Week 2

After reading chapter 2 in the Pearson text it seems as though technology tools are crucial to support literacy education in this day and age. There are a wide variety of tools available and this chapter looked at some of them more in depth. I find that within my own classroom I am in fact using many of the tools that are currently available. At this point my students use a word processor which is a productivity tool. They also use Accelerated Reader which is a well-known educational software item. My students use a number of internet and communication tools numerous times as day such as Tumblebooks, XtraMath, and Study Island. Not only are my students familiar with internet and communication tools, but they are also accustomed to using multimedia and visualization tools. Some of these tools are the promethean board, a powerpoint presentation, and movie maker. Even though I am incorporating these tools within my classroom I realize that I need to work on integrating more emerging tools within my classroom. One of the tools that I am excited to use is the wiki that I created last semester. My goal is to integrate these emerging tools at a slow and steady pace. I don't want to overwhelm myself and end up overloading my students at the same time. My hope is also to get administrators as well as parents on board with the technology that I will be presenting in the near future. They need to understand that while these "new" ways of learning aren't the "old" paper/pencil ways, they are the current approaches that will allow students to thrive in the current world they are living in.