When I was younger and asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I always wanted to do something like be a fire fighter or police officer. It was always something exciting that helps other people. I still have those same desires more than 18 years down the road. I want to be an Educator! I know teachers are usually thought of as someone willing to "baby sit" a bunch of rowdy kids all day for not much pay, and when compared to that of a police officer, it looks like you end up with the short end of the stick. However, I am here to tell you how this can be one of the most exciting and rewarding careers. As I learn to use today's technology to aid me in the classroom, my abilities become endless. The image of a teacher standing at a chalkboard and lecturing for a full hour as the students are daydreaming still haunts schools across the nation. It seems that as new technology is added to the curriculum, teachers are still finding ways to make it just as dull and mundane as their previous lectures. The time has come for teaching to not be so much about the teacher's ability to keep 35 students quiet for an hour and administer mandatory tests, but it is time that the learning is given to the students to find out how they will learn best.
Dr. Debra Sprague and Dr. Chris Dede stated in their article titled, Constructivism in the classroom, if I teach This Way am I Doing it Right, "As teachers, we are taught to believe that learning takes place in a quiet and orderly setting. Activities in which students are taking an active role and sharing information with each other make for noisy classrooms." This is what is generally thought to be true in a classroom. But I want you to think back on your schooling. Which of your teachers do you remember the most? What information can you still remember from that class? I can tell you which teachers they are. They were the teachers that were not afraid to step outside of the box and try new activities, and because of that you enjoyed learning. I know it can look or sound crazy in a classroom that is trying interactive activities. I know that it is important that students know how to show respect and there will be times that they will need to sit quietly and observe. However, I feel that far too often we as teachers are simply too scared to try something new because we don't know how it will result.
Another article I read this year was about a teacher using Twitter in a second-grade classroom, something considered to be very controversial. The only reason that it is considered to be controversial is because the traditional style of learning has a hard time evolving. I would like to make it clear that any technology used in a wrong way can cross lines of moral standards and values, and that is why it is so important that we teach these students how to use technology for good and not bad. A police officer, just as a teacher, is equipped with tools that can help him or her do their job properly. For me as a teacher, I do not have to worry about handcuffing my students if they do not participate, but I should worry about whether they are learning in my class or not. This is one of the ways that teachers are able to use a program such as twitter as a great tool in the classroom. "Teaching writing is very difficult, but it's an essential skill. It's how we communicate primarily as humans. And more and more so with the digital world. Because most of our communication is through writing."( Mrs. White, 2nd grade teacher)
During this semester I have found it difficult to pay attention in many of my classes because I am thinking of how much better the class could be with the use of some the technologies that I have learned in my Technology Integration class. I will admit that I was the type of child, and still to this day, that if something does not intrigue me, I have a hard time following the instruction. I know that it can be a challenge to find a style of teaching that every student will be able to benefit from, but I am willing to take that challenge. As I have read many of the articles that have been assigned this semester, I have better understood how I can use tools that even I, felt had no place in the classroom. Tools like cell phones, social networking, and interactive websites can be huge benefits to classrooms, and we as teachers should look for ways that we can incorporate them into the everyday classroom.
This semester I have greatly enjoyed leaning all of the free and inexpensive technologies that are out there at our finger tips. So much is available to us and all we have to do is use them. For example I found on line a neat tool called the "Wii-mote White board" invented by Johnny Lee. It is an interactive smart board made using the Nintendo Wii controller and a homemade pen. It was very simple to use and allows a teacher to have state of the art technologies at a small fraction of the cost. There are infinite amounts of these types of tools out there that are already invented; you just have to be resourceful and not afraid to try new things.
In conclusion, I feel that the time for change is now. Not from bad to good, but from good to better! It is easy to settle into a routine like Mr. Edmund from the article quoted earlier, "who had given the same lecture on this day for the past nine years." It is time that teachers are giving to students skills that they will need in their everyday lives. I want to be the teacher that is remembered! I want to be the teacher that is equipped to with the tools necessary to be a 21st century teacher! I am the future!
References
Bell, R.(March 12, 2009). Today's Living on 'Today's THV at 5': Twittering 2nd-Graders. Retrieved May 11, 2010 from http://www.todaysthv.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=81577&catid=2
Sprague, D., Dede, C. (1999 ). Constructivism in the classroom: If I teach this way, am I doing my job? LLT, 27(1) 6-11. Retrieved May 11, 2010
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