Technology in the Classroom

I think that technology in the classroom can be very effective if you used in the correct way, however if it is used improperly I believe it can infact be a hinderance to the classroom. The most popular use of technology in a classroom from my experience is power point. Power point is just like every other technology is an aid and supplement for the class but it can't replace the teacher. For example if a teacher relies only on a power point and only reads from it, that is not an effective use of technology because it is not helping students to just have them copy from the slides, however if the teacher decides to put two of three key terms on a slide so that the students can see the main points and then take notes of the elaboration that the teacher says on each term they have to use their own words to take notes and should therefor be more effective.

This is true for all technology. If a teacher uses technology to supplement and engage the students it can be helpful. A very effective thing I have seen teachers do is to show a tv show or a clip from a tv show that is popular with the students to explain what they are talking about. For example I have seen teachers show things from the simpsions and southpark for use in science, history or political science classes. This was effective because the students actually want to watch it and then having a discusion afterwards on what was actually true from what we saw on tv is way more engaging then just listening to a teacher talk at you.