Managing technology Part 1

With the push to include technology into your classroom stronger than ever, I’ve decided to start writing some ways to help MANAGE the process. There are so many tools and resources and noticeably fewer tips for using it. At first it can seem REALLY overwhelming and you think it might just be easier to stop while you’re ahead. There are so many ideas and resources and so many different directions to take when using technology.

Here are some important things to think about before you get started:

• Do you want to use a site or resource for the long term or short term? (What I mean by this is, is it something you could easily use every day or is it unit/topic specific?)
• What type of skill/information do you want the student to get out of it? (Is this extra practice, digging deeper, demonstrating skills/information that you have taught, or something fun and pretty to finish off a unit?)
• How much preparation do you need to start using it? (Do you need to create user accounts or can you jump right in and get started by typing in the web address?)
• How much time will you need to spend teaching the students how to use the resource/technology compared to not using it? (Is the juice worth the squeeze? Sometimes it’s just not the right time to use technology even though you really want to.)

These are just a few points to think about as you begin, but just be patient and have a back up plan!