Motivation for Technology Integration

How do you currently integrate or plan to integrate technology into the existing curriculum?
Last summer, I started looking into websites and webquests that fit with my class themes. I had the time, energy, and excitement for the coming year to motivate me. Not all of what I found has been used, but there are quite a few items in the curriculum for next year.

I try to look ahead at a unit and then try out websites, videos, or other technology before I begin to teach the unit, while I'm in the planning stages. That way, I am able to find ways to use the technology by integrating it with the theme as well as with other assignments, sometimes other assignments are borne from my exploration of technology.

Although I don't have the ability to use everything I find, it's been a good learning experience for me to try one or two new websites to see of they are worth using again, or whether I should try something different the next time around.

· What motivated or will motivate you to include technology in your lessons?
The biggest motivator for me to include anything in my lessons is the excitement it creates. Not just "oooh that's so cool" excitement, but excitement for learning. Actually, my class recently finished a Science unit on Magnetism and Electricity. Our overall theme was the Industrial Revolution, so the two themes combined caused much excitement in our classroom. Our school is fortunate enough to have a wonderful Science curriculum which really focuses on hands-on student exploration, which my students LOVE and have learned so much from! The electricity part of the unit taught about early technology (such as telegrams) which lent itself to many discussions about where technology has been and where it's going.

Another motivator is ease of use. If I can generally figure it out on my own through exploration, I'll be sure to try it out in my classroom. Last year we did a small exploration of the iPhone/iTouch in classrooms, and it was so easy for the students to use that it hardly needed any explanation. We generally used it for review and support activities, but the students were almost able to do activities on their own...even the kindergarten students and my friend's two year old were able to use educational applications. If a two year old can use it after being taught, then I'd definitely try it out in my third grade classroom!