After reading the excerpts from Bonk and reviewing the 21st century skills, TPACK, and NETS for students and teachers, I am beginning to feel uneasy about going into the classroom. I'm seeing that technology is becoming more and more important in schools and to student learning and I know that I am not prepared for that. Hopefully, this class will help me feel more secure in that arena.
I acknowledge that the world is becoming smaller and that we all have the ability to access information on the spot, which is what Curtis Bonk talks a lot about in his materials. However, as we discussed in class on Monday, one has to wonder if that is really a great idea when it comes to the classroom. We may be training students to become global citizens, but I fear that we are also training them to dismiss critical thinking. I wonder if teachers are still teaching very basic skills, like using a dictionary and finding books in the library. Of course, we have the technology to do those things digitally, but are we losing something by allowing students to take those shortcuts?
When I reviewed the NETS for students and for teachers, I felt like most of them were quite reasonable. We have been learning, and I quite agree, that teachers need to customize learning experiences, provide appropriate assessments, and model collaborative learning and constructive thinking. I just wonder how much we are supposed to be integrating technology into those lessons. The standards make it seem like we should be using digital resources throughout every school day. I would like to find a way to do that without sacrificing basic skills and critical thinking.
Brittany,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about your fears for students with this shift to working with so much technology in the classroom. I too wonder if we are forgetting about those basic skills you mentioned in favor of the quicker option. I plan on using both technology and basic skills in the classroom because I want students to know that without the things we used when we were in school, they wouldn't have what they do today.
- Sharon
Brittany,
ReplyDeleteI can truly relate to your uneasy feelings about being prepared to enter the classroom in this technological age! I, too, am hoping to feel much more confident after going though this course. I know that the students must learn to feel confident using technology in a variety of ways, but I don't necessarily believe that each and every lesson requires a techie element, do you?
Brittany,
ReplyDeleteI think I have worries about using technology in the classroom as well, based on my own preferences as a learner and a creator. I am not one to look to technology for support as I think critically about ideas or work on creating something new out the knowledge I have gained. Instead, I am much more apt to working with my hands and putting ideas down with pencil and paper. I am optimistic, though, that my I will continue to grow my skills and knowledge base in new technologies and will be able to implement them in the classroom. I think that perhaps there is a place for technology in the classroom. There are basic skill sets that are necessary to be proficient in the changing structures of social and economic life today. However, I do not think that the implementation of technology in the classroom necessarily has to take away from other methods of teaching, learning, and synthesis of ideas. Instead, I think that we as teachers must find a way to prepare our students for a technologically advanced world while offering them different methods and tools for learning and expanding upon what they have learned.