Teacher Interview: Technology in the Classroom
I interviewed my pre-practicum teacher from last semester, Ms. Merchant. She is a first grade teacher at Norrback Elementary School.
As far as access to technology in her classroom, Ms. Merchant said that inside her classroom there are 6 computers and the students have access to these throughout the day for certain activities. She said that there are ELMO’s in classrooms throughout the school, but there isn’t one in her classroom. If she ever needed to use one then she could just ask a colleague to borrow. There is a computer lab available for all grade levels and teachers can reserve the computer lab. For her classroom, technology is not 1 to 1, students rotate throughout the week through the computer center. Most students in her class have access to technology at home but homework is not on the computer. However, she has sent home recommendations for learning websites including XTRA Math and Happynumbers.com.
While talking with Ms. Merchant, she said that the use of technology is the same for all students in the class. If students have difficulty reading for long periods of time may be put on tumlebooks.com to keep them interested. This is a website where books are read to them, enhancing comprehension. However, technology is not specifically used to help English language learners.
I then asked Ms. Merchant her opinion about the different technologies in her class. She said that she usually sticks to the same learning tools on the computer because the students are used to navigating those sites. If a new learning tool is introduced to her though, she says that she will explore it before she introduces it to the class. Of the few technologies she has introduced to the class, Ms. Merchant said that there were not any that specifically did not work for her. What she said worked really well was using the ELMO, which projects whole group activities onto the board. This works really well for the class because all of the students are able to see the activity and are also much more engaged as well. The students in Ms. Merchant’s class really enjoy working on the computers in class. However, Ms. Merchant also found that the computers are a huge distraction inside the classroom. When students are not on them she will see them staring at them instead of focusing on their own work. She said that she used to allow students to go on the computers when they finished their work but that just caused poor quality of work as the students would rush through their work just to get on the computers. This is why they are now only used during center rotations. When I was in this classroom for my pre-practicum I also found the computer distraction to be very apparent. I think being that they students are so young, it is hard for them to focus when their friends are having fun on the computers.
As far as difficulties with technology, Ms. Merchant said that the biggest trouble is that there are not enough computers for all of the students in class. She said that students don’t always know how to use the mouse and she will see them trying to touch the computer screen as if it was an IPAD. If any technology ever does fail, Ms. Merchant said that she always has a backup plan for students that does not involve technology. Since only one center group is typically at the computers each day then that group usually just joins one of the other center groups. Also, being that the students in her classroom are five and six years old, she has never had issues with them using any websites that are not allowed. They always stay on the one website that she has chosen for the week.
The school has a technology person that is on call most days of the week to help her out in the classroom. As far as the school goes, Ms. Merchant says there is no required technology special for students or integration for teachers. When teachers do integrate technology into their lessons there is no school structured limit or need for the teachers to follow.
In the classroom, Ms. Merchant said that they really only use technology when they are rotating around specific math or reading centers. When I was there for my pre-practicum I found that the class used very minimal technology, as described in more detail through this interview. I think that this class would really benefit from a smartboard. This would allow for much more ease of lessons and transitions. This would also give more than just the students on the computers the chance to play games on the smartboard.
EDU 222: Technology Integration 