The suggested topic for this week was about frustrations. I wasn't really sure if I was going to write about it or not, but then I came into some things that frustrated me and it made me think. As I was trying to convert some documents over to pdf format for WebQuests that we designed, I ran into some issues. First, my document became 2 pages when it was only supposed to be one, which really wasn't a big deal. However, the border that looked so nice surrounding my document was completely messed up on the second page. I tried adjusting the margins and playing with the border. Nothing worked, so I eventually just removed the border. It was very frustrating and the people at zamzar.com probably think I am crazy for converting that file about 7 times.
So, after that happened. It made me think about the future. While I think it is a great idea to use technology in the classroom because students can relate, and they need to know how to use it. I also realized that there will be times when things happen that I just cannot fix or solve in regards to this kind of thing. I thought about how frustrating this might be because I can't stop my lesson to try and fix a technological problem for 30 min. For example, in the class I am currently observing, they were playing a geography game using a Smartboard, but they could not get the pen to fix. The teacher had to take time out to try and fix it, but she was unsuccessful. Therefore, she had to make adjustments. These little hiccups really made me think about how I will have to always be adaptable to what is going on in the classroom with the lesson. Technology can be great, but it can definitely have some flaws.
These things will not deter me from integrating technology as much as possible. Though they did allow me to reflect on how my response would be as a teacher trying to hold the lesson together. With or without technology, I will still have to plow through those standards and lessons. Overall, these frustrations allowed me to maybe be a little more prepared about the future.
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Yes, it seems that we have encountered the same problems with zamzar....ugh that is a dirty word right now in my head after I have probably uploaded like twenty different times one document to them!!! Reading your story about the Smart board it seems like using technology and improvising go hand in hand!!!
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