Digital Blog Post #A - Chapter 1

In reading Chapter I in our book, from the beginning of the chapter as we were introduced to Hilary and Anthony, I kept thinking how much farther along these new teachers were than myself, at least in the technology arena. But I enjoy being the student and so I will embrace the technology that I am not yet as familiar with. In that vein the entire chapter gave me ‘food for thought’ and reflection, but I will pick three concepts to discuss.

First concept is the box on pages 6-7 that discusses “Tablets, Smartphones and Laptops” or “Tech Tool 1.1”. I look at this with the same eyes that the teachers of yesteryear might have looked at copiers, film strips, loud speakers, overhead projectors and even back to typewriters and mimeograph machines. These are the ‘new’ tools and will help not only me with preparing to teach the students, but also will help the students as they grasp concepts differently then perhaps I did, and perhaps even different than their peers do.  As I prepare to head into this new career, I need to acclimate myself to the ways in which my students are learning, as our textbook pointed out “using technology is not the same as being knowledgeable about technology…how can teachers best harness students interest …to propel academic learning?”(pg. 3).

This would lead into the second concept which would be for Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK).  I reviewed: TPACK explained , and found it very helpful because it gave more detail than our text.   Simply put I could be technology smart, but pedagogically challenged, and that would benefit no one. I could learn to use every available technology out there but if I don’t focus on academic essentials, the curriculum content, concepts, facts, theories and disciplines, but there would be no balance.  My primary goal as a teacher needs to be to teach and help my students to become productive members of o our society and of the world at large using whatever skills and/or technology, and perhaps even non-technological at my disposal to enhance the pedagogy.

The third concept that piqued my interest was the ‘Outside-the-classroom use by teachers’. This focused on “grading and attendance, professional correspondence and writing, research, home-school communication and educational networking” (pg.  7) Essentially my support system as I continually work for things like continuing education to better my teaching skills, which would spill over into helping my students have the best educational experiences. In today’s busy world, parents don’t always ‘come in for a conference’ like I did and my parents did, but that doesn’t mean we as teachers won’t be contact with the home situation. I think that even with technology giving way to change, it still does ‘take a village’ to educate a child, even if the village is a virtual one!

Wow, did I say I wanted to be a twenty-first century teacher? Yes, I did and I do, but for this student, the technology part will need the most ‘training’. I am a child of Star Trek (the ORIGINAL series) and The Jetsons. I grew up believing that all that is currently happening would eventually be, but it was not part of my daily existence like it is now and will be for my future students. I look forward to this journey to making my future classroom one that students will enjoy coming into. The following video stated most of what was running through my mind as I pondered the adventure I signed up for when I began reading Chapter I.

 

 

Resources:
Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.