Free Tech Toys for Teaching

The NEA Today magazine for August 2009, published by the National Education Association has an article titled, "Classroom Technology That Won't Cost You a Dime!" by Cindy Long. This article discusses technologies that teachers can use in their classroom free of charge. It also includes a description of how they work and the purpose of each. The article can be viewed at www.nea.org/home/34001.htm

One of the greatest things the Internet has provided for teachers is the ability to collaborate on lessons and ideas around the world. Granted, the Internet provides information easier and more up-to-date than textbooks which is a definite benefit. However, the ability to easily share ideas and lessons has revolutionized education. A good teacher should be willing to share what they do well with their colleagues. It just doesn't make sense for every teacher to have to create each lesson, especially if it has already been created by another teacher.

Even though collaboration through the Internet is a valuable tool, it can be hard for many teachers to take advantage of the multitude of lessons available. Looking for new, innovative lessons is a time-consuming endeavor. Depending on a teacher's classload, the time necessary to search for lessons created by others may not be available. Often the pressure to have the day-to-day lessons and giving immediate feedback to students doesn't allow a teacher much time to look for new, more innovative ways to teach the same lesson.

One of the things that has been difficult for me personally is that a large part of the classes I teach are technology related. It seems like everything we do is technology-based. However, the availability of shared lessons for business is very limited. There is an abundance of shared lessons for elementary teachers and teachers of core subjects at the secondary level. Lessons for business teachers are few and far between. I am not sure why that is other than the way business teachers teach the same skills are often drastically different from teacher to teacher, area to area. Something else that contributes to this is that business skills are so broad that each school must decide what they believe are the most important skills to teach within a limited teaching staff.