AN EFFECTIVE USE OF MEDIA TECHNOLOGY

Media Technology plays an important role in teaching because the world is constantly changing and technology plays a huge role in the change taking place. Students need to learn how to use media technology in a way that will help them become future professionals in their chosen careers. Students today are much more inclined to use technology than any other students before. Media Technology allows for students to have access to information instantly thus speeding up the research process.

I have witnessed students using media technology in an effective way. I worked at a middle school as a tutor and a teacher's assistant. I observed an assignment that the students did on chrome books. The students did their research on the chrome books, they would pick quotes and evidence from online articles that were relevant to their research. Later, in google docs the students would have to make a summary of the articles they read and explain why the articles they chose are relevant to their project. This project was assigned in AVID which is an elective class that encourages students to go to college. The students where researching colleges and career paths that they are interested in and making connections between what the universities offered and what is required for their career path. Periodically the students would share their progress with their teacher by pressing the "share" button and tagging Mrs. Williamson's name. This way Mrs. Williamson could monitor their progress without hovering over them. I really like that it was paperless. I think it was beneficial to the students that they could share their progress with the teacher and get feedback from her quickly. They also learned about what sites where creditable and which were not. For example, they learned to seek out the universities official site instead of reading whatever Wikipedia had to say about the university they were researching.

The classroom I worked in also had a Smart Board in the front of the classroom which was helpful because it's like having a giant touch screen monitor where you can pull up images and the write on top of them. 

Image can be found at:

http://leegreensmartboardtutorial.pbworks.com/w/page/39631428/Smart%20Board%20Tutorial

Hi I'm Esty

My name is Esther Lopez but you can call me Esty. My family is originally from the city Culiacán in Sinaloa, Mèxico. We moved to California when I was about five years old because my parents couldn't make enough money to feed our family. Much like other families that come to America from other countries, my parents also believed that moving to the U.S. would create better opportunities for their children. Since my mom was born in America my family had a much easier time immigrating. I grew up being taught that everything has two names, a Spanish name and an English name, this is how I became fluent in  both Spanish and English. I'm dyslexic but I love to read. I'm really excited about becoming a teacher because I love learning and teaching others. I really believe that sharing knowledge and helping students think for themselves and become confident in who they are and what they're learning is very important. I have had amazing teachers in my life, as well as teachers who couldn't really be bothered to do their job, but the ones who wanted us to be independent thinkers and celebrated individuality played a huge role in my development and I would like to be that kind of teacher some day. I am very proud of my culture and my journey to becoming a first generation college student and as a teacher I want to encourage my students to work toward their goals.