Tech+Integration

1. Ex-Governor Angus King on Lessons from Maine’s 1-to-1 Laptop Initiative: [] 2. Before watching this video I had very mixed feelings about the idea of giving every middle school-aged kid a laptop; but after watching this video, I believe that this initiative is very wise and similar initiatives should be put forth in other areas of the country. Upon first glance, I thought this initiative would be anything but beneficial because of the money/cost factor. Then, ex-Governor Angus King pointed out that in order to give every single 7th and 8th grade student a laptop in the state of Maine would equal the amount of money spent on snow plows each year for the schools in the state of Maine (the exact percentage of money would be ½ of 1 percent of the state’s educational budget). The implementation of this initiative is extremely advantageous as it allows every student to have the same resourceful tools as other students regardless of socio-economic status, learning abilities/disabilities, and parental involvement. Giving every child the ability to freely and openly search the web ultimately allows for children’s learning and understanding to expand tremendously. 3. In this day and age, technology and its usefulness is on the rise and in order to ensure that our students our prepared for this ever-changing concept, we must incorporate technology into the classroom. Technology in the classroom allows teachers to effectively educate students with different learning styles and also enables teachers to broaden the types of activities used to keep students engaged. Both of these elements are essential imperative to the success of students. With that said, if technology is incorporated into the classroom in a practical manner, we will ultimately see the benefit as graduation rates and test scores increase, and drop-out rates decrease, simply because there becomes a willingness and desire to learn on behalf of the students. The array of possibilities that technology offers (power point, podcasts, online worksheets and workshops, activities via the web, etc.) will keep students engaged in the material and find ways in which each individual learner ascertains information the best. In my classroom, I will try and integrate technology as much as I can by exposing my students to the most amounts of technological possibilities that the school year allows. This way, students can uncover their strengths and weaknesses as it will also give me insight to the diversity of learning possibilities and learning styles. The success of my students will be my number one concern of students and I truly believe that the integration of technology in the classroom will assist me in meeting this goal.
 * Tech Integration: What is it? **

I, as a future educator, found Tech Integration to be a great tool in order to better understand the importance, relevance, and significance of technology in the classroom. Prior to becoming acquainted with this artifact, I did not know how pertinenet technology was to the classroom; and even more so, how important technology is to the success of the students. Subconsciously I was aware of how technology is on the rise and how essential technology is to everyday life, but I never stopped to understand exactly how this technology effects the classroom. Furthermore, it was great to learn the various ways in which technology has postively impacted schools around the country. I believe that I have walked away from this artifact with a better understanding of how important technology is to students of all ages.