1. Technology Past - As a student my use of computers was fairly limited until high school. In grade school we did have computer class once a week for 30 min. I remember learning how to use Paint and playing the Oregon Trail. As a middle school student I hardly used computers during school, at that time my family had a computer and I would use that to type the occasional paper. In high school I took a typing class where we played typing games but also worked a lot in Microsoft Word and Excel. One of my high school teachers also wrote a technology grant and was awarded a classroom Mac Lab so we did a lot of presentations with PowerPoint, smart boards, and video.
2. Technology Present - I'm not sure what grade I will be teaching yet but I think it will be elementary. I think that it is important to teach children how to use computers because more often than not Middle School and High School's are requiring papers to be typed rather than hand written. Many students can not afford to have a household computer and therefore have no prior training in computers. While I think it is important that we teach students at a young age to use computers I am nervous about the short amount of time that we have students in our classroom. In an ideal world I would have something like a Mac Lab where I would work with students twice a week on simple computer skills like typing, working with a mouse, Paint, and so fourth. As the students get older the more technology integration the better as long as it is used educationally and not just to play games. PowerPoint and other visuals for presentations are good skills to have, as well as a blackboard/blog site where they can communicate homework questions with each other and the teacher, as well as retrieve any handouts needed. It is also great to have a classroom site to keep the parents in tune to what is going on in the classroom.
3. Technology Future - The main concerns I have were briefly stated before but relate to time and money. I want to be able to integrate technology into the classroom in an effective way that enhances the curriculum rather than taking away from it. This can be hard to do unless you are well versed in technology yourself. I am more than willing to write a technology grant to receive a Mac Lab for my classroom (it was great in high school for those students who didn't have access to be able to check out a computer over night). I am glad I am taking a class like this now learning how to use Blogger because that can potentially enable me to set up a classroom blog where my students and their parents can have constant access to what is going on in the classroom.
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Katherine - The only way to find time for technology is to seamlessly integrate it into what you're already teaching. People who approach tech ed as an individual subject are never going to have the time to teach it. You are correct - you don't have enough time with the students PERIOD. You will constantly be reminded of what you DON'T get to teach them as you decide what is most important for them to learn. That is why I am such an advocate of using tech as a tool to support instruction, rather than teaching it in isolation.
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