Productivity Tools

We have talked about how productivity tools such as those that are a part of the Microsoft Office Suite can help us save time in completing our daily tasks, as well as keeping our students and their parents informed. Do you see these as essential to the task of teaching? Are there any other tools that you feel would raise the productivity level of teachers, whether in general or subject specific?

I see them as tools for teaching, but not necessarily a necessity. Work can be done without these tools, but the work would take longer. With all of the requirements that teachers are expected to do, there would need to be a productivity tool in place to achieve these tasks. Ideas such as helpers and keeping organized would work very well.

These programs help with daily tasks, but the teacher must be organized for these products to be effective. Organization is the key to success and must be demonstrated for our students.

Professional Development for Teachers

As a teacher, I do agree that we have to continue to learn. We must stay up to date with the new and improving material, so that our students are receiving the best learning environment they can.

How do we do this? There are many opportunities for teachers to attend workshops and professional development classes. These classes take time away from the classroom. That is a huge disadvantage for the students and for the teacher.

But, we have to stay in the now and the only way to accomplish this is to attend the workshops. In my opinion, I would attend a well structured and informative workshop to keep myself educated.

New Technologies Within A School....

I would like to see districts bring the new technologies to the staffs table and let the staff have a word on what they think would be worth spending the money initially for and what new technologies they should hold off on for the data to prove its worth spending the money for. The teachers are who will be utilizing most of the new technologies and I believe that they should be the most influential on the decision. Teachers know what works with the students and have a wonderful understanding of what will catch the attention of students and what may not.

In my opinion, schools should be on the cutting edge of technology, but not at the expense of our teachers, staff and students. If the new technology is going to put the district in financial difficulties, then the decision should not be taken lightly. Every person within a school holds a very important job, from yard maintenance to Superintendent and if we are cutting positions and eliminating opportunities for our students, than we may need to reconsider the purchase. We need teachers to use the newly introduced technology, and with so many jobs being cut right now, let's be sure that is where we should be spending our money

Multimedia In the Classroom..

Multimedia is very important within a classroom this day in time. Our world in advancing everyday and we must keep out students up to date. There are some drawbacks, such as safety and expenses, but there are these issues with everything.

Smartboards are a wonderful tool to have in a classroom. If I am one of those lucky teachers to have one, I will use it everyday. There are so many items that can be brought to life with this tool and it helps the students become engaged in the lesson.