Reflections on Module #3

I reviewed the Essential Conditions Necessary conditions to effectively leverage technology for learning I began to get disappointed.  Untill I spoke to the Adaptive PE instructor at my school.  He talked about bringing an xBox or Wii into the school.  He thought that it would both motivate the students to participate in gym as well as engage them.  My thought has always been to get my students off the couch and in front of a book or go outside, but maybe I am thinking at this all backwards.  Maybe I should be engaging them with the things that excite them the most.  If our teachers presented more with technology as a model then maybe when they go home they might be more will to use the technology more wisely then to play “Man of War” or whatever game is popular at the time.  Before I moved to District 75 I was in a community school in Washington Heights.  Just as I was leaving they were about to try “SMART Response PE interactive response system”.  To the best of my understanding, students will receive a handheld wireless remote and students are to answer questions from their own remote.  The buttons of the remote look similar to that on a cell phone.  Students would then answer all kinds of questions from true/false, multiple choice to short answer.  The answers are then tallied by the software and then can be shared with the class.  This type of technology I think would motivate students.