Technology (#6)

After a long google search i finally found a school's website that would let me access various teachers pages. It is funny that the search was long because the school's website that i ended up on was Leon High School, which is right here in Tallahassee, FL. The visited various teacher websites to pick the best to talk about but also to note the similarities i seen between them. I found Mr. Don Coon's website to be very helpful, he teaches an introductory science class to high school students called, Integrated Science. He like most of the other teachers had a bio page, an important documents page, and a student resources page. The bio page of every teacher gives a detail of who they are, where they got their degree, and what or how they like to teach. The important documents page, had documents that may have been passed out in class such as the syllabus, students could download and print these documents for their own use. The student resource page has links to outside web pages that students may use to help them on assignments or even to get further knowledge, such as Nasa.gov. Mr. Coon also had a calendar on his website filled with day to day assignments so that students could easily find out what they missed due to an absence. Pictures of Mr.Coon's website can be found at the end of the post.

As a teacher, I envision myself using technology to create a better learning environment for students. Technology not only gives us the opportunity to create assignments more efficiently, but grade and give feedback effectively to each student. This additionally helps the students in their own learning process. Today’s technology is so advanced that the time for grading or creating assignments can be cut in half, work harder not smarter they say. Students can also take advantage of using technology to learn at home because they can go at their own pace and use other technological resources to answer any questions or concerns they may have regarding their lessons that I, as the teacher, won’t be there with them to answer.

There was honestly so many different types of technology in the TechSandbox, that it was overwhelming. One of the tools that stuck out to me was the 3D printer because i had never seen one in person. The 3D printer could print real life examples of different things so that students can analyze and describe them more accurately. For example, teachers can print a map of a place their students are studying and use it to show them a physical version of the map. There were also these pens, that were portable 3D printers. Of course the things you can make with them are different, but for elementary school kids it could be very useful in a creative project that would allow the students to express themselves. Examples of what i made with the pen can be found under the website images.