Wow I can't believe this is the last post for my technology class. I feel like this semester flew by and the amount of things I learned is incredible. All semester long while learning about all these new technologies and working hands-on with the medias was great, my only fear is that if I don't continue to use them I will forget out to make the "cool" projects I made. This past week in one of my other graduate classes we had a discussion about technology and we needed to find a research article about technology in the classroom.
For this assignment I found the article Teaching 2.0: Teams Keep Teachers and Students Plugged into Technology, by Michelle Bourgeois and Bud Hunt. This article talks about how teachers, if they receive any training at all, only get training once through out the year for a specific device. This is something I have witnessed myself, I have gotten training on a piece of technology and then after about a month or so I forget some of the things that I have previously learned. In older teachers I can see this being a bit of a road block and making them hesitant to continue to use new technology. With the way our society is going, as teachers we can not afford to not use technology in our classrooms and teach our students if nothing else the basics of everyday technology we use.
I feel as teachers we also need to work together to help each other stay up to date on how to use new devices and if needed know who to talk to get the help needed. The article by Bourgeois and Hunt talk about schools having a team of individuals who meet once a month to discuss the goals for the use of technology in the classroom. I think this is great because it can give the school an idea of where they are and where they need to go.
Learning new forms of technology is something that I know I must not stop doing! Whether I am doing it with a group of co-workers or for my specific students, to be the best teacher I can/need to be it is something needed!
Reference:
Bourgeois,
M., & Hunt, B. (2011). Teaching 2.0: Teams keep teachers and students
plugged into technology. Journal of staff development, 32(5),
34-37.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI agree that teachers do not get the training that they need sometimes. I learn by doing and repetition really helps me remember how to navigate and use technology. It’s important that we don’t just learn how to use the technology, but we should use it as much as possible in the classroom. It’s an interesting idea to have a team of teachers that stay current on technology. This will be better for all teachers to have more than one person to reference, for any questions they have on integrating technology into their classroom. It might even be a good idea to have someone from each grade level to be a representative, since each grade level has a different curriculum. I really enjoyed reading your blog.
Training and lifelong learning are necessary today in order to just keep up, for sure. I had the same thought about remembering how to do everything - but you're right, it's important that we continue to use what we've learned in order to retain it. That's why it makes so much sense to make it relevant in our classroom and incorporate what we learn as we go.
ReplyDeleteI wish you great successes aheady. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.