Module 5: Technologies

As an educator I believe that you have to stay on top of what’s new. We are preparing our students to be leaders and we have to teach them the skills so that they can be better prepared. Technology is changing every day and we have to stay on top of it. I have noticed that most of the veteran teachers at my school are so used to teaching a certain way that the technology that my school does has is going to waste.
My school received a math grant that included mounting projectors, air writers for the SMART Board, and math cps units. The math coach said that even though the classrooms had SMART Boards for years that some of the teachers were still using overhead projector to teach their math lessons. The coach said that she paid extra attention to these teachers and made sure that she showed them how to use the SMART Board and CPS unit. The math coach stated that by the end of the year that the teachers had improved on using the technology and that she started dropping in two to three times a week to once a week (which she was doing with the other teachers). I think that Keller’s ARCS model of motivation worked with these teachers. The coach gave them the added attention they needed, showed the relevance of using the technology in the class to help with student understanding. Confidence was showed when the teachers were effectively using the technology without assistance.