Power

The power of technology can be awesome and overwhelming at times.  Technology in the classroom must be used with purpose and not just to show off new gadgets.  If there is purpose and engagement, the learning experiences of students will multiple beyond the four walls of a traditional classroom.  It is up to educators to evaluate the technology and the purpose for using it in their classrooms to create these amazing and overwhelming learning environments.  Think of the students in your classroom that could benefit from such an experience!

But we must not lose site of our goals!  I found myself this semester trying to impress my new colleagues and administration with my knowledge and implementation of technology in a social studies classroom.  I succeeded, but along the way on occasion, I forgot what the real purpose for technology was… it was for the students, not for me to impress my peers.  I would have weeks where I was wrapped up in the technology-based lessons and then come back to earth with a crash when the lesson just didn’t work or the students could not demonstrate their knowledge on a traditional assessment.  However, as the semester progressed I learned to balance my love of technology implementation with the needs of my students.  Isn’t that what life is all about compromise, not power???

LO(L) excitement!

So the rush to finish the semester is on.  2 more weeks!  On my way home from a family dinner last night I was thinking about all that I had to do for work this week.  I instantly became overwhelmed.  I needed to come up with a lab activity for my U.S. History courses, since I had reserved lab time Monday and Tuesday.  (Computer labs are in such high demand at school that I had to reserve time almost a month ago, not knowing what we would be doing at the time!)

But as we drove home, I had trouble coming up with ideas.  So I asked my husband for some ideas (a current administrator, former social studies teacher.)  He started reminiscing about all “the cool” activities he did with students… and I began to tune him out as my mind began to race through different ideas (he didn’t notice).  I knew the topic I would like to cover and I wanted to use some of my new tech skills from CTER, but how to organize the activity and engage the students with limited time constraints was the road block.

Then it hit me!  Use a LO or learning object!  Perfect!  I could organize the activity into steps in a student friendly fashion and provide students with the necessary tools/links to cut down on time since we only had 2 days in the lab. I could post it to my CMS (Moodle) site for easy access.  Yippee!  I was in such a hurry to get home and start working on it because I knew looking up the resources would take a while.   Thanks to the Library of Congress website, I was able to find a similar lesson activity that cut my search for resources in half!  Building the LO took no time at all!

I was so excited last night that I stayed up late working on the assignment.  When I was finished, I dragged my husband out of bed to see the finished product…   Let’s just say I had enough excitement for the both of us =)!