Don't Get Me Wrong

                Including technology in education can expand creativity in learning. If you add anything new into your teaching, it’s going to spark the imagination of your students. This is especially true of technology because it has so many versatile uses. Just a computer can provide tools, games, interactive learning, and much more. I don’t think anyone would disagree that using technology stimulates the students. I am not technologies biggest fan though. It serves a great purpose in assisting in teaching but I feel like we forget about other methods that stimulate kid’s minds also. Sure technology allows students to be creative but I feel that students could be more creative if sometimes we made them accomplish work without technology. This way they appreciate what they have and expand their creativity with more than just technology. Many people give accolade after accolade to modern technology and say how it improves student’s creativity. I have to wonder though what are students are not learning because they technology is doing all of the work for them. Do they know what goes on behind the scenes as they click for answers? I’m not trying to bash technology, I’m simply offering another point of view that most overlook.

Schools Districts Equal?

                I agree with the point that online schooling would eliminate inequality in school districts because all students would be given the same equipment.  If all students are given the same equipment and standards, they will all have the same opportunity to learn. This eliminates budgeting problems within the districts. In some cases some districts receive less funding and therefore have lower schooling conditions. This affects the learning atmosphere of the students in a negative way.  With online schooling students receive all the same funding and therefore the same education.

                I have seen firsthand the effects of schools that do not have enough funds. Thankfully I attended a school that was well off and I was given advantages in my education. The school in my neighboring town was constantly trying to pass levies. They didn’t have enough paper for the entire school year; they eliminated sports and music, and laid off many teachers. Many students transferred to neighboring schools. The students struggled and their educations suffered. With online schooling this would be eliminated. However I am not a huge fan of online schooling. It would be a good solution to inequality in school districts, but not the first option I would choose.

Schools Districts Equal?

                I agree with the point that online schooling would eliminate inequality in school districts because all students would be given the same equipment.  If all students are given the same equipment and standards, they will all have the same opportunity to learn. This eliminates budgeting problems within the districts. In some cases some districts receive less funding and therefore have lower schooling conditions. This affects the learning atmosphere of the students in a negative way.  With online schooling students receive all the same funding and therefore the same education.

                I have seen firsthand the effects of schools that do not have enough funds. Thankfully I attended a school that was well off and I was given advantages in my education. The school in my neighboring town was constantly trying to pass levies. They didn’t have enough paper for the entire school year; they eliminated sports and music, and laid off many teachers. Many students transferred to neighboring schools. The students struggled and their educations suffered. With online schooling this would be eliminated. However I am not a huge fan of online schooling. It would be a good solution to inequality in school districts, but not the first option I would choose.

Gender and Technology

Does technology eliminate gender bias in schools? In my experience it does. Both genders were given equal access to all technology. In my high school there were several labs and several sets of wireless laptops. Because the class sizes every students was given access to a computer. I have never noticed any gender preference in reference to technology. Most speculation is that boys are given more access to technology and I believe these accusations are false. I was never deprived of anything based on my gender. We all had access to the printers, computers, video equipment, etc.  

Technology works the same no matter who is using it.  A computer isn’t going to work better because a girl or boy is using it. Technology has no preference to its user. Where a teacher might show preference to one gender, technology cannot do this. It offers information, tools, and help just as it is supposed to, to all who use it. Throughout my schooling all of my peers went through the same technology classes and learned the same things about technology. We all had the same instruction. No one was given special treatment. In my opinion the claim that technology causes gender bias is empty. 

iAmNotAFan

Fixing our broken school system with iSchools? I’m not so sure about that one. If we were to give every student this expensive technology what would the guarantee be that the students wouldn’t damage or break them? To replaces these frequently might not be financially possible.  Another issue with iSchools would be providing technicians to fix problems with the itouches. If the internet crashes or the battery fails, this puts a wrench in the whole school day. This is more time our students are not learning, which is what we are trying to fix. I feel that actually writing notes and homework helps you remember it more than simply typing it or reading over it. I like to be able to hold a book in my hands and turn the pages, not scroll down on a screen to get to the next page.  I feel like students are missing out if we put all their resources in one piece of technology. This limits the students’ imagination.  They should not be forced to use the itouch.  All the money the schools would save on paper they would make up for in maintenance fees and buying new itouches.  All in all, I’m not a fan.

