R. M. Marrs Magnet Center is a 5th through 8th focusing on technology and economic. The classrooms have the following technology:
- Projector mounted on the ceiling
- Promethean Board mounted to a wall or whiteboard.
- Mac laptops wireless cart
- Two carts that are permanently stations in two Language Arts classrooms
- Two carts which are shared with the 5th and 6th grade math department
- Three to a classroom set of Mac or PC Desktop computers
- Elmo
- Printer
- Digital cameras for each grade level
- Video camera
- Television with VCR and DVD connected in the library media center
- Flash drive for student uses
Pro
- Students use technology in all aspects of their school day.
- Teachers’ uses a Promethean Board with ActivInspire program give them the ability to have students’ participate within the learning process.
o Bellwork
o Objective
o Order of activities
o Visual aide
o PowerPoint presentation
o Math problems
- The students have access to the World Wide Web for gathering information and having opportunity to explore educational games by teacher approval.
- They have opportunities to type book reports, writing assignments, story maps, and PowerPoint presentations.
- Students fill comfortable using technology.
- Teachers are able to keep students attention while teaching them.
- Technology is an easy way to differentiate instruct ion with different interests and abilities in mind.
Con
- Teachers’ ability to feel comfortable in a technology setting.
- Teachers are able to use technology effectively.
- Districts able to keep up with technology updates.
- Teacher relaying on technology to teach the students instead of learning the process.
Wow! I am jealous of your technology. I wish my school cared as much about that as yours. How big of a role does the magnet play in having all of that technology? Would it be possible to have all of that without the magnet?
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing the technology differences accross the district... just read Randy's post, and when he says that all the classrooms have smartboards, what he means is that they are all supposed to be installed by next year.
ReplyDeleteJealousy comes to mind....
ReplyDeleteMade some excellent comments about the Cons, I too have been in the situation where the technology took over the classrooom and it became very overwhelming to use the technology effectively as well as even feel comfortable with it. The students can tell when a teacher is "comfortable" with their teaching!
I think all of your cons are very relevant! They all bring up great points. I kind of talked about it in my post as well, but teachers often lack the complete knowledge to effectively implement the technology into their classroom. It takes so much time to tinker around and learn something new and time is very precious in the world of a teacher. Sometimes it's not seen as a priority and often gets used to less than it's potential. I think you made a great point too when you talked about the district being able to keep up with the updates. Technology is constantly changing and updates are necessary to be able to operate correctly. It's an expensive tool to have in the classroom!
ReplyDelete