Chapter 9

Three things I learned from this chapter were:
1. A keyboard is called a "QWERTY keyboard." I know I've heard of the term before, but I honestly didn't know what people were talking about when they said that name. I also didn't know there was a debate between scholars that was based on teaching keyboarding before letting students use computers for writing.
2. The "U.S. Department of Education recommends that 30% of a school district's technology budget be spent on professional development, currently only 6% is being appropriated for this endeavour." So basically, the Dept of Ed wants teachers to be technology savvy and have even instructed schools to set aside spending for just that, but very few teachers are getting trained.
3."Standards for the English Language Arts (NCTE/IRA, 1996)" says "teachers should begin 'giving students the enjoyment and pride of sometimes being their teachers' teachers.'" So by this standard, more teachers would be learning from their students and those students could potentially be intstructing a class how to work certain technology. Interesting idea, but they really had to make it a standard?

Two things I'd use in my class room:
1.Instead of just using the standard techniques of writing, such as papers, poems, etc, I would be able to incorporate "IMovies, or VoiceThread to have students tell their stories." I'm currently working on a lesson plan that does just that.
2.I could use websites designed to "interact with students with speech problems." I would be able to use tools such as "GameGOO: Learning That Sticks" for students who are at lower levels of learning in my class. Plus it could be fun to experiment with, just letting students see what options are out there for their use.

One question I have is:
If teachers are to use more and more technology in the classroom to better help their students, when is there a line drawn between too much techology and not enough actually "teaching?"