Week #10 - Field Experience - Technology in the Classroom 1

So far it's been a great experience in Mr. Wyatt's classroom. I feel like I have been able to see many positive things I hope to take back to my own classroom when that time comes. As for technology, the first bit of technology that drew my attention was his microphone. He has a microphone he clips to his shirt and as annoying as I thought it might be, it is actually really beneficial. I heard him speak a few times without it and as a student in the very back of his class, you definitely could not hear him as clearly, especially if there was group work going on or students talking. Over the last few days of watching him use the microphone, and actually using it myself, there have been no high pitch squeels or blasting tones or disrupting noises at all. I actually liked using it because I found it projected my voice better than be trying to project my voice without it.

Another thing I observed in the classroom, although we haven't seen the students use them while we've been there, is a small computer station within the classroom. There are 4 computers at a workstation which I assume are for student use. I think this is wonderful and would benefit every classroom. Despite having a computer room or class where students go 1 day a week, having easy access to computers right in the class is convenient. I think these would work great for projects where you had several groups working on a specific project or assignment. Then you could rotate the groups so each person had an opportunity to work at each project or assignment.

We have seen Mr. Wyatt make use of the projector daily. He has used it to project work problems he wants to students to do as a warm-up to math. He also used a Power Point presentation to review vocabulary words. It was quite simple but technology none-the-less. I hope as I spend more time in the classroom that I get to see more ways the teacher includes technology in the classroom and how the students benefit from that learning.