Classroom Technologies

Technology is everywhere.  From the cell phone in your pocket, to the TV at your house, to the GPS in your car, to the computer I'm typing this on.  It wasn't but back in my childhood that the internet required the telephone line and made those awful squealing sounds to connect.  Now I sit here connected with no wires, no phone lines, and no awful sounds, transmitting information faster than we ever thought possible as kids.

When it comes to educational technologies, we're always making leaps and bounds as well.  I remember punishments that were dished out, to others of course, where you would have to take those wretched chalk erasers outside and beat the daylights out of them to clean them out.  I'm guessing there were several sets of lungs that were ruined by such punishments.  Luckily, mine are still in good health.  We thought dry erase markers were a bright new invention.  They were cleaner and more efficient.  In our classrooms, we've taken  yet another stride past that, using a Mimio, which turns our regular everyday whiteboard into an interactive whiteboard that uses computer based lessons.

Well, recently, we've taken yet another huge leap beyond even that.  A few weeks back, I went to the UCET (Utah Coalition for Educational Technologies) Conference.  I spent a good two days learning everything I could about iPads.  I bought one, and began using it in my classroom.  Since, the school has supplied us with another, as well as an Apple TV so the smaller screen of the iPad can be displayed upon the larger screen of the television.

There are a lot of apps that I've already found much use for.  Splashtop allows me to control my computer from the iPad, giving me full control of the interactive lessons displayed on the board from anywhere in the classroom.  There are several science, language and math apps as well, that I currently have and are currently in use.  It's an amazing technology, so far fetched from anything we could have dreamed about as children, but it's here, and it's not a dream!

If you feel the urge to buy any gifts for me, or the classroom, as I know tends to happen, especially during Teacher Appreciation Week  and the with the end of the school year, consider including iTunes gift cards with it.  They will allow for the purchase of apps to further expand our classroom and allow me to use  these technologies to extreme!

It's amazing where the world has come in such a short amount of time, and all I can say is, I'm excited to see where it goes within my lifetime! Who knows, the Jetsons may be a reality sooner than we ever thought possible!

Ever so fitting for an iPad post, I think I'll end with a few of my favorite quotes from the man himself, Steve Jobs:

"What a computer is to me is the most remarkable tool that we have ever come up with.  It's the equivalent of a bicycle for the brain."

"Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me... going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful - that's what matters."

"My job is not to be easy on people.  My job is to make them better."