Presentation

My internet use in the classroom

When I look at my use of technology in a classroom, I feel like I do a lot of fun and creative things with my children. Every morning I have things posted on my smart board usually with pictures and different colors to liven the room, I do a lot of Internet searches with the students to model how to research unknown material, the students have created power points on occasion, I know of a lot of fun and interactive educational websites that we visit as a reward at the end of the school day; all of these among many others are all ways that I use the computer/Internet in my room. I guess what I am reflecting on now is, is it effective or flashy?

Is posting my morning journal entry with flashy colors really a way to grab their attention, or is it just a way to make it look nice. Are the Internet games the students play to help them with multiplication facts effective or just more exciting than studying flashcards. I believe that in this day and age with all the colorful and fast paced media, this type of excitement in a classroom is necessary. Even though my morning journals could very well be written on the blackboard and the same content would be delivered, but the fact that is on the computer screen with colors and a clip art pictures really grabs the students' attention. For that reason, I try and be as flashy and exciting as I can be in the classroom. I want my learners to feel the excitement that I get out of small things like googling a baseball team to find stats or going to discoverychannel.com to look at animals. Even if it's a couple minutes a day, I feel like I try and model proper ways to use this great resource at our fingertips, the Internet. What can the Internet do for my classroom? I like this article's view on the Internet and how and why the internet should be used in a classroom. The Internet is just another great and vast resource for teachers and can be accessed quickly and with great accuracy if used properly.