Using Techology in My Classroom

Technology Student Association Check it OUT!!!
Read Doug Johnson's complete list of both Stupid a Brilliant Classroom Management Skills
Two Stupid Mistakes Teachers make with Technology that I find the Most Ridiculous!
1. Treating a school computer like a home computer. Teachers who use a school computer to run a business, edit their kid's wedding videos, or send tasteless jokes to half of North America (including that fundamentalist math teacher down the hall) are being stupid. Teachers who take their computers home and let their kids hack on them are being stupid. Teachers who don't own a personal computer for personal business deserve to get into well-deserved trouble.
*I believe this is the most important aspect of a Teacher's Classroom Management abilities. I have viewed teacher's who seem to in my opinion disrespect the classroom by doing personal activities during school time, on their school computer. I always found this so distasteful due to the fact that a person cannot give full attention to their job obligations when they are thinking about personal business. It is human nature for your personal life to be of utmost interest to you and therefore you will not give your students the impression that they are as important as your own life.

2. Not supervising computer-using students. It is really stupid to believe Internet filters will keep kids out of trouble on the Internet. If they choose to do so, even the slow kids who can't get around the school's filter, can still exploit that 10 percent of porn sites the filter won't catch. They can still send cyber bullying e-mail -- maybe even using your e-mail address. Or they can just plain waste time.
*Again, this is and has always been a pet peeve of mine in relation to seeing others allowing students to get on their school computers and they are not monitoring what these students are doing. I believe teachers should be a good example to these students and model appropriate behavior. There is a time and a place to view personal sites and at school or your job is not the place to use a computer in that manner. I feel strongly that students should be taught to use personal computers wisely yet, but that when you are in a professional setting you use that technology in a professional way.

Two Great Things Teachers do with Technology!
1. Accept the role of co-leaner. One of the best signs of intelligent people is that they tend to willingly admit when they don't know something. Brilliant teachers not only accept the dismal fact that they will never know all there is to know about technology, they also turn that condition into a classroom advantage by having their brilliant children teach them how to do something techie now and then.
*I TOTALLY agree and have been saying this for years. Why do adults need to be so insecure as to not admit they just cannot know everything? Are they afraid someone will find out they are just not OZ? I have always felt that students tend to shut down or withdraw from teachers who are so dominant in their beliefs and give little room for other possibilities. When you try and force your ideas on someone else without any regard for their thoughts often they stop listening.

2. Use the kids’ own devices to teach them. Brilliant teachers understand the old Arab proverb, "It's easier to steer the camel in the direction it is already heading." Students are increasingly and unstoppably bringing in personal communication devices -- cell phones, cameras, game devices, iPods/mp3 players, netbooks, laptops, and PDAs. Brilliant teachers know how to use cell phones to poll their classes; create podcasts of lectures for later review; use games to teach difficult concepts; and make "Google-jockeys" of student wireless laptop users. Read the report, http://www.joanganzcooneycenter.org/publications/index.html?tr=y&auid=4393966 Pockets of Potential for a great overview of this topic.
*The kids have them, they want to use them, and they’re going to hide them and bring them anyways, so why not make the best of it. I also believe by showing the students we are interested in the things they are doing it will open lines of communications rather than causing underground activates of tech use to peruse. Let's just put it out on the table, you have your phone? Great, let's see it, and see what it can do!

New Classroom Rules: View all 15 New Classroom Rules for the Technology Savvy Classroom of the Future
1. Leave your seat only when necessary, which should be often to go collaborate with others or demonstrate something to the class.
*I really do like the idea of a classroom becoming more mobile. Students learn in different ways, so why do we all have to sit down, are quiet, listen to the lecture, and only speak when spoken to. Do adults think students just don't have opinions, or do they just not care to hear them? I am sure that is what students think. I believe students would blossom with the opportunity to be themselves in school, collaborate, innovate, be creative and show they are learning not just sit there!
2. Do not cheat, but remix, re-purpose, and sample other peoples’ work and ideas and give them credit.
*Telling a toddler not to touch the stove because it is hot does not work any better than telling students not to cheat. So, why not allow them the opportunity to collaborate and learn how to use resources properly, listen to others ideas and become aware of the world. Teaching students to use information correctly is much more important than cramming down their throats not to plagiarize!