When it comes to technology, I am NOT the person to ask.
In fact, I'm usually the one who's asking clueless questions about technology. So, when you ask me what I think about technology in the elementary classroom, what do you think I'm going to say? Yep, you think I'm going to say that it's a horrible idea, and how am I supposed to teach it when I don't even know it myself? And honestly, that was my first reaction when I came across this question. But after thinking it over, I realized that allowing more technology in the classroom is not only good for the students, but the teachers as well (even the ones like me). Allowing more technology in the classroom will not only broaden the knowledge and experience of the students. It will bring teachers out of their comfort zones and encourage them to learn along with their students. Sometimes teachers seem to become stuck, or complacent, in their own knowledge, and reluctant to admit that others know more than them. This is especially true in this tech-saturated generation, with children often knowing more than their parents or teachers. Adults can sometimes feel threatened by this trend, but I believe we should be open-minded about it, asking children to help us learn things we don't know. This isn't a rivalry, it's a learning experience. Watching children pick up new technology can also give us, as teachers, insight into how they learn. Do they associate different symbols with their actions, or figure it out by trial and error? Watching how they receive and make use of the information they are learning helps us develop more effective ways of teaching them. Of course, all good things have a bad side as well. Allowing more technology in the classroom requires control and discipline on the part of the teacher. Otherwise elementary school would start looking a lot like some high school classes, with each child distracted from the group learning experience with their own personal device. Technology in the classroom needs to be controlled and planned, corresponding with the other learning objectives of the classroom. Otherwise it can rob the teacher of authority and steal attention away from other things. Like everything else in education, technology can have it's good points and bad points. But I think, with the right application, it can be a beneficial, stimulating component of the elementary learning environment.
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AuthorHi! My name is Nicole, and I've been knitting since I was 9 years old. I love teaching myself new techniques, and sometimes making them up. I usually come up with ideas faster than I can knit them! And one day I thought, why not share it all with you! Archives
November 2016
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