My education philosophy is closest to progressivism. I believe in learning by doing, hands on learning. Today technology is in every aspect of our lives and continually changing. My Space to Facebook, I-phone 1 to I-phone 4, VHS to DVD to Blue Ray. If you stop to think about it, it is incredible. Blockbuster is gone, and you can go to your computer to rent a movie. Driving around from store to store can be done in the comfort of your living room. If you would have told me ten years ago that this was going to happen I would have told you that you were crazy. If you can’t keep up, you will be left out, and it is important for students to not only keep up, but to hopefully surpass.
Integrating technology in the classroom will also help students feel confident to use the technology in their lives. A lot of people are afraid of technology because it is an unknown to them. They avoid it when it could actually help them and save time and money. By teaching students to use current technology they will become more comfortable with it and seek it out to help them in their studies and daily lives. I think technology is the future, and we need to teach the future.
I agree that we need to teach the future. As a language teacher I sometimes wonder if I'm doing enough with technology in the classroom. I usually use it to keep students interested rather than teaching them to explore and employ it. What worries me about technology and teaching is whether or not I'll be left behind someday. I already have some issues with keeping up with all of the new gadgets, so will it come to a point where it's advancing so fast that my students will be embarrassingly far ahead of me?
ReplyDeleteHi Marc and Courtney,
ReplyDeleteMarc, I think you make a good point...technology has developed so much in previous decades, and we have to keep up with all of these changes! I think you were also correct when you said that we must teach kids to be comfortable with technology (if they are not already more so than we are!)
Courtney, I think your concerns are very real. Though it may not be practical to take a class like this every semester, it would probably be very helpful to have in-services provided by our schools or districts that keep us up-to-date on educational technology. With all that we need to worry about as teachers, the last thing we want is to get left behind in the technological realm.
Re: Keeping up -- This is where "professional learning communities" or "personal learning networks" can come into play. Let's make sure we touch on this in a future discussion.
ReplyDeleteMarc -- I agree that it is good to keep up, but one of the dangers of keeping up is leaving behind skills and techniques that should be maintained. I guess this makes our job as teachers more complicated -- to teach not just the new technologies, but the old ones as well. I am thinking of examples like cursive writing, mental arithmetic and doing long division. You can probably think of skills in the construction industry that are being pushed aside by new technologies, but can appreciate the importance of knowing the old-school skills.
jd
I think old school teachers today are either resistant to take advantage of new technology or afraid of it. I have an Ipad and can think of five ways I could use it in the classroom without even thinking too hard. I use it all the time to help my kids with their homework.
ReplyDeleteI have already learned a few things in this class that I could use to help me in the classroom as well as a few things that will simply make me more efficient like the mail merge.
I think it is important for us older school teachers to keep up with technology and use the appropriate technology in our classroom. At the same time we have to be careful not to let the kids fall into the dark side of technology - i.e. violent games, cyber-bullying e.t.c.