Whoa

teachergoingtech — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 16:16:34 +0000

So, I started a blog for some of my students to do from home. This was sort of an experiment to see how many would actually participate. They’re getting points for their posts, but do date, other than the first day when we brought in computers for them to use in class, we have had no success. This particular class has 16 students and all but two have internet access at home.

They have no interest in doing the work. I am trying to determine if it’s the fact they normally do not have weekly homework in our class. Or if it’s the technology aspect. Or if it’s something else altogether I am not considering. We are giving them access to the computer cart again today to see if it is just fear of technology they are unfamiliar with.

I am a pretty disappointed. My assumption was that since they are digital natives, they would relish the chance to do the same work but via the computer. I thought this would be prefereable to in class writing assessments, but I have not yet informed them that might be the alternative if they don’t actively engage in discussion in the blog. I truly, truly wanted them to do it just because they wanted to, now I have to resort to arm twisting. *Sigh*

I will remain undaunted, however. My goal is to make a couple of them love it before the end of my time here. Or at least fake their passion for it really well.

Hello

teachergoingtech — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 15:57:58 +0000

Hi. This is my first blog about, well, teaching and using tech. Here’s the lowdown. It all started when my friend, Eric Mills, and I decided to submit a proposal to the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) for their national conference in November. He suggested we submit a proposal and we bounced ideas around until technology came up. He is completely obsessed with tech. Well, maybe not completely, but he likes it ALOT. There were very few classes in our program about how to integrate technology, much less how to do it in an urban school, where resources are limited. This is something teachers are generally forced to seek out for themselves, while they are lesson planning, counseling, grading, and trying to have any sort of personal life.

Now, I’m not afraid of technology. I have email. I like Facebook. I will say, I really do not keep up with any technological innovations. I was pretty nervous about starting this blog. I did think, though, that if I was going to be teaching teachers how to use technology at a conference in a few months, I better be an expert. This blog will be a record of how I work through this. Or a record of how my laptop ends up on the sidewalk outside and I move to the woods with no electricity, much less internet connection…