Lessons Learned

I feel that, especially in the era that we will be teaching in as up and coming teachers, technology will be a very important part of the classroom. Students in elementary school may even have their own cell phones, and so texting may be a huge part of their lives. Other than emails and phone calls, texting may be a new way for students to communicate with their teachers outside of school. Video chats may be a new way to communicate as well. From these readings, videos and websites, I can really see how much of a big deal technology in the classroom is. It is coming at us and it is coming fast, and we can't just let technology pass by. It needs to be utilized at its best and be brought into the classroom to engage the students and enhance their learning.
However, I do have some concerns about using technology in the classroom. Even I have fallen into this bad habit, but students may feel that using spellcheck is all they have to do to edit their documents. Spellcheck doesn't catch everything, so it is always important to review the paper after spellcheck goes through. My brother just published his first book, and in there is "stated" instead of "started", but spellcheck didn't pick this up. Apparently, neither did his editor. Also, students are so used to not capitalizing their letters or using slang like "LOL" or emoticons in their everyday life, such as instant messaging or texting. If they bring those habits into the classroom, as their teacher I would have to dock them major points because it is very improper grammar. There is a fine line between when to use proper grammar and when it's okay to be careless, and that line must not be crossed in the classroom.