Week+3

=Week 3: So Much to Remember! = = = I am learning to love the readings for this course. Of course, this information is exactly what I want to learn because I feel very strongly about technology integration. Right this minute, my favorite source is the book, **Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works**. The authors offer plenty of great integration ideas that I am constantly sharing with the teachers in my building. They probably get tired of seeing me coming because I’m throwing out integration ideas to them nonstop. I have heard of most of the tools that the book recommends, but I had forgotten about most of them. The authors also provide countless web resources to support every core subject area, as well as, students with special needs such as ESL students.

I cannot say enough that I whole-heartily agree with the authors, Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, when they made the statements that “using technology for technology’s sake isn’t a good application of instructional time or funding, and it is unlikely to improve student achievement. It is essential that teachers design a quality lesson plan first and then select the most appropriate technologies to support that lesson." When I discuss technology integration, some teachers just want ready-made projects that they will be able to throw into their curriculum wherever it will fit. That is missing the point of using technology altogether. When I consider the benefits of using technology to improve the quality of education that ALL students receive, I cannot understand why more teachers wouldn’t want to include it so as to make every child successful. I stated in my discussion this week, that even with all of the wonderful technology that is available, teachers still need to be in this profession because they want to help students become successful. If that is not the case, then all the technology in the world will not enhance student achievement. Students still need to know that someone genuinely wants them to succeed. They want to be able to feel good about themselves and, as teachers, we have the power to do that – to help them get to where they need to be.