When observing the school classroom settings, my first thoughts were is will

the children be engaged in the use of technology, what if they do not want to use it,
or will the teacher present the technology in the right way? I believe that the use of
technology in classrooms has been a great way to expand childrens learning inside
the classroom. Using technology in the class allows students to gain a different
route in learning, children become more knowledgeable on various pieces of
technology, and they even may become enthusiastic in their academics. Others
believe that the use of digital technology is hampering the students attention
spans (Richtel, 2012). In some cases yes, I do believe that the use technology can
hinder the attention span of students but it also has something to do with the way
technology is used inside the classroom and depends on which grade level. Having
said that, I will be conducting an interview between two teachers; one first grade
and the other second grade in regards to the use of technology integrated into the
curriculum. I have several questions set up for teachers to answer, as well as a
short survey based on the use of technology inside their class.
I began my interview my allowing teachers to tell me about their classes as
well as their students. The first interview that I conducted was in a first grade
classroom setting. As I walked into the class, I viewed how the classroom was set
up, and I took a tour to visit the various areas of the classroom. The classroom has
an open settings; each subject looked like it had their own area. I noticed 4
computers set up at a square table, site words taped on the wall, a picture of the
world, a globe on the desk, various pieces of art work on the wall, a smart bored,
and an LCD projector, a room that was called art area, a small library space, and a
large carpet on the floor. The classroom looked really busy. After the tour, I began
talking Miss. Crawford the first grade teacher. The first question I asked was what

types of strategies works best when teaching your students? She said, most of my
students enjoy when we making learning fun, such as games, puzzles, charts, and
most of all they enjoy when they can use the computer to play a learning game.
That instantly turned my light bulb on in my head, I thought computer games. The
next question What are the different types of technology use in your classroom?
Miss Crawford said, the types of technology I use are educational keyboards , digital
camera , smart board, kid pix , a printer , internet , a mouse , software such as ;
letter factory, word factory, reader rabbit, and math wizard. The following question
was how do you feel these impacts the students learning? Miss Crawford replied
by saying, Students have a strong appeal to learning in a technology enhanced
environment. Creative lessons used with technology applications allow students to
learn in a more hands on environment, plus linking education to real time. The
following question that I asked was, what is the most important factor of
technology use in the classroom? she said, its as easy is enhancing students
success. Now the question should have been, how? Last, I asked, What are the
other pieces of technology you would like to use? Miss Crawford said, Electronic
portfolios for students, web quest, and video streaming. Once, I was complete in
asking Miss Crawford questions I wanted to talk about a lesson in which she used
technology .She gave me an example when her lesson was about developing an
awareness of their home locations on a map. The goal of this lesson was to;
Students will be introduced to how maps can be expanded into broader maps to
show larger areas are able to recall the names of the maps. The technology used
was a digital map and smart board with internet access. In this lesson students will
use the smart board to access the internet, use the URL listed to view the digital
map, and to use arrow keys to move around the map to find schools, stores, and

restaurants. In the occlusion of this lesson students will have the ability to Rexall the
names of various places on the maps. In the end Miss Crawford said, she was
honored to have been chosen do to the interview and if I ever needed help that I
could contact her anytime.
Next up, I conducted an interview with Mrs. Hanes. Mrs. Hanes was a
Kindergarten teacher for the past 5 years in Montgomery County. The kindergarten
curriculum in Montgomery County Public Schools is an intensive program which
includes a 90 minute reading block, 60 minute math block, and science and social
studies units. Within each of those main areas, students are learning about: I was
most excited about having this interview with her because I now teach pre k and I
can relate to some of the answers she may give. To begin, I asked Mrs. Hanes how
do you use technology as a tool for teaching kindergartner? She replied, I am
constantly using technology while I am teaching my students. She also gave me an
example, if I am teaching a unit about spiders, I will read a book about spiders,
feature spider photos that I found on the Internet, show spider videos on YouTube,
possibly sing a spider-themed song that I found online, and then write about them.
Then I asked what are the various pieces of technology used in your class? She
went on to list printers, scanners, language audio reader cards, there internet,
palm pilots, leap frog products, and microphones. I was absolutely astonished to
hear all the pieces of technology used in Mrs. Hanes class. It made me excited to
hear more her classroom. Next, I asked what piece of technology seems to be most
interesting to the students in your class. Mrs. Hanes replied, My favorite piece of
technology that I have in the classroom is an ELMO document camera. This is the
newest version of an overhead projector where you can place anything under the
document camera and it will project on the screen. The options are endless of how

