Chapter 1

August 30,2012


My first official blog so here goes........  Blogs are new for me.  I am a very strong communicator in person, one of my strongest skills. However, when it comes to writing I am working on perfecting this skill.

Chapter Summary
I reviewed the textbook when I first received it in the mail about about 2 weeks ago.  Started reading it last week;the text is up to date, interesting and real life (so happy about this).  Its true life because  many people. educators from all walks of life are scared of technology because they do not understand it.  It begins with the advantages and disadvantages of technology.  Advantages are software, learning games that will inspire and educate children at a young age to have a love for learning. Disadvantages that I have witnessed firsthand is that children are less social in a classroom setting and speaking to each other.  Having 2 children over 20, at times I ask them to "unplug" to be with the family.  Now, they are starting to recognize it and even playing more outside with games, the dog etc.   They grew up in Florida playing outside when they were young.  This behavior began in middle school and became more prevalent in high school.

The tech tool I selected was tech tool 1.2 online resources for learning about technology:
 I explored this tool mainly because I don't understand all of the facets.  Communication via email, text messaging and instant messaging is great.  These are skills I have mastered.  Wikipedia, wiki are so large I do tend to get lost.  I am sure there is a quicker and easier way to navigate in these programs. The 7 things you should know about technology tools were effective and to the point.

Focus question:  How to new technologies create opportunity for teaching and learning? 
Let's look at the I PAD, never having been an Apple user I won an I PAD last year in a sales contest. Kids are embracing this technology very fast.  Look at the e books on line, words with friends these tools are teaching vocabulary, reading comprehension kills and kids feel they are playing a game.  Many schools have I PAD s now to use for research, fact finding and learning.  Having my I PAD for a year already I am still learning, quite frequently referring back to the user manual.  Maybe I am old school as my children are so much quicker with this technology.