Making time for technology in the classroom

When I think about creating websites from scratch or starting blogs for all of my students, it seems overwhelming. Lesson plans, grading, and classroom management seem to take up the majority of time as it is, and adding in a technology piece seems daunting! However, as a teacher, I feel it is my job to communicate with and engage students though the mediums they understand and enjoy. Our students have grown up with the Internet, and it's one of the most pervasive communication and learning tools in their lives. If we want our students to pay attention to the material we're presenting and commit the information to memory, we need to make it relevent to them.

Given the Internet's power to teach and act as a medium for learning, I think spending the time to integrating technology into lesson plans is well worth the effort. While creating websites, blogs, and other online tools can be time consuming, I think practice will make it easier for me as I create more and more online tools. However, to ensure my time is spent well, I want to make sure my students will use the tools I create to either create something further on their own, or actively become engaged in the topic. If we create online tools that engage and excite our students, they will hopefully take something away from the lesson. If we can create something our students can manipulate and learn from, then our time spent integrating technology into the lesson has been well worth it.

The video below does a great job of defining 21st century teachers and our role in advancing education and shaping our students.