By Jennifer Warren

Select An ArticleTeachers & Technology: English with an Edg

eTechnology: Toward a New Model of High-Te

ch SchoolroomsAssistive Technology and Inclusion

“Teachers & Technology: English with an Edge” – by Neal Starkman

Neal Starkman’s article used high school English teacher Andie Brown’s story as an example of how technology may improve the learning experience. As a last assignment, she asked her students to make short films to help them grasp the concept of satire. The results, she said, were overwhelmingly positive. Her students put so much enthusiasm into their projects, including those who did not seem to understand the concept beforehand. Brown mentioned on particular boy, who showed little effort during most of the semester.

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Neal Starkman continued…This project sparked the boy’s interest in a way

that she did not believe would have been possible otherwise. Brown said that the end result was worth the amount of time spent on the project (Starkman).

Source:Starkman, Neal (2008). Teachers & Technology: English with

an Edge. THE Journal. Retrieved November 22, 2008, from http://www.thejournal.com/the/printarticle/?d=22614.

Personal Reflection on StarkmanThis article made me think about my future as a teacher and how technology can help engage students in their lessons. I was impressed by the results that Brown’s project had with her students that even students who were not doing well in the class succeeded. One quote I found particularly interesting dealt with this very thing: “Even students that I wasn’t sure had really grasped the concept of satire did great projects” (Starkman). This quote is a testament to how effective technology can be.

“Technology: Toward a New Model of High-Tech Schoolrooms” – by Royal Van Horn

In his article, Royal Van Horn argues that schools should start small when trying to integrate technology into education. The reason he gives for this is that often teachers are reluctant to use said technology. He says that elementary schools are particularly difficult in which to integrate technology, since the days have set patterns that leave little opportunity for technology use. Secondary schools also make this change difficult in that the learning centers mostly around lectures, which keeps students away from the computers.

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Royal Van Horn continued… Van horn also points out that replacing

obsolete computers every few years is too costly, considering the budgets that most schools have. His solution is to start the changes with individual classrooms (Van Horn).

Source:Van Horn, Royal (2006). Technology: Toward a New Model

of High-Tech Schoolrooms. Phi Delta Kappa International. Retrieved November 22, 2008, from http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/ k_v87/k0603van.htm.

Personal Reflection on Van HornVan Horn’s argument made sense,

because, thinking back on my educational history, most of my learning did not involve computers. I can understand why it would be difficult to integrate technology when many teachers are unwilling to adapt it to suit their lessons. One quote that stated his argument effectively was “School reform, like home remodeling, ought to be done one room at a time” (Van Horn). This quote perfectly summed up the article while illustrating his point.

“Assistive Technology and Inclusion” – by Caren Sax, Ian Pumpian, and Doug Fisher

This article talked about how technology may be instrumental in helping physically disabled students get the most out of school. It used Joey as an example of how this was possible. Joey, who had cerebral palsy, spent predominantly inactive days in his class. One example of technology the teachers used to help him was a series of switches that connected to a toy, which he learned how to operate. The purpose of this device was to teach him to associate his movement of the controls with the resulting movements of the toy.

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Caren Sax, et al. continued…Teachers also used this as a way for Joey to

interact with his classmates. The article says that Joey eventually became part of a regular class, and he had a special device to signal when he wanted to answer a question.

Source:Sax, Caren, Ian Pumpian, and Doug Fisher (1995). Assistive

Technology and Inclusion. New Horizons for Learning. Retrieved November 22, 2008, from http://newhorizons.org/spneeds/inclusion/ teaching/sax.htm.

Person Reflection on Sax, et al.This article was very informative about how

technology can help physically disabled students. It shows one of the many ways that people can benefit from technology, because it gives students like Joey the opportunity to learn rather than resign them to ignorance. This quote expresses how Joey benefitted from technology: “Fortunately, Joey’s teachers and advocates became familiar with the wide range of assistive devices that could increase Joey’s access to his world” (Sax, Pumpian, and Fisher). This shows another instance in which technology can make a significant difference.

ConclusionThese articles all show ways that

technology can benefit students and improve the learning experience. With devices to teach disabled students and hands on projects to engage students, technology provides so many possibilities.