#6 Classroom Website and Tech

          To examine a high school teacher's website, I decided to go back to my senior year AP Government teacher at Beavercreek High school in Beavercreek, Ohio.  He also teaches a sophomore through senior elective class on American wars however I only viewed the Government section.  What is visible to the public is what visible to the students and parents.  The only difference is that those that are not signed in as students can not post discussion boards if one is posted.  However, the public is able to see the discussion boards that are posted.  For that reason, it is school policy that students don't use their full names while posting.  The public is able to see all of the teachers information as well as any pictures that are posted and assignments.  Anything that the instructor or students post is visible to the public.  Screenshots from the website can be found below. http://www.beavercreek.k12.oh.us/bhs


          One of my goals for technology is having a very well regulated website.  In my high school career, I dealt with both teachers that worked very hard on their website and some that did not.  Having a website that was designed to help students was one of the best feelings in high school.  Having my homework and assignments available to me with due dates was incredibly helpful.  It felt as though the teacher truly cared so that is what I wish to do with my future students.

          I also wish to implement Twitter or other social media into my classroom.  To be able to connect with students is very important to me.  As I wish to teach older students, I want to be able to treat them like adults.  Through this, I would very much like to be able to share things with them through Twitter.  This would act almost as an insurance to my website that I have setup.  If a student wishes to check the website, they can, or they can check Twitter.  I want to go out of my way to ensure that my students understand what is expected of them.  This will not only show them that I care but also take away the opportunity for excuses on missing work.


          The technology that will be most heavily used in my classroom from the Tech Sandbox will most likely be the SMART/Promethean Board.  This is simply because they are essentially standard in the modern classroom in some shape or form.  For example, many schools use the solid and movable models whereas my high school used either the wall mounted boards or the projectors that created the SMART board on the teacher's whiteboard.  These are incredibly helpful for projecting a presentation while giving interactive capabilities.  As I expect to have many lectures in my class, it will be incredibly helpful to have a SMART board in order to project these.  They also allow me to write on the board, and save those writings and eventually share them with my students, if that would be helpful for them.

          The next piece of technology I would love to implement in my classroom from the Tech Sandbox, were I to have the opportunity, would be virtual reality.  I have only ben able to use it once during my previous visit to the Sandbox, but the experience was surreal.  I can only imagine the possibilities I would have in my classroom.  As I wish to teach government, it would be amazing to immerse the students into what we are studying at the time.  For example when I am talking about the debates over signing the declaration of independence, I could send the students to the room where it took place.  The possibilities would truly be endless.