Effective Teaching Through Technology Integration

Teacher III- Bataan National High School Good teaching is no accident. All that happens inside the classroom depends upon the skills, personality and teaching mastery of the teacher. A good teacher is the product of long years of training and actual experience. As the saying goes, “ As the craftsman learns by doing, so do teacher learns by teaching .” A teacher must strive to attain a maximum efficiency by coping up with the times knowing the recent trends in effective teaching.

One way of maintaining good and effective teaching is through the use of technology in the classroom. New technologies have dramatically changed the way literacy is currently viewed. Not only in subject areas like English, Math and Science, which are skills and content areas, but also in critical and creative thinking and the nature of text. A more comprehensive view of literacy has evolved since the arrival of the Digital Age which has brought about the knowledge expansion. And to cope with the dramatic changes in the 21^st century, teachers and learners must be equipped with modern technology skills and electronic media literacy.

According to Gliddon (2007),” computers are the future-and it is here.” The ability to use computers in the classroom is considered now in the field of education to be almost indispensable for an effective teaching. Leu(2002) specifically emphasized the value of technology to help learners identify important problems, gather and evaluate relevant information from different information networks and use these to resolve central issues and clearly communicate learnings to others .

Teachers nowadays need to develop students’ proficiency in different learning areas through the Information and Communication Technologies by integrating these to the regular or usual strategies used by the teacher providing support for students in gaining skills and knowledge in different learning areas.

Technology today can become a springboard for so much learning in the classroom given its potential to support more student-centered learning approaches. This requires teachers to be familiar with the different websites and programs that will enable learners to acquire technological skills needed to make life adjustments in the 21^st century.

Intel Corporation ( 2006) stated that to be able to participate fully today requires that learners develop the skills of accountability, communication, creativity and curiosity, critical and system thinking information and media literacy, interpersonal and collaborative skills, problem identification and social responsibility.

Technology also allows them to use many thinking skills such as creativity, logic and problem-solving and important values such as perseverance, team work and respect for others all needed for the rewarding life. The appropriate use of technology helps learners to learn better, engage in higher thinking and to enjoy their classroom activities. Cox (2002). Computers, videos can make learning highly motivating and engaging for students. Its multidimensional, visual, auditory and kinesthetic appeal to the senses increase learning specially for those who are struggling and lagging behind because of some learning problems.