write for profit. There are many schools that don’t have the privilege of having available reference books. Many publishers have made their reference books available online. Another way to get students to write is student produced newspapers. This is a great practice for their writing skills. It also allows them to be creative, productive and organized. Technology can be used as a written language convention. Students reinforce their grammar skills with online games and activities. This is a way students can have fun with dry material. Oral language can be improved with the use of technology. PowerPoint presentations allow students to organize their speeches and make the audience follow along with the presenter and the teacher to assess a student’s performance. Project based learning can greatly be increased with the use of technology. This is a way students can use technology in proportion to real life situations. Students are able to make decisions in small groups based upon their design, problem solving, resolutions, and analytical measures. This allows students the freedom to be n charge and have full control over their own project. They will be digging deep into those critical thinking skills in order for their project to run smoothly. It gives them more creative independence. This serves as a hands-on learning experience in order for students to answer and relate to the main ideas and standards of the subject area. These encounters are related to e veryday life. Students will be able to take what they’ve learned and apply it in their own life. Students are also able to get involved with projects which connect classes together around the world. The internet provides structure and resources for students to do research on an international level. The use of technology broadens student’s horizons, their goals and beliefs. They can actually connect to another part of the world. They can learn cultural information about places they’ve only heard about. It gives them a chance to explore what’s out there in the world from inside their classroom. What better way for a child to learn about new things than being in a school environment? This is safer for our kids. It takes down the risk of them exploring outside of school on their own. A lot of children don’t know what’s out there because they’ve never been exposed to new surroundings. Children tend to stray away more so out of being curious. Why not fulfill that curiosity by exploring it in class? Project based learning allows children to feed their curiosity by allowing them to choose and have control over what they want to learn. What about drugs, sex and weapons? These are all subjects that kids can explore using technology as a guide. They can research the most harmful drugs in the United States and compared it to the harmful drugs in another country. Teenage pregnancy rate and STD’s can be compared or examined around the world. Weapons that are used to kill children and or our soldiers can be brought to the student’s attention. These subjects are also crucial one’s that need to be discussed with our youth. Students can present their information and their results to the class. They can also come up with a way they feel these problems can be solved or minimized. There might be a student who’s considering having sex, once they research and see the effects of sex up close and personal (i. e. regnancy and STD’s) maybe their mind will be changed. Another one might be interested or all ready taking drugs. They will gain knowledge about what drugs really do to your body. Guns are growing more and more poplar. Students can see first hand the consequences of these weapons. The innocent lives that is lost due to carelessness. As a result of the use of technology, project based learning can be upgraded trem endously and provide a whole new level of learning experiences, which will be beneficial to the student in the long run. Technology can be used to provide visual learning. Digital storytelling challenges students to take their written ideas and translate them into a visual medium. They could write a script then produce a video. Teachers can create rubrics for assessing students, writing and speaking. Teachers can use projectors in the classroom to show photographs, videos or slides. These visual aids keep students engage in the instruction they are receiving. A teacher can integrate a video to go along with the lesson they are teaching. A student can only get so much from a lecture. Most people are visual learners. A video can reemphasize the information that the teacher is trying to convey. That allows those students who weren’t able to grasp the understanding or the concept of the lesson an alternative measure. Teachers can also use technology as visual aids by printing out statistical information for students to see. They can make printouts of graphs and charts to reiterate a particular subject. There are many websites available that provide many resources and tips teachers can use to create hands-on visual aids in their classroom. This will be a great way to allow students to work together as a team. It will decrease isolation among students. They all can work in teams to research a project on the internet. Teachers can also ask students to use the internet to come up with an audio visual project they can share with the class. Students have fun and learn more when they can see what they are learning. Point blank students will be excited and eager when they are able to participate and contribute to their own learning. Shouldn’t they be able to donate and feed their own minds? Technology as visual aids is a way they can connect their interest to learning. Another visual aid that the teacher can use is handouts. Handouts are a way to reinforce the instruction that is given. It gives students a general overview of the material as well as identifying the key points. This will cut down on confusion and students will be clearer on the focus points. Visual aids, especially audio visual help many students that have different learning styles. This strategy brings mode of students who don’t have the so called, â€Å"norm† learning style. In history this can be used for students to see some of the places they are iscussing. Students can view pictures and artifacts through the web that will really make the lesson come alive for them. They will be like, â€Å"Wow this really happened! † or â€Å"Wow this really did exist! † There are many websites that provide simulations for certain subject areas for students. Science is a subject where there is no limit to what students can explore and research with the help of the i nternet. Students can look up all types of animals and insects. This will be much more fun than just reading about them in their textbooks. They can even print out certain information they have found, with teacher approval of course. Visual aids are an awesome way to turn a classroom into an adventurous experience instead of a place. Teachers can benefit tremendously from the use of technology. Technology can help boost the relationship between students and teacher. It affects the way teachers instruct and give a lesson. Technology is a level where students and teachers can relate and identify on. Teachers can use computer tools to reorganize record keeping and clerical tasks, in order to free up time for instruction or professional development. Teachers are able to keep track of grades, behavior and other classroom information with the use of a computer. This information can be saved and always be available for the teacher to pull up at the demand of a parent. This cuts out paper work that can often be misplaced. Teachers can input their lesson plans and goals on the handout for parents to have a record as well. Therefore isolation will be decreased by using e-mail and the Internet to communicate with colleagues, parents, and the outside world. What grown up doesn’t have an e-mail? E-mail is a great way for parents to communicate with teachers effectively when face to face is not possible. Teachers are so busy; often they don’t have the time to call each individual parent. Simple questions and information can be exchanged through e-mail. This mode also help out working parents who can’t often answer a phone call when their busy. A click in their e-mail and this problem can be eliminated. Professional development activities can be increased by taking distance education courses, accessing educational research, and accessing classroom materials such as lesson plans. Teachers will be able to take courses that their principal may suggest through the use of the internet. They can also take classes that can help further their education online. Also, teachers will not have to leave their classroom when they are looking for additional activities for their students. They can search the internet for educational ideas that will help productivity in their classroom. Teachers can find video clips and other materials that will go hand in hand with their lesson plans. These can serve as great visual aids and teaching tools when giving instruction. If a student poses a question that the teacher may be unclear of the answer, they can look it up together. There are a wide variety of tools that are available to help teachers transform their classroom into a more exciting place for learning. Smart boards are growing more and more poplar. These non traditional boards are a way for teachers to transmit information from their computer screen to the class. Their also software available that help teachers set up websites for their class. Teachers can create websites that are designated specifically to the concept they are teaching, for the purpose of helping their students. This eliminates those web sites teachers are not comfortable with their students exploring. The teaching of technology to our kids will help secure them a successful career in the future. In a demanding economy, technology skills are required to stay ahead. Jobs are being lost everyday. Why not ensure our children a spot in the years to come? Technology is used even in the simplest profession. Students not only need to learn the skills that are evident in the workforce today, but also be ready and prepared for the technology changes that will happen in the future.