Options of Schooling

This week I got the pleasure of experiencing a kind of tutorial of online schooling. When I first heard we were going to have a speaker talk to us about online schooling I was less than thrilled. My impression of online schooling was that the students didn’t work very hard and the teachers didn’t have to do much. I didn’t love the idea of a class not meeting together for school. After hearing Beth Day talk about how close she was with her students and how much she loved being an online school teacher, my opinion was altered. She knows the stories of many of her students and sets up times to talk with them one on one. This was she can discuss personal or school related problems with all of her students at a time that is convenient to all involved. Beth also mentioned that she would send two of her girls to public school and one to online school if she was to send them at the current moment. Her one daughter currently has a feeding tube and Beth wouldn’t feel comfortable sending her to kindergarten until she was well. I had never viewed online school as a way to protect and help your child, only as a way to shelter your child. The tutorial helped me to see another side of online schooling. 

Oh The Possibilities

To claim that technology will improve student achievement is farfetched in my opinion.  What will improve student achievement are proficient teachers. These teachers can properly teach the students how to use the technology to expand their learning. Once the technology is learned, the students can begin their adventure into expanding their learning techniques. That is how technology will improve student achievement, through good teaching.  Teachers cannot simply throw a new technology at their students and expect to attain marvelous results.

                The article made some great points about technology improving education; however I felt that the article made the assumption that all teachers were going to effectively teach the newest technologies, and all students would have the same access to new technologies. Sadly, this would not be the case. Not all schools can afford the newest technologies, and not all teachers will successfully instruct their students in the proper use of the newest tools and technologies.  With these kinds of exceptions in mind we can make the assumption that properly taught technologies will improve education.

                Technology does open an endless door of possibilities. It’s a part of our culture that cannot be denied. If we equip our students to learn through new technologies, we are giving them an new way of learning that could help them to teach their students one day.

Teachers Learn Too

I know I get tired of learning in the same old way all the time and whenever I can learn with something new I am almost embarrassingly excited.  As a teacher, we should be just as excited to teach with these new technologies. If we aren’t excited, how can we expect our students to be excited? The beauty about becoming a teacher is that you have the freedom to experiment with the newest technologies to engage your class.

The crazy thing about technology is that it never stops. Once you master a technology, a new one has already been introduced. This week I was familiarized with a few of the newest technologies that can be used as creative tools for teaching. Websites that go beyond note taking and keep the students interested.  Exploring all of these new sites and technologies has helped me to see that just sticking with the technologies that you know is robbing your students of new and imaginative ways of learning. Using different methods keeps the students interested and helps keep you as the teacher from losing interest as well. I really enjoyed learning about the different ways that I can make lesson plans and use different resources on the internet to teach my class. I can’t wait to try Prezi and see the looks on my students’ faces.

Chalkboards to Smartboards

I’ve wanted to be a teacher since I was in first grade. Day by day I am getting closer to this childhood dream. Technology and teaching methods have changed drastically since I discovered I wanted to be a teacher many years ago. I learned with blocks, flannel graphs, and chalkboards. Today the majority of learning and teaching occurs with computers, smart boards, and ipads.  Although the technologies have changed, my passion for wanting to teach has not.

 With technology constantly changing teaching methods in the years to come will be dramatically altered. Teacher and students will be made to learn how to operate the newest gadgets and learning tools. The technologies we already have are continually being improved and modified. More classes will focus around technology and learning how to use the technology. Instead of working on handwriting incessantly, typing will be more of a concentration. Tests and worksheets on paper are soon to become extinct. I predict that in the near future almost all school work will be done on the computer. It’s almost inevitable with the innovations of today. Many of the technologies I used in my early years of education are no longer in use. Technology will alter education in the years to come.