| A few years ago, we bought a digital (data) projector | | | | - Can model comprehension strategies on |
| for our classroom. Sure, our school had a projector on | | | | non-traditional texts (i.e. blogs, wikipedia, website |
| a media cart, but to be perfectly honest, it was | | | | articles, ezines) as well as media texts (i.e. |
| inconvenient to have to share it with the entire school. | | | | commercials, youtube) |
| (And murder if you had to "wheel" the cart up a flight | | | | - Easy to display quickly-changing information on the |
| of stairs.) | | | | board (i.e. graphing in Math) |
| We've adopted a balanced literacy approach to | | | | - If your school has a scanner (and many photocopiers |
| explicitly teach decoding and comprehension strategies, | | | | / printers do have a scanning feature), then it's easy to |
| and we wanted to use the computer projector pretty | | | | digitize stuff and throw it on the data projector in the |
| much 24/7. So we splurged a thousand bucks and | | | | same way that you would throw a photocopied |
| bought our own. | | | | transparency onto the overhead projector. |
| We set up our data projector permanently on a tall | | | | Cons |
| filing cabinet. We use the entire side of the classroom | | | | - The biggest draw back is that you can't (easily) write |
| wall to project a giant image of the teacher's PC. | | | | on your documents (compared to an overhead |
| Pretty much every day, we would use the data | | | | projector). Sure you may be able to type faster than |
| projector during our modeled and shared reading | | | | you can write, but there are some things that are |
| lessons, as well as during modeled and shared writing. | | | | better done by handwriting (i.e. revising or editing a |
| It was hooked up to the Internet, so we could use it for | | | | piece of shared-writing.) Digital ink can be tricky or |
| our media literacy lessons as well. | | | | expensive. |
| Pros | | | | - Technical difficulties - technology doesn't always |
| - Attention-grabbing. After all, we live in a TV | | | | work. Computers crash, hardware fails, bulbs burn-out... |
| generation. (After some initial training, the novelty | | | | all when you least expect it. |
| wears off and you can use the technology more | | | | - Expensive. Although the price of projectors are |
| effectively as a teaching tool.) | | | | continually dropping, you'll still have to shell out $500 to |
| - With the right set-up, you can display an image larger | | | | $1000 for a decent, new data projector. |
| than any overhead projector image. Easy to read | | | | - Security. We've locked our projector to the desk to |
| from anywhere in the classroom. In our class, we | | | | prevent theft, but that doesn't mean things can't go |
| aren't projecting onto your typical, pull-down, overhead | | | | wrong. Will you lock it up at night? Take it home on the |
| projector screen. We've covered one side of the | | | | weekends? Where do you put it when you have a |
| room with white paper and created a huge 7' x 10' | | | | supply teacher covering your class? |
| image. | | | | - Insurance and Replacement Cost: Chances are your |
| - Can model how to effectively use technology. (Spell | | | | personal items aren't covered under the school's |
| check, effective searching on line, copyright issues) as | | | | insurance plan and won't be replaced if anything |
| well as critical thinking skills. | | | | happens. Better call your home insurance provider to |
| - Easy to integrate multimedia into your lessons. | | | | see if your belongings are protected at work. |
