Assignments for January 24, 2010 (Week 2)

Mr. Hayes' "little Flash app" is amazing! The number of times recorded for all of these various social media outlets is a bit frightening to me as a teacher. It presents the challenge to me as a teacher to start preparing my Kindergarten students to use keyboards, a mouse, etc. while engaging in age-appropriate technology material in my classroom. Technology is a powerful tool, however, I do see the negative aspects of these numbers. I have to stop and ask the question, "Is all the information being sent or received important or necessary?"

The number of children and teenagers who have unlimited use of text messaging on their cell phones today is shocking. The number of hours spent surfing You Tube is shocking. The number of students who defy school rules and regulations regarding cell phones, text messages, etc. is astronomical. How do you monitor the use of social media? It is moving so quickly how do you keep up? Social media outlets can offer our children and students technology that can be counterproductive to their lives and society, as well. Perhaps the first step is in educating our students on how to use these social media outlets for necessary communication, learning, and entertaining purposes.

I viewed Michael Wesch's movie, A Vision of Students Today, for EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama. I shared some of the same experiences as the students in the video, but my perspective is different now than it was in Spring 1988 when I earned my B.S. in Early Childhood Education at USA. One of the most profound topics that flashed in the movie was after calculating all the time spent studying, eating, going to class, etc. we needed 26.5 hours in the day. It is nice to see the old adage, there are not enough hours in the day, still holds true today. It is one of life's important lessons.

It is refreshing to see students take an active role in realizing that although "I did not create the problems, but they are my problems". We can take an active role in dealing with problems with poverty and job security or we can stand idly by and blame others for our problems. Poverty will not go away any time soon unfortunately. Learning to be charitable in today's world is a lesson that is a valuable lesson for everyone. I hope my students and my own children learn from my examples of being charitable.

I read, It's Not About the Technology, by Kelly Hines for EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama. The article was short, but powerful in the message. I agree that as teachers we continue to learn with our children or we are obsolete, like the old computers that sit in some classrooms across our country. Our students are learning so much from using technology, teachers should be ready to meet the needs of children. I am a teacher and I realize that "learning and teaching are not the same thing". Our students come into our classroom with varied learning styles. It is truly an exhausting task to meet the learning needs of our students, but we must keep trying.

I attended an Open House for a private school in my area in January 2010. It was impressive to see the 21st century technology in each classroom. Our guide who was a teacher at the school, was unable to demonstrate the technology to the group of parents who attended. Why? Why? Why? Thank you for the bold statement, Technology is useless without good teaching. We expect our children to adapt to different ways of learning. Teachers must also learn to adapt to different ways of teaching and learning.

Mr. Fisch wrote in his post, Is It Okay To Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?, "If a teacher today is not technologically literate - and is unwilling to make the effort to learn more - it's equivalent to a teacher 30 years ago who didn't know how to read and write." I wish every member of every state Board of Education would think about this statement. Board members across our country set guidelines for our students yearly or periodically (3-5 years). How about guidelines for teachers? Teachers become creatures of habit. Some teachers, and yes I have worked with quite a few from AL to CA, believe that if teaching methods worked for children 20 years ago, then they will work for today's students. School system guidelines protect these teachers (using tenure), but does it protect the students who are being taught by some of these teachers who are just counting days until retirement? You will hear some say, "I'm just too old to understand how this machine works".

We, as teachers, should be continually learning even from our students. Our students are growing up in a world today that demands technological literacy in order to succeed. Job security for the future may not be totally dependent upon technology, but teachers need to strive to ensure that our students are prepared. There will be occasions when technology will be the one tool needed and relied upon to complete a presentation, report, or means of communication necessary to ensure job security. I did not perceive Mr. Fisch's post as being harsh. I thought it restated the hard truth that all educators need to examine themselves and their teaching practices in order to help prepare students for the future.