Miss Kindergarten: Integration of Technology in Social Studies

How to Use Technology in Your Classroom With a Focus on Social Studies:
Technology is a great tool to be used in a classroom and when properly used, engages students and helps them learn. A Smart Board can be easily used through the day but especially during Social Studies. If you are working on a project about another city, state, or country then google earth is a great place to view the area. There are a lot of great apps for the iPad out there now that can create flash cards or ask you questions to prepare you for a test. It's amazing what's out there for children these days but it's up to the teachers who must be willing to try new things so that they can teach their students something new.

Reflect on Your Experiences:

I was really hoping to see technology used in my practicum setting but unfortunatly my teacher doesn't use it because the school can't afford it. My teacher is also a little apprehensive about using her computer so she doesn't know how to do much which I'm sure is the reason she doesn't use the computer that much during the school day. The only time I see the students using the computer is during Literature Centers and what they are doing on the computer is just a age approproate game. I wish that I was able to see the technology take place so that I would better understand how I could use it.

When I was in middle school my teachers had just gotten Smart Boards put in their classrooms. I remember them being so excited to use this technology in their classes and even though they were a little overwhelmed by the Smart Board, they tried their hardest to learn how it worked so that we would benefit from it. I remember being more interested in lesson because of the Smart Board because we were able to do so much on it and the information came up so clear where as if the information was being written on the board you had to make sure you sat in front just so you could read what the teacher was writing. I think that with the Smart Board it allowed a lot of time for class discussion because the teacher was no longer wasting time writing information down on the board, she was able to devote more time answering questions.

Future Use of Technology in Your Classroom:

In my future classroom I hope to have a few pieces of technology in my room to use when I teach. I would love to own a Smart Board because I feel as though I could create such fun lessons based on that piece of technology and I feel as though the students would be more engaged as learners. I would love to have virtual field trips and explore the world through google earth. There is so much we can do with technology in the classroom that to have the technology and not use it to it's potential is a shame. I have my own iPad and I would even bring that in once or twice a week to either assess or build prior knowledge on a topic. I would love if my students could just play some games on it too, just enough for them to get comfortable using the iPad. I think that since I grew up with having a computer in the house and eventually getting my own, I want my students to learn how to use a computer right from the start. And to do that I need to model it for them and teach with the computer and share information about the subjects we studying through technology.