Teachers need to be flexible with all the changes. Technology doesn’t always work. Being able to troubleshoot when programs fail is essential. While teaching my lesson for this class we experienced technology problems. Rather than stressing over the problem we simply adapted.

In addition, when integrating technology into a lesson a teacher must consider the possible discipline issues that may arise. Being proactive and preventative is much better than reactive. Part of being a good teacher is the ability to have vision and predict possible abuses. This is a form of protection for the students and the teacher. It also helps alleviate stress during the lesson because there is always a plan.

Lastly, patience is essential. Plans fail. Technology has glitches. Take the opportunity to model patience for students. The life lessons learned during these trying times is priceless. Students watch teachers closer than you might think and they know when a teacher is frustrated. Modeling proper behavior earns respect and teaches students how to handle difficult situations.

The teacher is the artist. Technology is one of the paintbrushes. Be creative!

Although my previous blogs have seemed a bit pessimistic about technology it has only been because I’ve seen so many abuses. I could apply all those negatives to these two communication tools. Instead, I’d like to illustrate how my husband has embraced these tools.

If you visit www.mrsimonsen.com (not to be confused with mine which has two s’s – Mr Simonsen v. Mrs. Simonsen) you will find a very filled website. Students comment to his blogs, read updates from day to day, and find useful materials with which to study. In addition, updates are sent daily via twitter and facebook. Open source developers have created numerous plug-ins that allow bloggers to post their information one time, but send it to facebook, twitter, and various other social networks all at the same connecting with many  more users than they normally would. The plug-in also sends text updates to notify parents and students of changes in his class status. This has enabled parents and students to receive immediate updates and reminds students of their homework. This is one more way to communicate and remove the “I forgot” excuse.

I can see the student perspective on this issue. Students sometimes chat in class, why not text? Of course it takes away from the whole learning process, but that’s not the student’s purpose in coming to school anyway.

From an administrator’s point of view there are a few valid points that students overlook. Primarily, learning is disrupted. Rather than focusing on the teacher, the students feign attention while texting their friends gossip. In addition, cheating becomes a bigger issue. For a long time the standardized tests have prohibited electronic communication devices. If the state of Michigan prohibits the use, why should districts have to back down? Lastly, and sadly, inappropriate material has been sent via cell phones. This is a bigger issue than most parents realize. Parents are held accountable for their child’s actions. This means that they (the parent, not the student) can be charged with trafficking inappropriate materials if the child sends it at school.

In conclusion, cell phones are wonderful. They are very helpful and alleviate the need to use office phones after school. Unfortunately technology abuse has limited the school’s ability to embrace the use of cell phones.

As stated in a previous blog, I taught on online course last year. I was able to use blackboard for most of the assessments and it saved me hours of work. In addition, feedback was immediate and I was able to keep an electronic version of all assignments. Everything was going well until about Thanksgiving. Students began to explore blackboard and figured out how to chat with each other. I dismantled that and they found the email capability. Before I had a chance to remove that as well a student emailed a threat to the entire class. May I add that this was very unusual for this particular student. The student was suspended and the email capability was dismantled, but not before this student received multiple inappropriate responses. All electronic communication ceased after this point and I closely monitored student activity through blackboard’s data collection.

My point in relaying this incident is to illustrate the dangers in student electronic communication. The ability has great possibilities, but I find it sad that the abuses occur so quickly.