Rethinking...: Preface & Chapter 1 Reflection

When I was reading this assignment I started to realize on how much the schools I attended before college basically used technology as a separate learnign tool by having classes where you learned how to use the technology but rarely used the technology in the classrooms.  Many times there we would just use the computer for word processing and rarely for games.  I am a little older and was in the dates of the green computer screens and the five-inch floppy disk. Many times then our computer work was restricted to math games and typing accuracy.  The book points out that the technology that is currently used in classrooms are very simple instructional tools like paper, pencil, overhead projectors, and even the calculator.  Those technologies, much like the newer ones today, took a while to be implimented into the classroom but still are rarely the forfront of the classroom.
As a future teacher I would like to keep an open mind to implimenting new technologies like more open computer access for students in the classroom as well as things like smart boards.  Of course I see a smartboard as a possible way to impliment it to coaching football if and when I would be able to use the markers while watching video to instruct as we would see while watching highlights during televised games.  In the current way for pointing out key points whether it be for something like football or even an educational word find, on a projector board instructors need to use a pointer of some sort instead of being able to just draw on the video board without causing damage to highlight their key point.
Another thing I would like to use is something we do in this class and that is using a website to document what we did in our class.  We all have been in school before when we got a bad cold, flu, or injury where we are unable to be in school for a period of time.  Then we have to rely on our siblings, friends, and/or parents to get the information from our teachers on what was done and what is due.  By using a blog or wiki the students would be able to access an up-to-date script of what was covered in the class so they are not too far ahead of or beind of the class when they return from their illness.