Tech in My Placement

I researched the technology that Lincoln High School has to offer, and overall it seems that the findings are pretty average in comparison to other high schools. At first, I thought that technology was lacking at the high school, but after researching the technology available, I realized there are a lot of options. There is a media center,  laptop carts, and smart boards in every classroom. There are schools with a lot more technology, and schools with a lot less.

The most important technology feature at Lincoln, I think, are the smart boards. They didn't have smart boards when I was in high school, so this was a whole new feature to me. I think it's awesome that teachers and students can interact with a touch screen in the classroom. Not only are there things projecting on the board, but it has the function of being interactive. I think this is a really useful tool in the Spanish classroom because there are game templates that come with the smart board software. I can put in Spanish words into the game template and then have my students play it, without having to manually make all the game components.

One thing about the technology at Lincoln that I find controversial, is that there is no wifi. On the one hand, I think that it is a good thing because this way students cannot go on the internet if they don't have data on their phone plan. Since there are so many problems with students using their phones during class, this lessens the phone use to an extent. That being said, this could rule out the potential to have students use their own devices during an activity in class. Phones could be a useful tool for using Spanish dictionary apps, but students will not be able to use them if they do not have wifi.

After our discussion in class about technology in other people's field placements, it seems that sometimes technology is not worth the struggle. At some high schools, they may have computers, but they are so old or the system is so complicated to log in, that students do not even have enough time to do the activity. Sometimes I realize that it is not conducive to a school's budget to update their technology, but it seems like there is no point in having technology if it isn't going to work efficiently. The whole point of using technology in the classroom is for efficiency sake, and it hosts other learning opportunities for students. However, when technology does not work properly, it should be left unused in schools.