Week 12

The school I was at, Sunset View Elementary, used an impressive amount of technology. Each of the classrooms have a promethean board, which allows teachers to write and interact on the board itself. I thought it was really neat. It took some getting used to, but with some practice, it was quite handy. The students even knew how to use it. They would come up and write things on it, quite confidently, without any hesitation.

I saw the promethean board used a few of times in the classroom. Miss Kovacs tried to use it where she could, usually for math or for showing what students should write on their papers. She told me multiple times she should probably use it more, but sometimes it just isn’t as convenient as writing on the board. I can understand where she was coming from. However, I think with a bit of practice and getting used to it, it could become a very valuable tool in the classroom.

Another thing I found quite impressive was the amount of computers available in the school. Each of the teachers have their own Mac laptop, and the classroom I was in had 4 Mac desktops. There were also portable labs of Mac laptops that could be reserved and brought in for classroom use.

The labs were used each week, mainly for testing on Fridays. My mentor teacher, Miss Kovacs would also use them once a week for a small math group that she taught. Students could get on a mathematics website and practice addition. The computers in the classroom were used daily during “centers” time. Not everyone got to use them each day, but usually every other day. Again, students could get on an educational website and practice literacy.

The first graders in Miss Kovac’s class were all very technology savvy. I was impressed to watch and kind of had to laugh when thinking back to how it was when I was in elementary school. I think it’s great though, all of the things we can do now with the advanced technology that we have.