Thoughtful Lesson Planning: Integrating Technology

Education Reform: Language and Technology

            The Huffington Post article above emphasizes the importance of carefully thinking out lesson plans when integrating technology. It mentions of disaster lessons because teachers just throw technology into the lesson without thinking about how it will enhance or hinder learning. The author of this article, Mirla Gonzalez, makes a valid point that technology should be used to enhance the students' learning experience and not draw away from it. Therefore, as 21st century teachers, I believe it is very important to carefully plan out a lesson, especially when using technology, and think of technology as an aid to facilitate and enrich learning the material.

         

         Gonzalez also expresses that the demand for STEM: Science, Technology, Enginneering, and Math, has taken away the importance of language in schools. A good program is one that can successfully integrate and balance all of these. Technology should not replace language; it should assist in making the learning of a language more exciting and worthwhile for students. 

           As future teachers with hopes to integrate technology into our lessons, I would advise everyone to really think about the technologies you plan to use. Do not use a specific technological device just because it is the most common and popular among adolescents at the moment, which is what we saw in this article with that grade school teacher. Think about how this device can facilitate and enhance the learning experience for that group of students. Remember that all students and classes will be different, so think about what works best with a particular group of students. Lesson planning, in general, is something that requires much thought and planning. When integrating technology in your lesson plans, you want students to see it much more than an easy way out; you want them to be challenged even if they are in their comfort zone because they are working with technology. Through each other's blogs we have learned of different programs, devices, and methods of integrating technology in our lessons that can be beneficial to us and our students. However, let's make sure that we are not getting so caught up in the uniqueness of the technology and forgetting about our original goal in using it.