you can use this piece of technology. Then I asked how have your methods of
presentation changed throughout your teaching career? She responded and said,
Well, thats a broad question because there is so many answer that I could give
you. Over the years children progress and so does technology. Ill just say the use
of more advanced technology in presentation. I call it keeping up with the kids. I
believe we are using more bells & whistles in our classroom presentations.
Lastly, I asked how do you feel these technology impacts students learning? Mrs.
Hanes said , each day I notice the progress of my students learning, and I believe
that as an educator is it my job to fulfill those shoes of childrens brain, by giving
them knowledge on things that they can take with them long term. An impact in the
main reason you want to see your students advance and however it needs to be
done will be done in my class!
Once, the second interview was over I had learned information myself that I
was excited to share to take back to my own students. Both interviews went well!
They both were passionate about their jobs, and they had standards for their
classrooms. Both teachers used most of the same pieces of technology in their
classes. Although the teachers where a year apart in teaching grade level I liked
how they both created their own strategy for using technology. Most importantly,
when I asked them how do you feel these technologies impact students learning?
they both gave a vivid answer as to where I was able to create a visual image. In my
own class use a variety of technologies that help to engage, enhance, and inspire
children to want to pursue their ideas. I have found that once you are inspired to
learn, you learn how to learn through your ideas about what you understand feel
that as a teacher of young children, I have a unique opportunity to help promote the
idea of becoming a safe and responsible digital citizen in the world. Although this is
my first year teaching, I am able to relate to what Miss.Crawford and Mrs.Hanes was

saying. I understand the importance of being sure that students are fully engaged in
the learning, and also how to make a long term impact on my students. Having a
long term impact allows for students to become prepared in their academic cares
that lies ahead of them. Just think about it, if they arent prepared from the start line
they will be in the middle of their academic career trying to catch up. That isnt a
pattern that I want to teach my students. In doing so, integrating technology into
my class plays a large role just as it did in Miss.Crawford and Mrs. Hanes class. I am
a firm believer of instruction technology; a combination of process and took
involved in addressing educational needs and problems (Roblyer, 2003). I present
my students with several problems and I help them through trying to solve problem.
Weather its through use of technology or through critically thinking, I believe that
there is a process that children use to problem solve I the classrooms. I also liked
how both teachers used pieces of software to help teach students. I believe that
computers and software help deliver instruction to students. Not only will they learn
from the software but they have the chance to learn about the functions of the
computer. In conclusion all of the interviews stated additional technology would help
students in the classroom, thus supporting the concept of increasing student
achievement. However, the needs stated were very different in how those results
would be achieved. The needs covered a very wide range of technological tools,
from software applications, online web links to classroom hardware. Both interviews
agreed the use of technology has a positive impact on the student learning process.
Although each of the interviews state the fact all students learn at different speed,
the use of
Technology provides a means of providing a common classroom environment
for all students. They also highlighted how technology has enhanced the
presentation of classroom curriculum. It was consistently indicated technology is

used more in todays classroom setting compared to previous years. In each

interview the teacher provided a strong reason for computerized technology in the
classroom, yet each teacher would utilize the technology to best fit the needs of
their students. The students in the given classroom may have special needs which
could change the method of instruction, but not the overall goal of student
achievement.
The lesson plan that I chose for my midterm was a reading 4 th grade level
lesson plan. The purpose the lesson plan; students to be Ask and answer questions
to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis
for the answers and to Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details
in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or
how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text. In order for
me to implement my lesson plan I decided to go into one of my colleagues classes
and implement my lesson. I was a little unsure on how to present my lesson
because I was used to working with class little kindergarten students. I knew I had
the capabilities to do it though! To begin with I allowed students to have an open
discussion about the importance of characters, events of a story, and the
characters. Then I went into reading the story of Fantastic Mr. Fox. Then I split the
class up into two large groups which made it easier for students to grasp the
concept of the story. Once that was finished the entire class listened and looked at
each individual groups visuals, thoughts, ideas, characters, letters, questions and
concerns in order to learn more about the events throughout the book while we
create a KWL chart on the smart board. In filling out the chart I allowed students to
come up one by one and write one important characteristics about the book. I did
that for about 20 minutes. Once done the chart, I went over each slot of the chart,

and talked about the main points of the book in order to prepare the students for
their assessment. This lesson is set up to help all of the students in the classroom
produce a mental picture and understanding of the different elements of a story.
Best practice is being used to engage all of the students in the lesson by creating a
need to know. The use of technology is designed to enhance the lesson. I am really
excited about this lesson because I have designed it so that each student will be
able to be successful and stay on task throughout the lesson. This activity and
lesson caught my attention because it is very much important for students to learn
how to identify the elements of a story. If they cannot identity the key elements of a
story they are just reading when in reality they should comprehend. This lesson is
built for students who are reading, and can grasp what they are reading. It is one
thing to read but it is another wen students are able to visualize and critically think
while reading. In future planning of this lesson I believe that I can allow students the
opportunity to put on a play of the story to help them find the key elements. I can
also incorporate educational software games into this lesson as well. Lastly, for
those students who are computer savvy I can teach them a lesson on computer use
and technology. So that everyone will feel like they are prepared to engage in this
lesson.

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