Chapter 4 Reflection

Chapter 4 takes the 5 stages of technology integration in the classroom and discusses problems, issues, success, and other thoughts that teachers had while working with technology in their classrooms.  The issues that they encountered in the Entry stage included un-anticipated problems in the classroom including student misbehavior and cheating, the change to the physical classroom environment in reduced space and extra heat and noise, software issues and problems with the computers including computers or equipment going down and leaving the classroom without technology during class time, and just the way that the teacher handles changes in the classroom.  During Adoption, teachers began to  anticipate the problems that may occur with the computers, equipment, or students and they started to address and be pro-active against them.  They devised plans to catch students at cheating using technology and came up with ways to avoid computers from crashing or being overloaded.  The adaptation phase teachers finally stopped trying to just fix the problems presented and started working on ways that they could integrate the technology into the classroom or into the behavior management of students.  Teachers started collaborating with each other to work on effective strategies for using computers and software in lessons and in classroom management.  The end of the chapter looks at classroom management again and how technology has changed the face of how the classroom runs.

I think that the teachers discovered something over the time that they used the technology, that all change takes time and that all change will create problems and solve problems.  The key is to weather the storm and learn how to change as it presents itself.  In the beginning it will be really tough to change, but as time goes by it will become easier and more natural.  After awhile it will be so much a part of your daily routine that not having it will actually be a difficult thing to handle, like the teacher who's tape recorder broke and she couldn't record her thoughts for the day.  Some thoughts that I had while reading included: in response to teachers talking about the computers being down or breaking after a few years, computers and today's technology does not have the longevity that paper and pencil does.  They will break, often, and have to be replaced.  It is something that must be remembered and factored into the schools future planning.  In response to students not having a problem focusing for an entire class period when in front of the computer: todays students live with technology playing video games and watching tv during all of their free time.  Of course they will be more engaged when technology is involved in the classroom.