Ch 9-10 by Steven Booth

2025-02-22 16:34:58 UTC

Technology has both positive and negative effects on students' learning.

Positive Effects:

Easy Access to Information: Students can quickly find information online, helping them learn at their own pace.
Personalized Learning: Tech tools help students learn at their speed and focus on areas they need more help with.
Better Communication: Students can easily work together and ask teachers for help using apps like Google Classroom.
Fun Learning: Interactive tools like games or virtual reality make learning more engaging.
Flexibility: Online learning lets students study anywhere, anytime, which is great for those with busy schedules or limited access to schools.

Negative Effects:

Distractions: Students can get distracted by social media or games during study time.
Over-reliance: Some students might depend too much on tech for answers and not think critically.
Unequal Access: Not all students have the same access to technology, which can create gaps in learning.
Health Issues: Too much screen time can cause eye strain, headaches, stress, and low self-esteem brought on by social media.
Shallow Learning: Students might skim through content quickly without deeply understanding it.

2025-02-22 16:41:02 UTC

One skill I would focus on improving as a teacher is providing more personalized feedback. To do so, I need to better recognize individual strengths and weaknesses. Tailoring feedback to individual students can help them better understand their strengths and areas for growth. I believe this would not only boost student engagement but also foster a more supportive learning environment where students feel encouraged to take risks and improve. It is difficult to find the strength and weaknesses in each of my 70ish students each year but maybe I can find a way to spread it out and keep focused on only a few at a time.

2025-02-22 17:05:37 UTC

I think technology has it pro and cons. You have access to a wide variety of resources. But are those resources true. I see students look up answers. This doesn’t help them. Some students use it as a resource. Some just want to play games. With all the new AI that we are learning about is this going to make some students lazy. Them you will have the students who will check the facts to make sure the facts are true.

2025-02-22 17:10:48 UTC

As a TA I follow the teachers lead. One skill I would like to improve is to trust my instincts with the students. This year the teachers will listen and discuss what we both think of what students need. In past years it I’m the teacher and it done my way.

kirvine12 — 2025-02-25 23:42:09 UTC

I think there are pros and cons with technology impacting students' learning. For pros, it has opened up an easy access to knowledge right at their fingertips. It can help make learning interactive, engaging, personalized, and fun. For cons, there are a lot of distractions with technology and students tend to rely on it for answers instead of thinking them through.

kirvine12 — 2025-02-25 23:46:53 UTC

One skill that I'd like to work on more is active listening. I feel like there are times I ask a student a question and then I jump in and talk. I need to be more mindful to listen better, hear what they are saying, and then build from that.

2025-02-27 13:24:39 UTC

As a Teaching Assistant I would like to improve on how to reach my students that just refuse to try the work. I also would like to improve how to stop these students from being a disruption in the class.

2025-02-27 13:39:04 UTC

I think technology has both pros and cons when it comes to teaching and learning. I don't think we can become too dependent on its use but have some obvious benefits. Technology allows for a wealth of information and different mode of teaching and learning to occur. Technology allows students to learn new skills and be prepared for the future. Technology can also become a distraction because games or you tube are right at their fingertips. Also kids and teacher can become reliant on the use and feel helpless or stuck if suddenly technology goes down!

2025-02-27 13:40:39 UTC

Funny you asked....As a school counselor I would like to add more technology into my lessons and teaching. I am also taking an AI book study and I am interested to see how I can enhance my work with kids using more technology.

2025-03-03 00:06:49 UTC

I think it has positives and negatives. Students may feel more engaged in an online environment, or an online game. I use an online angle measurement game with students and they love it. It helps them get ready to use the actual tool. Students can also look up definitions of words, or present information in different ways. Some negatives include issues with being overly reliant, eye and posture issues, and some safety concerns if they are not watched closely enough.

2025-03-03 00:09:50 UTC

I would like to differentiate more using technology. I would like to offer multiple ways to complete certain assignments and projects.

2025-03-05 13:12:54 UTC

Like many others, I also agree that technology has both positive and negative effects on learning. When students are using interactive technology like pear deck and kahoot I feel they are very engaged in the activities. I feel that students are negatively impacted by the screen time and that is why this year I have decided to try and balance paper and pen with the use of technology. I think the online and hybrid learning models we had to use during Covid took away some of the excitement and proper uses of technology in the classroom for the students. Students are getting lost in the social media world and not really knowing how or wanting to use the internet the way it could be used, as a tool rather than a distraction. Lastly, I feel that because of technology students have lost the ability to concentrate for more than a few minutes. They are "forever elsewhere" because of overstimulation due to the overuse of technology.

