Media in my Classroom

When considering different ways to teach the students in my classroom, different forms of technology make it pretty high on the list.  In our world today, the various forms of technology being used in the classroom become more and more diverse and popular. 

I have just finished reading an article on thejournal.com called Videoconferencing Connects Missouri Students with Peers Around The Globe about students in Missouri using video conferencing as a means of learning today.  I had never heard of high schools using this before now.  It caught me off guard, but it really got me to thinking.  What better way to encourage students to be more motivated to learn than to talk with kids who don't get that opportunity.  This was the original way I thought video conferencing could be used in my classroom.  I then began to think, students in high school math are constantly wondering, "When will I ever use this in real life?"  Video conferencing can be a great way for the students to get to talk with a mathematician, an engineer, a physicist, or a computer scientist.  The list goes on and on.  There are so many ways for these students to pursue a career in math, but it doesn't come to their minds immediately.  Video Conferencing would give them a real example of a person pursuing math and how they went about doing it. 

After having a new technology brought to my plate, I began to think of other technology that my students would learn from and enjoy at the same time.  Growing up, I had one teacher who had what is now known as a Smart Board.  We rarely used it in the classroom, but I have recently been shown its growing potential.  There are many ways to incorporate math and technology.  Using a Smart Board gives the students a fun way for the students to learn easier.  Technology is familiar to them; they know how to use it and everything new about it.  Using technology as the base for learning a lesson gives them a familiar start.  The Smart Board incorporates something that they enjoy, technology, with something that is not completely familiar to them.

Using different technologies will come into play at different times when I am teaching.  I like to see how my students are doing, if they are understanding the concepts.  If they are not, technology provides a new and different way to approach a topic.  Also, students sometimes lack in motivation, and I really like the ways I can use video conferencing to help the students realize that education is at such easy access to them.  Students in other countries do not have as free of access as we do in the United States.

Technology is growing tremendously in our world today.  Learning as a teacher to better teach our students is something I strive to do.  These are a few of the technologies out there that I think will be useful in my classroom to motivate my students to want to learn mathematics.