Reflection on "Turning on the Lights" by Sharon

I am now seeing that all types of technology can be used in the classroom setting and that powering down can actually hinder students' growth in the area of technology.  The only thing that concerns me is are the distractions that go along with electronic devices like the girl who did not get her project completed because she internet shopping.

I like the idea of using the cameras on cell phones to record and enrich learning and recording devices like mp3 players to use music for projects or to have access to recorded material.

I have been in a middle school with laptops for every student for the past eight years.  This is something that is going to be a challenge for me in my new position because my students used them every period, every day whether it included the portaportal, research, education games and sites, word processing, etc.  I have also learned that not only are the students not going to have "immediate" access, they give the teachers PC's which are not even compatible with the Mac's the students use.  

I used portaportal in the past for students to access my chosen websites easily but the benefit of diigo is that it will search and sort the websites for you.  It is much easier to research and log in a systematically what information you find.

I do not know the policy yet of my new school, but here in Maine, students were not allowed on social networking sites like Facebook even at home, were not allowed to email each other on school time,  forbidden from noneducational sites like gaming, could not leave the laptop unattended, and the student and the parent had to complete a class offered by the school before the laptop could go home.  Cell phones and iPods were not allowed to be in class.  They were supposed to be turned off and in the locker.  I now know there are ways to allow electronic devices in the classroom with purpose and responsibility.  The biggest challenge if I were still there would be the hairy eyeball I would get from colleagues because I did not follow the discipline code regarding electronic devices.

Professional development should be offered on this topic to show teachers the value of being "plugged in" and how good teaching practices can be a part of utilizing the technology students have in their locker. Just enlightening teachers by showing them how to search for ideas and topics might be what they need to spark that desire.  Sometimes fear of the unknown can limit us but if it is no longer unknown we can develop that comfort level to utilize these skills on a regular basis.