Thursday, May 14, 2009

Article Reaction: Syncing Up with the iKid

In the article Syncing Up with the iKid: Connecting to the Twenty-First-Century Student, the author raises several great points. One statement that caught my attention was when the author suggests that this generation of students is more like to have cell phones, laptops, and iPods rather than paper and pencils. This is exactly what happened in my field placement last semester. My first grade students never brought in paper or pencils. They relied on the supplies provided by the teacher, but yet several hand held gaming systems were taken away from several students because they were caught using them during instructional time. I must admit I was taken aback by this reoccurring problem, but in a media generation it is to be expected that gadgets are more appealing than having the necessary materials needed to complete school work.

The second issue that commanded my attention was when the author says, “More than 85% of respondents in CDW’s Teachers Talk Tech survey say that while they are adequately trained on Internet, word processing, and email software, 27% have little or no training with integrating computers into lessons.” Again, I completely agree with this statement. In my experience, several teachers that I worked with in the classroom had access to new technology, such as the smart board, but never implemented the technology into their daily lessons. In my opinion I think many teachers do not take advantage of the technology that they have access to. In other words many of their resources are wasted because teachers either do not want to learn how to use and or incorporate the technology into the classroom or would rather stick with the older technology, such as the overhead, that they feel more comfortable using.

Overall, I agree with what the author presents in this article. It is my belief that teachers must use technology within the classroom to help students in the media generation gain greater understanding of the information being presented to them. Besides gaining knowledge, technology also keeps students engaged in the lessons, which in turn cuts down on the amount of off task behavior occurring in the classroom. Therefore, it should be the goal of all teachers to incorporate current use of technology into their daily lessons.

2 comments:

  1. Brittney, my cooperating teacher last semester used vhs tapes to supplement her lessons. Her principal offered her a smartboard and she declined it. Meanwhile, her students salivated at the chance to do absolutely ANYTHING on the computer. It just makes sense to use what the kids are interested in.

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  2. As I metioned in an earlier comment I have a tablet pc with inking capabilities. It shocked me to see teachers in my school with the same tool using an overhead just as it shocked you in your feild placement to see the same behavior. I think technology is very frightening for some- teachers particularly those who have had it fail them in a time of need. I have had failures but found these times of trouble a great time to build a relationship with a tech-savy student with more skills than myself. Relying on the resources in your classroom who are gaming during your lessons can turn their addiction to technology into something positive.

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