I think one of the most important parts of the technology plan was that teaching should be a group effort- that we should be connected in our classrooms to other teachers in our buildings as well as across the country. I think we come from roots of isolation in the classroom where we just shut our doors and go off by ourselves to teach whatever topic we have been assigned, but that’s not the world we live in anymore. When our students are done with us they will enter a world obsessed with technology and they need to be able to connect in a meaningful way in order to be successful.
I think it was also a good point that we as teachers do not involve ourselves in continuing education for technology the way other businesses do. Young teachers probably enter the field with technology at their fingertips but older teachers may not. Also, just because the younger teachers use technology in their everyday lives doesn’t mean they’re using it in the classroom. We need to be dedicated to finding ways to connect our students with technology in the classroom regardless of whether your school has a state of the art technology lab or barely enough computers for the amount of students in the classroom. I think this is one of the big challenges of technology in the classroom and in schools but we need to rise to the occasion.
Leslie, you make a valid point that many new teachers enter the classroom with more technology experience than our teachers that have been in the field for 15 or 20 years, but that they may not be equipped with the technology literacy that they should have to teach students. In the case of the 15 plus years experience teacher there is a real need for their to be opportunities for these teachers to increase their technology awareness.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to technology in the school. I have to say I am blessed with a district that spends money on technology. We have Smartboards in all our classrooms and two computer labs. One that is open, the other that students attend weekly as a specials. I feel very blessed to have this much technology for my students to put their hands on.
I agree with the problem of the technology gap between teachers who have just entered into service within the last 5 years and teachers who have been teaching for 20. I think that just like students benefit from personalized programming, staff development could also benefit from this approach. The truth is that younger teachers could probably benefit from more development related to content whereas other staff might need some more development where technology is concerned. Of course I do not want to generalize for age, but the result is the same. If someone needs professional development related to implementation of technology, then that's what they should have access to and encouragement for.
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