Electronic Contact!

For my electronic contact I emailed a teacher from the South Pacific, Raenette Taljaard. For our assignment we were supposed to get in contact with another teacher, whether it be somewhere else in the United States or somewhere else in the world. We were then supposed to find out how they integrated technology into their classrooms and what they thought the importance of technology was. I was very pleased to find out that Ms. Taljaard used technology often and used it in very creative ways.

The first thing that she said she did with her class was to use a SmartBoard for everyday use and as a data projector and video screen. She also said that she had various macbooks and eMacs on rotation for her students to use for math, literacy, and other subjects. I thought this was such a great idea because it allows students to become familiar with everyday technology like computers while also learning.

Another thing that she said she used in her classroom was podcasting. She allows her students to do podcasts of Narratives, reports her students have done, or a summary of some activity they have done. She also stated that some teachers have even used podcasts to record their students's goals or strategies for solving math problems. She also said that she uses Garage Band, iMovie, Keynote, and other interactive media. She gave a great example of how she uses all these things for one project. She explained that if they were learning to do Narratives they may start off by doing interactive activities on the SmartBoard, use ReadWrtieThink to draft the Narrative, take digital photos and use GarageBand to record audio, then use iMovie to publish it.

Raenette Taljaard gave me a lot of great ideas about how to use technology in my classrooms. I loved the idea of using things like GarageBand and iMovie! HEr project breakdown was also very helpful because it gave me a specific look at how all of the technology is used. Talking to her helped me to better realize how to integrate technology into my own classroom and how important it is for learning.