Online classes can be difficult since you are unable to interact
with your classmates and teachers. However, blogs allow for us to each get to
know a little bit about the person behind the posts. I am an avid music
listener, an explorer, a vegetarian cook, and a talker. I love making popcorn
on the stove and gossiping with my neighbors or blasting my record player as I
cook a new recipe. I find that Commerce may not have all that I’m looking for
in a town, but I try to make my little apartment the best home possible. If I’m
not in my room, you can probably find me trying out a new restaurant in Dallas
or catching a great film at the Angelika Theatre. While I’m enjoying my time as a
student, I cannot wait to step into my own classroom for the first time. I hope
to be teaching within the next few years.
The focus of this blog will be on how to integrate technology into
the classroom, with a focus on teaching English as a foreign language. Although
I have used a computer nearly my whole life, I do not always like the ways in
which new technologies are introduced in the classroom. Sometimes, technology
is used in the classroom simply for the sake of using it. Instead, I hope to
use technology to supplement my teaching, rather than allow it to be the focus
of my lessons. My personal belief is that technology should work for the teacher,
not the other way around. Technology has so many useful applications, and yet,
it should never detract from the coursework or the classroom environment.
My goal for this course is to learn about the different ways in
which I can utilize technology in the classroom, and to report about it here
for future reference. While I do not plan to use a great deal of technology, I
hope to stay current on what the internet and other technological sources have
to offer. I hope that this course will introduce me to new technologies that
are useful for teachers. I also hope to see scholarship that supports using
these technologies in the classroom, so as to have proof on their
effectiveness. Perhaps my opinions will change over the course of this semester
as I learn more about technology and teaching! Welcome to Te(a)ch!
