Web + Log = Blog

I believe that for my first blog entry I will discuss my recent experience observing the goings on of a modern American high school. I have spend the last two days completing a classroom observation assignment at Mills E. Godwin High School for my curriculum development class. I shadowed two different biology teachers, one who teaches remedial biology and one who teaches honors/AP biology. Although there were many interesting aspects of this experience, I have decided to focus on the presence of technology in the school that I observed in honor of my instructional technology integration course. After all, I created this blog solely for this course to begin with.

Throughout the day I noticed the dominating presence of modern technology in the old, antiquated school building. For example, all the students and teachers have laptop computers, projectors display computer screens on the wall, smartboards are present in a few classrooms and TVs are omnipresent. Even the instruction in all of the classes I witnessed involved at least some sort of modern technology. The teachers I shadowed used internet videos, textbook dvds and lab tutorials to present the students with the material. The students, as a result, became quite engaged in the lesson. Questions were shooting back and forth between the teacher and her class throughout the technology-assisted lesson. It appeared to me that the students not only found the material more interesting and understandable coming from technologically advanced equipment, but also easier to manage and organize (largely as a result of their laptops). I observed the same trend in both the remedial as well as the advanced biology classes.

All in all, I believe that new teachers need to be prepared for this technology-rich school environment that is present in today's schools. Even since I graduated from high school only 6 years ago a LOT has changed with school's technology. . . . mostly for the better. I thought that this observation would be a great way for me to start my blog because one of the main purposes of running this blog is to familiarize myself with new technology that could be useful to an educator. Although blogger.com was blocked on Godwin's internet server, I believe that the use of a blog could potentially be a valuable tool to enhance the teachers/student interaction to maximize learning potential.