As I advanced grade to grade in my town, I began seeing more and more technology in my schools. When I was in elementary school, we did not see much of technology in the classrooms. There was one or two computers per classroom, but usually we were not allowed to use them. When I was in elementary school, my town was building a new middle school, which was super exiting for everyone! In the new middle school, there was computer labs and a library full of computers. In the computer labs, courses were offered to teach students how to use the different Microsoft applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. There was also a typing course which allowed students to type quickly and efficiently without looking at the keyboard. This was awesome for us because we did not see much technology in the schools before this and we knew that eventually technology would play a major role in the way we teach and learn. I was nervous and did not know what to expect going into high school - I knew that there would be a lot of work, but did not know how much there would truly be. I was prepared to do many assignments on and off of my computer from both the classroom and school and that is what we did. Every department at my school had a laptop cart and we got to use these whenever we needed to in our classrooms. Our classes also took trips to the library to use the computers that were there. There is a graphic design course and a computer literacy course offered at my high school to show students how much you can do with technology.
As I got older and moved through the school system, I noticed that teachers stopped using projectors with the clear plastic sheets that they wrote on, and began to use PowerPoint and Smart Boards. This was helpful because they were able to email us assignments and post them on their websites. Some teachers only used the Smart Board in their classrooms and when it was not working or the Internet was not working in the school, we just had to sit there because they had no back up plan. This seemed cool at the time because we were not doing any work but it set us behind which was really inconvenient.
When I was in high school, I interned in the Special Education classroom at my school and there was a boy in the class who was completely nonverbal. He had an app on his iPod touch that was made specially for him and he could click different buttons with pictures or type in words that would express how he was feeling. The iPod would literally talk out loud for him, and it made it so he could communicate with his peers, teachers, family, and friends.
As a future teacher, I definitely want to be able to use technology in my classroom. Technology is taking over and I think that it is very important to implement it. I want to make sure that I always have a back up plan for when it is not working, but I think that using technology would be most helpful for myself and for my students. Especially since I want to be a Special Education teacher, I think that technology will be very useful. There are so many apps out there and so many more being made specially for students with disabilities or who may simply need some extra help. I want students to be able to use their laptops, iPods, iPads, smart phones, etc. in my classroom, but do not want them to abuse the privilege. There are so many devices out there that can potentially enhance the classroom if used in the right ways.
Wow that is amazing that that boy can use his iPod touch to communicate with everyone that is around him. I think that we will see in the future that many students that are either struggling to read or can not speak at all will have a way to interact with other students using the same type of device. I agree with you explanation that you want to use technology more in your class to advance the learning of the students. It is interesting how many school have used the smart boards to their advantage and i think that more schools should invest in that type of technology (if it is economically possible). But nevertheless it is important for our students to understand how to use technology to their advantage and they should use it more so they will have a jump start when they get into college or high school.
ReplyDeleteWe had really similar technological experiences as elementary schoolers. Like you, I also did not have much experience in technology in elementary school. This is really unfortunate because I think that I could have benefited from this. I think that it is really important for students at a young age to become familiar with technology because as we get older our life becomes nothing but technology. I wish that I knew how to use a computer at younger age because I think that It could have helped me a great deal in school. In the sixth grade I was probably the slowest typist in the world. A one page paper that would take a person normally ten minutes to write took me almost an hour.
ReplyDeleteI also think that it is really cool about the special needs student in your high school using the I pod to communicate. It just goes to show how fast our technology is developing every day. I also want to incorporate technology in my classroom. I think that it is really important, and will be nothing but beneficial to my future students.