Digital Badge #A

• This chapter was very interesting for me to read because it addressed something that once seemed to go together like oil and water, which was: technology in the class room. So, for my first concept, I would like to reflect upon how I have personally witnessed technology's role in an educational environment change in the span of a little over a decade. In elementary school, technology was used when needed (such as typing classes and morning announcements) but other than that it was textbooks, worksheets, and teachers writing on whiteboards as far as the eye could see. In middle- and high-school, technology was used more often (powerpoints, computers in class for research, etc.) to help enhance what was being taught in the classroom, but cellphones and mp3 players were considered public enemy number one. Now I've entered college and I see classmates bringing laptops into classrooms for taking notes and using their cellphones to take pictures of slides. Online classes such as this have become more mainstream and more teachers have recognized that a phone can be a useful tool in the classroom (if used correctly). Teachers have become more aware that technology can be a very powerful instrument that can enhance student's learning, which I plan to do as a future educator.

• Another concept that I would like to discuss is the iGeneration and "digital childhood" from the textbook. It describes the current generation that has grown up with computers, the internet, cellphones, and other digital media. I can relate to this because I believe that I just caught onto the cusp of this digital generation. Computers, cellphones, and the internet were something I always had in my life, but nothing like today's sleeker, more advanced versions. My cousin, who just turned 7, was amazed that iPhones weren't around when I was her age or that I had grown up without any Apple products. In fact, she thought that being born in 1994 meant I was so old. What amazes me about today's technology is that it has developed so much within the same generation and I can only imagine what they'll have when I become a teacher. So how I plan to address the issue of our ever-changing technology is to constantly educate myself on it so as to give my students the best, most efficient education that I can.

• This leads me to my final concept of 21st century skills. It will be expected of me to teach my students not only numbers and langue arts, but also the tools they'll need to understand those concepts at a deeper and more meaningful level. In order for me to do that however, I would first need to be versed in these skills (such as Web 2.0 tools including: blogs, wikis, social networking, etc.). If I could master all of these 21st century technologies, I could then in turn make a more interactive classroom for my students and hopefully nurture their own creativity and inquisitiveness. This is important to me because, with the proper use of technology and other activities such as group work, I could create a balanced classroom in which my students would have fun and develop integral skills for the future.

Photo credit: http://www.multiplemayhemmamma.com/

So in conclusion, through this chapter as well as through personal experience, I have come to realize that technology's place in the classroom is not like the relationship of oil to water but more closely related to that of peanut butter and jelly. Our society is growing around technology and as a teacher I need to take advantage of the wealth of tools and educational possibilities that lie before me. One thing that I had never really considered as a viable option in the classroom before was Podcasts, and after going through our lesson I've discovered that there's so much that I (and my future students) could learn from them. So with that, I look forward to reading on to chapter 2 and leave you with a video that a teacher showed me when I stated that I wanted to become a teacher myself...

Sources:
Textbook - Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuBmSbiVXo0