I remember during my first year of teaching, I had a kid who was angry at the world.  He made my first teaching experience quite challenging and I have to admit that there was more than one day that I drove home in tears of frustration.  I’ll never forget one lesson that I did though.  I reserved the computer lab and the students did a web quest, followed by a group project.  It was the first time I saw this kid engaged and excited about something!  And he was so much better with technology, that he was actually helping others and working with other students!  It allowed him to connect to others to learn about science.

I was blown away.  And at that moment, I realized the power that technology can have in education.

Since then, I have worked to stay informed of new technologies and ways to implement them into my lessons.  However, I have learned a lot since that first year.  I have learned that just because something is “technology based” doesn’t mean it is beneficial to my students.  I have encountered so many teachers who do something simply because it involves “technology”.  I’m quickly learning that sometimes using technology can distract students from learning the objectives.

One issue I have is that technology takes time.  Either we have to walk across our entire campus to use the computer lab or I have to check out a laptop cart and kids have to pick up a laptop and find an outlet to hook them up to.  Then there’s login confusion when inevitably several students can’t login.  Then there are website issues, internet issues, battery issues, equipment issues, etc.  And I have to teach the students the basics for how to navigate the new technology.  Sometimes I feel more like an I.T. person (and an inadequate one at that) than a chemistry teacher.

Once all the technology IS working, my students will proceed with some sort of lesson…and several times I’ve had to ask myself if they would have learned the material better by doing other activities.  For example, when they created a presentation through Prezi to defend or refute nuclear energy, they spent a LONG time on font types and sizes, colors, backgrounds, pictures, etc.  Granted, I understand that in today’s society, it is important for students to be able to put together a professional presentation.  But I wonder if they missed out on understanding nuclear chemistry and its’ societal implications that day, because they were “playing” with Prezi for most of the class period.  I love cross-curricular lessons…but with block scheduling, we have a tough time getting in all the chemistry curriculum in before exams.

At NCCAT I loved that Kari started her Kenan Talk with, “I don’t use technology unless I feel it benefits my students.”  I think the biggest issue with technology today is that teachers don’t always evaluate if it is going to help their students learn.  Sometimes it’s used just because it’s technology.

As I left NCCAT last week, I was excited about the list of new technology options that I’d like to figure out before school starts.  I have some ideas for incorporating them into my lessons and I heard other teachers with awesome ideas that I might use too!  So I hope that as I learn how to use these resources, I’ll discover that they ARE useful for teaching chemistry and will be able to include them in my lessons!