Arts and Tech Blog

After writing my research paper on the many educational technologies and their effects on multisensory learners I began to reflect on my own classroom.  Although I try to create an active learning environment for my students, I question my effectiveness on achieving this on a multisensory level.  The research I completed made it clear that approaching lessons and activities from a multisensory level helps reach more individual student learning styles and therefore helps to improve achievement levels.  The addition of new interactive educational technologies, and technology in general to approach lessons on a multisensory level can only complement good instruction in the classroom.  Although the technology available to me may be limited due to inequity in distribution and availability, it is my goal to utilize what I have to the fullest to create the multisensory learning environments described in my research.  I am fortunate to teach studio art classes in which students must create and therefore become an active part of their education when they enter my classroom as opposed to passive learning environments they may encounter in other classes.  After reading about all the positive benefits of a multisensory approach to education it is my goal to continually modify my instruction to appeal to multiple senses of my students.  I hope that by integrating new educational technologies and practices, I will continue to motivate my students to not only appreciate the arts, but enjoy coming to, and actively participating in class.

A special thanks to my students for making every day of teaching an enriching challenge, and making it easier to deal with the hidden politics of teaching in a public school.  Sometimes I feel like I learn just as much from interacting with my students, as they do from me. 

It absolutely amazed me that in Pittsford students are required to be proficient at typing before they reach the 7th grade. I remember going through school and not even being offered a keyboarding class till reaching the 9th grade. Also, comparing the Pittsford standard with that of the district I work in, where some students have never even learned the basics of using a computer and are in high school. The differences between the technological capabilities of students is something that I worry will directly affect their future. In today’s digital era, it seems that one must possess at the very least a basic knowledge of office programs and email to be successful.

I was also shocked at the availability of free office related programs for download. With these programs, a cheap, basic computer can be upgraded with similar programs to the Microsoft office programs without the high cost of those programs. I would be interested to see the capabilities that these free programs have and compare them to the Microsoft programs. Upon a basic analysis of the free google word processing programs, the only major difference I found was in the number of fonts available. I cannot wait to get a refresher of some of the bells and whistles of the Microsoft office programs, so I know how to better use them, and when my students use the programs for writing their research papers, I will be better equipped to assist them.