Technology in the classroom – Beliefs, paper #1
My Beliefs of teaching, technology, and student learning
Technology seems to be a growing and sometimes overwhelming part of society these days. Technology may sometimes become an enemy for teaching, something that must be over come as students don’t want to put it down for a second. This same technology addiction that teachers may battle can also be used to their advantage in regards to teaching these students! What an amazing tool!
Teachers now have the opportunity to communicate with their students in a variety of ways! Technology has improved so much, even since not that long ago when I was high, middle, and elementary school. For example, I didn’t get my first cell phone until the summer before my senior year in high school. The main reason I even got a cell phone at that point was because my dad received a new phone for work, but his personal cell phone contract didn’t end for a few months so he decided to have me use it. My parents than decided that this was a great tool to keep a hold of me with while I ran between school, extracurricular activities, work, and friends so they bought me my own phone for my birthday later that year. Now I compare that to my twelve-year-old sister who just entered into middle school and also received her first cell phone this summer. That is about five years earlier than I received my first cell phone! My parents now see it as a security, safety kind of measure. It was interesting to see how the appropriate age for this technology changed. The reasoning my parents had for these cell phones didn’t change too much, but their perspective and view of feelings of nessecity for it did change somewhat. I think this is a world wide society change or evolution in regards to technology.
The age of users when they begin using technology such as cell phones, computers, etc. seems to becoming continually younger. At first I was quite opposed to this concept! I thought it just couldn’t be good to let children be so into technology at such a young age. My view was that children should be spending more time with the basics to start like reading books and writing on paper and spending their time outside playing with friends, not glued to computers and televisions.
My views of technology with technology, student’s use of technology, and how it can be used in the classroom has quite changed. I am now beginning to see how productive it can be to use computers, Ipods, cell phones, online search engines, blogs and the other wide variety of technology at our fingertips with students, integrated in my lessons. As I’m beginning to develop a new stand on education in the classroom, I’m coming to decide that the key is to be very upfront about when, where, and how technology is appropriately used. I’ve also come to decide that the key to technology with students and in the class is that is integrated rather than battled.
Views after video and article education
I don’t find that my beliefs were changed much after watching the video from the direction I was already headed. I may have been pushed slightly further into the direction I was headed.
Technology is necessary in the classroom and in the lives of students and teachers in order to prepare students to succeed in the future. The students are willing and even craving this technology. It interests them and if I can intergrate it into the classroom, I may be able to attract more of the student’s attention into the subjects I’m trying to teach. The new developments of technology and increase of availability makes communication easier and access to resources so much better. The internet can make resources and knowledge for teachers beyond what they can ever imagine! As a teacher, I can use the internet to add new ideas to my lesson plans, adding excitement. I can also use the internet to find lesson plans and thus cut preparation time there so that I can use that time that would have been spent digging through books and making lesson plans to spend more hands-on time with the students.
Analysis of Article and Video Information
It was interesting to hear the views and input directly from the children in many of the articles and videos. I found it interesting how much the students wanted the knowledge. Especially in the Millennial article, having read the responses and comments from the children, I realized how much they want the technology! Some of the technology that these students were dreaming up and wanting is already coming to reality. An example of this is the Iphone which is the hand-held gadget with multiple tools on it, just like the students wanted.
I was a little concerned about how many of them wanted easier technology that would make homework less troublesome. I can agree with that view to a point, but as a teacher I think it’s important to show how technology can be used to enhance what can we do and make a student’s hard work even more exciting and productive, rather than be used to allow laziness.
It was fantastic to see how many students wanted tutors and someone to give that extra help. As hard as a teacher tries, they can’t give the individual attention that students need and parents far too often don’t have the time or knowledge to always help their child with their homework and academics. To have tutoring available to students easier from the computer of other technology devices would be an amazing help! I’ve noticed this beginning to be more available and already improving. At UVU, they have online tutoring for the education lab. If this was available for elementary students, it would answer the request of many of the students stated in the videos and articles I viewed. This especially seemed to be a concern for the students in regards to math.
I believe that it would be amazing to have more personal technology such as more personal computers. One thing that occurred to me are those areas I may end up teaching in that are less than thriving economy, those low-income families and areas that may result in less technology availability at school as well as at home. Being raised in a medium to well-off society (generally), it hadn’t occurred to me how awful it would be to not have technology available at school or not having enough. This finally clicked when I viewed the Did You Know video. This could really be a deperment to students trying to succeed and needing that technology to do so. It made me quite grateful and intrigued by those programs trying to get a computer to those who don’t have access to it.
Teens Disconnect Between Personal and School Writing – I disagreed somewhat with the “Teens Disconnect Between Personal and School Writing” article. It’s true that students may not see the impact or connection between the two, but I do see the effects. I feel that since I added unlimited texting to my cell phone, my grammar has decreased noticeably. I used to be a newspaper reporter and editor and also on my high school yearbook staff so I loved to write and be proper and grammatically correct about the things I wrote, even if it was just a little note. As I got more and more into text messaging, I become more like most big time text messagers and began using shortened lingo and abbreviations to replace the appropriate grammar and words. I have recently had to catch myself when writing e-mails and such because I tend to begin writing with that short hand and abbrivated forms. Sometimes, like in a professional e-mail, it’s not appropriate to use “How r u?” instead of “How are you doing today?”
My Own Technology Strengths and Weaknesses
I am pretty good at figuring out the basics on a computer. I feel comfortable with cell phones (at least the basic functions, no experience with Iphones or more intense cell phone technology), online search engines, power points, and other common technology.
I’ve recently discovered the world of blogs. Just before school started, my family convinced me to make a blog so they could keep up with what is going on in my life while I’m moved away to school. I would like to learn more about what to do on blogs like adding music and videos and making it more detailed and interesting.
I would also like to learn more about how to use my technology in the classroom. I’ve made slide shows to use in class and know how to do good online researching for ideas and papers and lesson plans. Having said that, I’d like to learn how to use technology, beyond that, in the classroom. I want to know more about how to make this an active activity for students. I need ideas of how to let the children use technology so that they might be prepared to use it themselves rather than just see it be used. I want to give them the tools to succeed in the future, with current and upcoming technology.
