Technology in the Classroom

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Now that it's been three weeks since I began my time in practicum, I've become accustomed to the school, my mentor teacher, and to the two class periods of 10th-grade English/English honors students I see every day. When students walk in and sit down, they look up to the whiteboard where a projector reflects a Google Slide with the agenda for the class that day. You'll also find Ms. Lejman, and her students, IPad in hand. Not only is technology heavily used in Ms. Lejman's classroom, but it's also heavily used throughout the whole school. For example, the main office front desk has a desktop computer with two monitors and a laptop. Also, every teacher and student has an IPad that's provided by the school. With those IPads, students are able to access their school emails, Canvas, Harmony, educational software and sites the school approves of, and the App Store. 

From grades 6-12, I've always been a laptop user, and because of that, I've always preferred laptops over IPads. I'm also used to having an actual screen for the projector or a smart board so once I was able to start teaching in Ms. Lejman's classroom, I ran into some technical difficulties. Monday and Tuesday as I was teaching, I had to stop in the middle of my lesson to ask my mentor teacher for help with her IPad and the projector. Like I said before, I'm used to the way things were done when I was in school 6-12th grade, so once I began practicum I was reminded that all schools are going to be different. With that being said, I need to take into account that all schools use different educational and school software, as well as different forms of technology, but the more basic knowledge and understanding I have with different forms of technology, the better! 

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