Technology in the Classroom

During the Summer Institue at Eastern Washington University I did not only take part in languages and content classes, I also wanted to find out more about the importance of technology in the American classroom.

We visited more than ten schools in five weeks, from preschools to colleges and universities. In every school I found a huge amount of technology. Some schools offered technology carts to their teachers with laptops, others had several desktop pcs in every! classroom.

At the writing center at Eastern I found a state-of-the-art tech cart. It was an wheels, which made it easy to transport it. On the cart every imaginable piece of technology was present: document camera, ipod dock, tablet pc, dvd player, projector and even a portable screen for the projector.

When talking about tools that teachers use in the classroom I found out that the internet is big in the United States. Teachers seem to love wikis and blogs to stay in contact with the students after school. Programs like this help to keep up with English writing and to serve a diverse class with optional information. If you integrate them in classroom management software like moodle and blackboard it guides the students throught the lessons.

All teachers I talked to agreed, that those tools are very helpful. However, they also all agreed that they miss support while using them. Teachers complained, that there is hardly any training and follow ups. Additionally, teachers said that they felt that they need to invest a lot of time in the beginning.

I totally agree with the teachers I talked to. I love using technology in the classroom but you should not use it a) just for the sake of it and b) you don't know how to use it properly. So there should be an expert about educational techology in every school, which supports the teachers when they struggle. If you know that there is somebody that can help you with a tool, you are also more willing to try out new things and loose you fear. - I could even imagine to be the educational techology expert at my future school.

Seattle

Space Needle



Pike Place Market



Seattle Aquarium





Museums



Streetview

In the Middle of Nowhere

Last weekend we visited Seattle and Portland. On our way to Seattle the nature that surrounded us changed several times. It was very interesting to see forrest and desert, farm houses and skyscrapers - all in one state.

Responds to Minority Cultures and Languages in Germany

North Rhine-Westphalia is an immigration state. Demographic developments show that one –third of all children and teenagers in this German federal state have a migration background (75 % in the Hauptschule). And the number is still growing. Experts forecast that it will increase to fifty percent in the next ten to fifteen years, especially in urban city areas.
Schools in certain neighborhoods have lots of students who cannot speak German properly. This makes it very difficult to teach and the learning progress is very low To compensate this, NRW recruits additional teachers for schools with a high number of students with migration background.
The international PISA studies revealed that there is still a huge gap between students with and without migration background. So instead of just sending more teachers into the school the state started a new survey that measures the integration with indicators like the German language skills, the number of students staying down, the number of students sent to special schools and the number of positive transfer from school to the working world. After reviewing the currents situation, goals are formulated to improve the integration level. This changed the attitude of most schools according to this problem. Teachers feel more responsible to integrate minority groups.
A lot of school books changed the stories to integrate more students from other countries. More and more schools have open doors tilll afternoon to offer tutor classes and a positive learning enviroment. Many schools offer language classes of at least lubs to integrate the culture and language of our immigrants - most of them for the Turkish students because the biggest group of migrants are from Turkey.

Message of the Day

Found in a medical center for Native Americans in Spokane, WA.

Inquiry Question: Use of Technology in the Classroom

As part of our language class with Andrea I plan to write a short essay about the pros and cons of using new technology in the classroom. During my studies I learned a lot about tools that a teacher can use in a classroom (blogs, wikis, webquests...). When we visited schools in the United States I realized that almost every school had computer rooms or laptops. The use of computers seems to be very important for American teachers. In the following weeks I want to find out in which way American teachers use these computers and which tools/software/gadgets are popular. As a student I only know the theoretical part, so I am looking forward to see which pros and cons those tools have when you use them in a lesson.

Picture (c) Wellington City Council New Zealand

Spokane Indians Baseball Game

On Wednesday we watched a baseball game of the Spokane Indians. For most of us it was the very first baseball game, so Lisa was busy explaining the rules. The Spokane Indians do have a mascot which, in my opinion, does not look very nice. Some small chilren were even afraid and started crying when the mascot came too close. The funniest thing was when a hero called recycling man started to collect empty soda bottles. Happily, the team played very good. When we left, the current result was 10-0 for the Indians. So you can image how the atmosphere was :-) The stadium offered German dogs (a German sheperd?) but I preferred the traditional food: a hot dog. It was great!