Salon #9: Minds On Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail and Learning 2.0 (John Seely Brown and Richard P. Adler)

In the salon we talked about technology used in the classroom and I found it very interesting. As we discussed, it is a very useful tool but it is also very time consuming. People seemed to feel there was a disconnect between what our school tells us to do and what we can actually do with technology. As a new teacher, we are expected to do alot and now we have to also use technology. When using technology you have to learn it first or make up something that is useful and then try to implement it. There are times where the interent is down when I tried to do a lesson. There are times when the laptops are dead or not all are working so now instead of pairs they are in groups of 4. When technology is used the right way it is extremely helpful for students. Perhaps school districts can use professional development days to talk about technology rather then things that are not as useful. Math is sometimes a difficult subject to try and incorporate technology. I try and use geometry sketchpad, jeopardy and webquests but it isn't easy. Math to me is all about practice. Students need paper and pen and need to practice questions. Geometry sketchpad it definitly a good tool but when you have a regents at the end of the year and not much time it is hard to try and always use this technology.