2025-03-05 13:15:26 UTC

One skill I would like to improve on is developing assignments that promote critical thinking and collaborative problem solving skills. I have learned recently that students may be more engaged in learning if they understood the relevance of what they are learning now and how it will apply to real life. Some of the skills students are lacking when they enter the workforce are the ones I would like to work on. I will also work on chunking work to create time to more meaningful learning in the classroom.

mduchscherer2 — 2025-03-16 17:41:13 UTC

I think technology has had positive and negative impacts. I am a person who feels that it is our responsibility as educators and also that parents need to teach their children how to use technology appropriately. I find that a lot of these people against technology are against it because they may not use it correctly themselves or they can't control their classrooms effectively and are looking for a sweeping rule to enforce so they don't have to have rules they hold the line on themselves. In my classroom, I have always been able to find a balance between my students and technology. They know the rules from the start. If you abuse the technology that I allow you to use you will lose it permanently and without any discussion of getting back. I of course, did a system of warnings, strikes, one-week loss, and then permanent loss of technology in my classroom. There was some immediate loss of privileges if they broke the rule of video-taping classmates or myself in class but most other abuse of technology had a gradual loss of the privilege.

I happen to think the use of music to drown out classmates is important to help some students focus. I also think that AI can be beneficial if we teach students how to use it appropriately and effectively.

mduchscherer2 — 2025-03-16 17:42:48 UTC

I am always looking for ways to improve my skills as an educator. One skill recently would be revamping my lesson plans to make them more brain-focused in their learning. Using the information I have learned in this book study to improve my lesson planning to make it more effective.

2025-03-16 20:48:29 UTC

I believe technology has both a postive and negative impact on learning. The positives come from being able to expose children to so many sources at the tip of our fingertips from read alouds, to short educaitonal videos, some really great non-fiction pieces we may not otherwise have access to and some of the games the children enjoy. On the flip-side, too much technology can lead to some distractions and sometimes reluctance to get off a device.

As a teacher, I do have some strict rules on how to use it and for how long. My students are 4/5 years old and need very short exposures. I can only control that here at school. Do I know many can have unlimited access when they are home, I sure do. I randomly ask the child where, when and for how long they get their personal tablets and many times I am saddened at the hours they spend on devices. But, as they say, I can only handle what they get for usage and what usage at school and not in their personal lives.

So much language and social emotional develpment is occuring in my students at this age so being over-relient on technoogy only hurts that.

2025-03-17 17:44:59 UTC

Negatively. I believe technology is relied on too much to teach our children, especially at a young. Children need human interaction to learn and physical learning. Not to be on a Chromebook to learn. Very concerning.

2025-03-17 17:46:28 UTC

One skill I would use to improve my teacher skills is building a strong rapport with other teachers to bounce ideas off of to improve our teaching styles and bring new ideas into the classroom.

2025-03-17 23:57:32 UTC

I believe that technology has impacted students in both positive and negative ways. I believe that technology helps students learn Math facts through repetition and games. However, I also believe that at times technology negatively impacts student's learning because they students are expected to be on technology longer than the recommended amount of time for their age due to being expected to use many learning platforms each week. In addition, relying on a computer is not great for the development of handwriting and and written expression. It does not help students develop fine motor strength. Technology also lacks concrete exploration with real life items and inquiry.

2025-03-18 00:01:36 UTC

One skill I would like to improve as a teacher is helping students to transfer knowledge across the curriculum. If students know something in reading, I want them to be able to transfer that to Science or Social studies class. If students learn Math facts on the computer, I want the students to be confident with these Math skills when they are working on paper, engaging in discussions or working with peers in groups. Sometimes what students learn during one type of instruction does not transfer to other parts of the days or other ways of showing what they know.

kdodd32 — 2025-03-18 13:45:11 UTC

I can see both sides of the technology war. I work with many students that need technology to be successful for many different reasons. The main pro that I see is that the students that use it for talk to text. This allows students to get their thoughts out and on paper before they lose their train of thought. I have seen many students grow creatively with this resource. They learn to trust themselves and their ideas and are able to express themselves. The major con I see is that students use it to cut and paste to much and don't use it as a resource to create their own ideas. They want the quick easy way out and use technology to do it. It scares me how lazy it has made some students.

kdodd32 — 2025-03-18 13:52:05 UTC

The one skill that I would like to improve on with technology is to be able to use it more for hands on and visual support to lessons. I have worked with teachers who have created wonderful review games and vocabulary flashcards that have helped the student greatly. They like it because they can work on it individually or in a group and at their own pace. I really want to learn how to create more things like that for my groups of students in a simplified manner before they get to class and receive it from the teacher.

