I remember a day long ago when I had to dig through books to find out relative information for any topic I was trying to find information on. Now with all of the electronic resources the information is literally in our hands. I attended a bible study the other night and one of the girls that was in the group did not appear to have her bible (which was clearly stated to bring it), but to my amazement her entire bible was loaded into her cell phone. This makes me wonder where will we be next year. I already try to teach my students how to use technology in the classroom, And this is when I realize that I am the one who needs to catch up. So many teachers are embedded into old school ways that they do not stop to think what do I need to do to keep up with the times and prepare my students for their future.
We have technology coming at us everyday and we need to grab hold of it and immerse ourselves into the future. When I am able to use technology with my students they seems to understand and pay attention more to me and the classwork.
The old ways are still here, and some teachers are still holding on to those ways, but if we truly want to engage and help our students we really need to jump on the technology bandwagon and plunge into the great unknown. Our textbooks are electronic, and our knowledge is but a click away. Teaching out of a book is not how a student is going to learn and we as teachers need to push these children into the future so they will be able to compete in the real world.
Now as for us teachers, if we would start using the resources that are available we could go far in helping ourselves, as well as, our students. If we were collaborating with each other through blogs and could contribute to each others classes I think we would begin to want to most for our students and stop thinking that our subject is the only one that matters.
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"I already try to teach my students how to use technology in the classroom, And this is when I realize that I am the one who needs to catch up. So many teachers are embedded into old school ways that they do not stop to think what do I need to do to keep up with the times and prepare my students for their future."
ReplyDeleteYou know, although the participants in this class are just getting started with blogging, you're not the only one who has voiced this same concern. It warms my heart really to see more teachers concerned about "keeping up with the times" so to speak. Every day that we don't begin to address the gap only allows it to grow that much wider, and as quickly as technology evolves, using the term "every day" isn't exaggeration.
"We have technology coming at us everyday and we need to grab hold of it and immerse ourselves into the future."
I love that quote!! I may use that in a future blog post of my own - crediting you, of course.
And you're so right! Technology engages students, and if they're engaged, they're more likely to learn.
You also touched on the collaborative aspect of these tool, which is something we'll explore in this course. I think as teachers we become so ensconced in by our four walls, that we are sometimes hesitant or don't know how to reach out beyond them. We're almost a bit territorial in some respect. (yes, myself included when I was in the classroom). But the technology has evolved to the point that collaboration within a school, district, state, nation, and even internationally is as easy as clicking a mouse, which I find to be amazing! As you said, let's jump on the technology bandwagon!
"what do I need to do to keep up with the times and prepare my students for their future"
ReplyDelete--So true. I think sometimes it's easy for us to say, "Well, when I was in school, we did it this way. They can, too!!" But really, as teachers our job is to prepare our students for the future and we can't do that if we want to keep them learning the same way that we did.