This article is about how technology is used in a Montessori elementary classroom. It starts by following an elementary student as she enters the classroom. Then it follows her and how the teachers have been using technology through the day. A work record was made using Microsoft Excel. This will tell the child what she has completed for the week and what see needs to do. The article goes on to tell how the student used the internet to do some research to make a Famous Places card and how she will use a word processor to finish it. Also, the article mentions how the computer is used as a typing tutor or used for math software in addition to Internet research and the word processor. Then it talks about how the teacher tells the students about some websites she found that deal with their study on Africa. She shoes them how to bookmark the website, which they later will have to do to the other computers The third year students are asked during their math time, to work on a website provided by the teacher. They are given an activities packet to do on the website. At the end of the day, each of the children has a job, which is on a Microsoft excel sheet. Once the article had shown the student in her day, it talks about the learning environment and how technology has come into the Montessori classroom. It talks about how integrating technology can take extra time in the beginning to learn but how as time goes by it becomes easier. It also states that it is not replacing any of the traditional Montessori activities. The article says that the children get the hands on manipulatives first and then they get to work with the technology. The teacher writing the article said that when she first used technology that it was mostly software to help with early reading skills and memorizing math skills. Then she started to use technology for production, organization, PowerPoint presentations, Excel charts, digital cameras, and others.
I thought this article was very good. It shows exactly how technology can be integrated into a classroom. It shows technology doesn’t have to overpower the classroom that it can just aid it. I loved how it showed how a student was using technology throughout the day. She felt comfortable working with it too. The only thing I could say about the article was the use of the Internet. It seemed like a lot of the activities used it. Overall though, the author who happened to be the teacher showed that technology could be used in an early childhood classroom. I think one should read this article to get a sense of how technology can be used throughout the early childhood classroom day.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4097/is_200304/ai_n9190373
4 comments:
I enjoyed your article because it was short and right to the point. It did a good job of showing how one particular classroom utilizes technology and shows that it is not hard and can be very beneficial. I think having the highlights from the teacher that show what the student still needs to complete is a great idea, but then again, this could only be beneficial for students who could read. Another aspect of the article that I liked was that they left room for personal choice within the subjects, but yet still had the highlights that kept the student focused on what was most important. Overall, this article in great in showing that yes, learning how to use technology can take time, effort, and may not always be easy, but the benefits in the long run will be great for both the teacher and students because after a while, using technology and technological activities will become easy to use with practice!
That article seems really interesting. I like seeing how the article specifically showed how technology was integrated and used in the classroom. That really helps in being able to see myself using technology and in what ways I could integrate technology. I also liked that the manipulative aspects of learning through the Montessori method of teaching were still kept in the curriculum and were still used to enhance student learning. I like having that balance between traditional methods of teaching and integration of technology. It's nice to see that you don't have lose other forms of enhancing learning to integrate technology as a way of enhancing learning.
It sounds like you picked a very interesting article. I know that these types of classrooms are very effective because they give such amazing atmospheres. I liked reading your article and hearing all the different aspects that happen in this specific classroom.
You brought up a lot of important points the article mentioned. I think it is very important for teachers to understand that they can integrate technology into the classroom without changing the traditional activities of the classroom. Teachers need to understand that technology is an aid and it is meant to enhace classroom activities. I also think it is important for teachers to understand that implementing technology can take extra time in the beginning of the year, but the results are worth it.
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