hchontosh2 — 2025-03-21 00:08:04 UTC

I think that technology has both positively and negatively impacted our students. I feel that technology has made huge gains in helping our students who struggle. For instance, my students who are not reading at grade level can have problems read to them. If students struggle with a word and its vocabulary meaning they can use technology to help them better understand the meaning of new vocabulary words and concepts they are unfamiliar with. My students use technology to find information for their research writing and it is a wonderful tool to have. I find students are more engaged when technology is involved in day-to-day lessons. I feel that it has negatively impacted their writing skills. They rely on the computer to spell words correctly; they do not need to learn the spelling the computer will fix it for them. Many of my students rely heavily on spellcheck! My students will sometimes rely on the computer to do most of the work when little effort is given toward the assignment. Another negative aspect especially for my kiddos is the copy and paste button. They just copy and paste everything and are unaware of the plagiarism going on. The think they can just copy and paste and call it their own.

hchontosh2 — 2025-03-21 00:13:23 UTC

My students are all learning at very different academic levels this year. I would like to create the same activities but at different academic levels. I would like to incorporate more differentiated technology lessons and activities too!

2025-03-22 16:26:33 UTC

I think that technology has both a positive and negatives impacts on a student's learning.

I think some of the positive aspects are that they have more access to information. They can find information about things that interest them easily and quickly. It can also help make learning more fun and engaging for a student. I also think the increase in use of technology is helpful for our students with disabilities or learning impairments because it offers them different avenues to learn.

As for negative aspects, I think there are a lot more that we could talk about. I think children are becoming too reliant on technology to find answers which is causing them to struggle to use text as a way to find answers. I also think we are seeing a decline in skill areas such as writing and penmanship because students do not need to write as much anymore. I think the ability to have the world at your fingertips is unhealthy in some ways. Students (along with adults) are constantly being bombarded with information all of the time. This can feel overwhelming and if they are being bombarded with negative information as often as they are it can lead to mental health problems.

2025-03-22 16:31:48 UTC

One thing I would like to improve on is making my activities that I use during speech more engaging for my students. I want to add activities that pertain to my students interests. This has always been a challenge for me because I only see my students for 30 minutes so I tend to focus on drilling so that I can get in as much practice as I can. However, I know that this is not engaging for my students so I am working to find more activities that have a healthy balance of drill and engaging material.

2025-03-23 21:43:17 UTC

One skill I learned about during this book study is the creating a self video as well as encouraging my peers to also do the same. I actually brought this idea up at our county wide PD and several of my peers thought it would be beneficial for us all. We just need to create a teacher that will push us all forward with constructive critisism. This skill was new to each person I spoke to but would be a good well to personalize PD chances and be a skill we would all benefit from.

2025-03-24 14:54:49 UTC

I can definitely see both the negative and positive impacts that technology have had on student learning. The positives are that they have access to much more information that in previous years, sometimes learning is able to result in higher engagement and students with disabilities have an increased access to assistive technology. The negatives are that they have a reduced attention span and need instant gratification, their communication skills have decreased and the rise of some technology such as AI has in some instances made it easier to cheat on assignments.

2025-03-24 14:58:00 UTC

I think one specific area that I would like to improve on to enhance my instruction is the use of questioning, especially more higher level questioning skills. I think I could also improve on using these questioning skills at the beginning of a unit/lesson to activate background knowledge.

2025-03-24 15:23:39 UTC

Technology can positively impact learning by providing access to resources, personalized instruction, and promoting collaboration. However, it can also cause distractions, over-reliance, and widen the digital divide. When used wisely, it can enhance education.

2025-03-24 15:25:19 UTC

One skill I’d like to improve upon is differentiating instruction even more effectively for students with varying learning needs and strengths. In a diverse classroom, especially with 7th and 8th graders in reading intervention, it can be challenging to meet each student where they are. I’d love to refine my ability to provide targeted, personalized support, whether it’s through scaffolding, flexible grouping, or offering different formats for learning (e.g., visual aids, interactive activities, or technology tools). Improving this would help engage every student in a more meaningful way and boost their literacy development.

