Anna Matykowski
Carleton College Educational Studies Philosophy of Education Resume Subject Matter Competence Service Learning Component Working with Parents Integrating Technology Experiential Learning in Classrooms American Indian Education Case Study of a Student Model Lesson Plan/ Performance Packages Self-Reflection Pieces/ Professional Summary Student Teaching Observation Record	INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGY I believe that technology should have an integral role in all classrooms. Outside of school, students are accustomed to movies and sports broadcasts that zoom in and out of action, and cut quickly between different perspectives. Teachers can take many steps in the classroom to make learning more exciting for students and relevant to modern life. Integrating technology during student teaching was challenging because New Spirit did not have many technological resources in the classroom. However, I still tried to integrate technology whenever possible. For example, I purchased songs over the internet to enhance individual lessons. I played a popular song, “Unfaithful,” to catalyze a discussion about the differences between internal and external conflict. I also played a blues song, “Get Back,” to provide historical context about discrimination within African American communities and American society at large. In addition to playing music, I also focused on teaching the students how to type papers. The majority of students at New Spirit do not have access to computers at home; consequently, their typing skills and computer literacy were not up to grade level. After I assigned their first major writing assignment, I reserved the computer lab so that all of the students could learn about the conventions of typing a paper. Before we visited the lab, I gave the students a mini-lecture about different functions in Word that could help them improve their papers. In my future teaching, I hope to make PowerPoint slideshows with pictures, video clips, and music clips that will enhance my lessons. I would also like to create virtual field trips with PowerPoint so that students can learn through experiential learning.