Week ?

This week because there was no class I was just thinking about all the technology tools that we have learned and how I can utilize them in my classroom. I think that technology can be very beneficial to a classroom but I think it that if we're not careful it can ruin the learning atmosphere in a classroom. I was read a newspaper article yesterday about texting. I have been thinking about teaching high school so this article really made me think. It talked about how the superintendent sent an email to teachers saying that instead of restricting the use of technology that teachers should embrace it and welcome it in the classroom. I think that is true, well this Chemistry teacher gave her class an assignment. She told her class that they would be writing a summary about a paragraph in the Chemistry book, concerning Phospholipids. But here’s the twist. They would be required to write the summary in text message form (whatever that is) and to use abbreviation wherever possible. A student told her that some people use T-9 and/or predictive text input and don’t really abbreviate. She then told me that I should just use bad grammar and instead of writing, for example, “you” to write the letter u. And to use things like lol and cu8tr. I that this is a major concern in the school system because if teachers are promoting the use of "texting language" how are students going to learn when it is appropriate to use "texting language" and when not to. The promotional use of this language could soon mean that students can't really decipher between what is slang or abbreviations vs. real english. Although technology can be a benefit to the classroom how much is too much? What happens to the students who text during a lecture and never learn about the basics of algebra, chemistry, or the human body because there mind is elsewhere? What about the kid that gets all of his answers to tests through text messages and he goes to take the SAT/ACT and completely fails because he doesn't know any of the basics- making it harder to get into college. Technology can enhance a student's education or destroy it depending on how teachers utilize and allow it in the classroom.

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