2025-03-25 16:19:49 UTC

Like so many others that commented before me, I feel that technology can be extremely beneficial when used and implemented correctly. Our biggest problem today is that use regulations and guidelines are not being explained and enforced. Too many of our students are spending all (or most) of their free time in front of a screen, rarely for educational purposes. Teachers are seeing tremendous decline in student attention and motivation when technology is not involved and struggle to teach content in ways that are effective. I feel that social skills have also been affected by overuse of technology and find that students (can) have a difficult time interacting and communicating with one another in face-to-face situations. Technology is no doubt the way our world is headed; its use is unavoidable both in and out of the school setting. I think we need to do our part to teach students the safe ways to engage with technology and educate them on the dangers of overuse.

2025-03-25 16:28:25 UTC

Willingham discussed the importance of background knowledge throughout his writing. Moving forward, based on the importance of this for student learning, I want to ensure that all students have sound background knowledge prior to the teaching or explaining of new content. I typically am pretty aware of this and ensure that I tie all new learning to a skill that was previously taught or demonstrated, but when creating future lessons, I want to explicitly provide (be prepared and planned beforehand) at least one concrete (more if possible) examples or connections for students and have a way to assess student understanding or memory of that concept before proceeding with the day's lesson.

2025-03-25 17:01:07 UTC

I feel technology has its positives and negatives in the impact of the students learning. The positives help students find information that helps with the students work, researching projects, helping the student who struggles with spelling, and it has reading options available to them. The negative to their learnng is the habit of going to other places while on chromebooks distracts them on the work that was due. I do feel that less time on electronics such as chromebooks is important. The students leave school and spend most of the night on phones, game systems, chromebooks at home that limiting the time in school I feel is necessary for them to take their learning in a different way. Hand on and paper I feel is not always a bad iodea for them.

2025-03-25 17:10:33 UTC

As I am an Aide and help with the students I am with in class I always do what is asked from the lead teacher. I also take many book studies to try to improve ideas and ways I can help my students with learning and guiding. It has helped being the outside support working to help the main lead teacher see views for students in a way they have not. This has helped some students get some extra help like 504 plan or IEP to help with lessons. So I am always trying to improve myself for all around me within the building.

kkellogg3 — 2025-03-26 19:05:05 UTC

I would like to improve on giving more student choice and choosing activities with the purpose of improving working memory and background knowledge. I have been learning a lot of ways to differentiate using EDTech tools and would like to focus on more student choice for them to show their learning.

kkellogg3 — 2025-03-26 19:07:18 UTC

As far as their learning I believe there have been both positive and negative impacts. Students are growing up in a generation where it is essential to have basic technology skills in order to navigate just about everything. I think it is important for adults, parents and teachers to help them with appropriate use, balance their time, and understand how to use applications in an appropriate way.

2025-03-28 13:02:52 UTC

One skill that I would like to improve upon in my teaching to enhance instruction will be to ask more questions to students that make them explain their thinking and problems solving skills. I find it difficult sometimes when working with students with IEP because they lack the language/word to explain.

2025-03-28 15:11:07 UTC

Although I think technology has both positive and negative impacts, I see it has a negative overall. It's become a huge distraction as students use their devices inappropriately at unapproved times. They've become too reliant on their technology and do not put effort into thinking critically. While technology can make our jobs as teachers easier or more effective at times, I've come to learn that it's one of those things that needs to be "sprinkled in" and not over utilized.

2025-03-28 15:13:53 UTC

The list of things I'd love to improve on seems to be ever growing. After reading Chapter 10, I'm realizing that they can't all happen at once. So my first major focus is going to be more one-on-one or small group instruction. As a middle school teacher, this practice isn't used very often, but I don't understand why. Each class has groups of students who are at different levels. By meeting with them in small groups, they can get the attention and extra instruction they may need. While this may be difficult to implement at this point in the school year, I'd like to make it routine for next year.

2025-03-28 15:18:03 UTC

Technology can have both a positive and negative impact on students learning. Technology can have a negative affect on young students brains. I was in training this past week with Dr. Riter. She stressed how "technology shouldn't be used with students until they are 7; and when young children have too much technology it can result in technological autism". I do believe that some teachers rely too much on technology. If something can be played instead of them teaching and using hands-on activities they will pick the video. However technology can be a good thing for older students. Students can use technology to to enhance their learning by playing appropriate games, adding media into presentations, researching information, etc.

2025-03-30 20:57:55 UTC

From my observations I have seen more negative effects from the prevalence of technology in students' learning.

There are so many benefits that technology can offer when implemented in a meaningful way. The biggest being the lack of attention and stamina that students possess.

2025-03-30 21:02:03 UTC

One skill I would like to improve upon is providing consistent positive feedback. Helping students to grow in their confidence and take more risks as learners.