I enjoyed reading this week’s selection from Using Technology With Classroom Instruction That Works by Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K.  The chapter focused on the importance of learning objectives, and having students help in creating these objectives.  The chapter gave very practical advice on using different types of technology in the classroom to create or share these learning objectives.  Most of the technologies shared were free or commonplace for an educator to have access.  It made me think about how I could better use these tools in my own classroom.  I was reminded of the KWHL document to help students organize what they know, what they learned, and what they want to know more about.  I could easily incorporate this in my class.  It is great for lessons where we integrate other subject matters with technology. 

I also enjoyed reading the outcomes of several studies on the effects of technology in the classroom in the article, The Impact of Education Technology on Student Achievement by Schacter, J.   This article gave honest results and revealed what worked and did not work.  These reports challenge teachers and technology developers.  Not all kinds of technology work.  Students need technologies that allow them to use higher order thinking skills.  Without these skills incorporated into the lesson students show no improvement in test scores.