We have learned throughout the course of the semester that it is imperative for teachers to keep up with technology and use it creatively in the classroom. Also important is determining what interests students and keeps them engaged throughout a lesson. It is widely known that when students are bored with school, they tend to get lazy, fail to do the required work, and in later years, even drop out of school altogether.
In her article, "Unleashing Potential with Emerging Techologies," Kajder finds that the technology students use outside of school is not well-utilized in school. More and more, students are choosing to express themselves in front of a large, online audience rather than in personal, hand-written journals. On the other hand, teachers oftentimes tend to resort to teaching methods that are familiar and comfortable to them. They may not know how to utilize different technology tools, prefering to use styles that they think have always worked in the past. This has created a gap between students and teachers but can be lessened by teachers who know how to effectively use emerging technologies that students are familiar with and excited about.
Kajder attempts to connect teachers and students during writing lessons and describes examples of how each technology tool is implemented in the classroom. As she states, "in all our attempts to move forward, we haven't looked to our kids to see what the possibilities are for merging what they know about technology with what we know about what it means to read and write well."
Not only will using technology interest students in the present, but using it often will better prepare them for the next grade levels as well as later on when they enter the workforce. For now, let's take a further look at what technologies we can implement in the classroom...
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