1 A new standard with technology

Technology is something that we can use to our advantage. There has been an increased concern with students knowing how to use technology and being proficient in it by a certain grade. I understand the need from ISTE's NETS project to create technology standard in the school system. I personally believe this is just another stress that some students face. Some students struggle with reading or math and others struggle with technology but, some may struggle with all of them. I agree that we need to integrate technology into schools and classrooms but I am not sure to what extent. As a student who never really understood technology, adding one more concept to grasp and study would have been a crazy amount of stress. I know I could have at least gone home and practiced technology skills but not all of the students I went to school with had that luxury. Having a teacher that understands technology automatically helped me understand it better so I believe that is where it starts. I completely support schools doing work shops with teachers to help them understand technology. Going through grade school and even my first year of college it would aggravate not only me but the entire class when our teacher or professor would spend nearly half of our class time trying to figure out how to pull up a power point. That may be somewhat exaggerated but it is the idea that if the teachers do not know what they are doing how do you expect the kids to.

In my classroom I hope to not really incorporate computers as much as I want to incorporate using a Smart Board. I want to someday teach kindergarten or first grade and believe that social skills are the most important. There have been times that I have volunteered in classrooms and the teachers are mandated how much time each child spends on the computer a week. It is a ridiculous amount of time that they are secluded from the class. I think working on their social skills by utilizing technology that can be used by the group would be a better idea than having them work on computers. Off course they will have to spend sometime on the computer so that they are able to log on and know where the letters are. I just do not believe it should be a priority for students at such a young age to do so much work on a computer. In this class I hope to learn of ways to make the learning in my classroom more interactive. I feel like working on technology as a group is better than being on a computer by yourself. I hope to learn of programs to put on Ipad's that my class could use as a whole. 

I have conflicting feelings on the term "digital native". It is usually associated with the younger generations but isn't always necessarily true. I am a part of this group but, I very much feel like a digital immigrant.  Being a digital native would mean that you understand technology. You have grown up around it and it is just part of your daily life. There has been many teachers and professors who were digital immigrants and didn't do anything about it to try and catch up to the growing technology that was being used. It was frustrating when some of the simplest things caused the teachers so much problems and took away from class time. With the teachers that were digital immigrants, class got to the point where I almost wished they would not even try to use technology during class. I think there will be a huge difference between my technology and my students by the time I get into the classroom. I can already see a difference with the way I use technology and the way my 6 and 10 year old nephews use it. Technology is something that will forever keep expanding. The only thing we can do is try and keep up with it to some extent.