This summer I took Technology in Education at my local community college.
We did a blog for this class, and although most of the posts were about the textbook, this last one was about our thoughts on technology in the classroom. I thought I would share this here so I could have it after class is over.
I have a lot of different beliefs about technology in the classroom.
Before
I took this class I was a bit anti-technology. I have always believed
that kids don't need any screen time before age 6, that school aged
children are using to much technology, and that education is so focused
on technology that they are forgetting other essentials.
To an extent, I still believe some of these things. However, after taking this class I have come to some other conclusions.
Firstly,
I do believe it is important to use technology in schools, and to teach
with it and about it. Using technology is a 21st century skill that
students will need, so it's important they learn to use it. I still
think that this learning should begin later in life, but I do think it's
more important than I thought before. I think a lot of people are still
under the idea that with academics it's "the earlier the better" and I
don't believe that is true for typing or for reading, math, and other
non-technological skills.
I also think that it is
important for schools to teach internet safety, and to help children
understand what is and isn't credible information online. Even if
children aren't being exposed to technology at school, they may be at
home and a lot of parents think their kids have online skills like
safety and knowing the difference between what's factual and not, but
often times they overestimate their child's ability.
Teaching
about technology can also help reduce or help children with cyber
bullying. Resources can be provided to students to prevent this newer
form of bullying that often goes unreported or unpunished. As someone
who once experienced this, I think it's really important to learn about
and I think that schools should get involved.
In this
class I also learned about ways that I as an educator can use
technology, not only in the classroom but for myself as an educator. I
think this will be the most beneficial information that I learned moving
forward, because as a preschool teacher my students don't use a lot of
classroom technology. As a new teacher I also follow a lot of blogs and
can use some of the things I learned to help with curriculum and lesson
planning.
I enjoyed learning about virtual field trips,
and later doing one myself. I think this would be a great activity I
could implement into my own curriculum.
While I am
still on the non-technology side of education I now appreciate what
technology has to offer in engaging our students, and can also say I can
use it more effectively in both my teaching and planning.
You'll Be Next, the Adventures of an Amateur Teaching Preschool
Search This Blog
Monday, July 28, 2014
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Hello and Welcome!
Hello everyone, and welcome to my blog!
I created this space to share my thoughts on current issues in education, to share my process oriented art ideas, and just to ramble on about my students. I'm not really expecting this blog to get a ton of readers.
But that's ok, because I made this blog as a space for myself.
So, my invisible audience, where should we start?
I guess we'll start with me?
I'm Ms. C, and I currently teach preschool at a private childcare facility. The facility I teach at serves ages infant (6 weeks) through Kindergarten. We have infants, toddlers, young preschool (Twos), preschool (3 and 4's), pre-k (4 and 5's), and Kindergarten. We also have drop in care where we will occasionally get an older kid, this week Kindergarten has an 8 year old girl!
I've been teaching for...not a long time ha ha. I started as a substitute in early March and I picked up a position as a teacher in May, Cinco de Mayo!
So it's fairly accurate to say that I am still learning, a lot, each and every day in the classroom. It's one thing to study Early Childhood Education and pedagogy, and a whole other thing to be suddenly thrown in a classroom with 20 kids.
I'm also still working on my degree in Early Childhood Education, approaching an associates degree at my local community college.
So not only do I have the fun filled job of being a full time preschool teacher year round, but I am also a year round part time college student. 3 semester hours in the summer and 6 during regular semesters.
It's a crazy life, but it's my life.
As I will probably mention many times, I don't have any kids (although people keep asking when I plan to have some, and I'm 21 and not married so...) so my viewpoint may be different from parents. My opinion is my opinion, and I acknowledge that as I'm only a teacher and not a parent, I may not completely get it. However, it's not my intention to judge parents or their parenting practices. I have a very diverse group of students, and every parent raises their child(ren) a bit differently.
I do however have a cat, so if you have any funny cat pictures or videos, feel free to share!
That's all for now, expect more actual posts about actual things soon!
I created this space to share my thoughts on current issues in education, to share my process oriented art ideas, and just to ramble on about my students. I'm not really expecting this blog to get a ton of readers.
But that's ok, because I made this blog as a space for myself.
So, my invisible audience, where should we start?
I guess we'll start with me?
I'm Ms. C, and I currently teach preschool at a private childcare facility. The facility I teach at serves ages infant (6 weeks) through Kindergarten. We have infants, toddlers, young preschool (Twos), preschool (3 and 4's), pre-k (4 and 5's), and Kindergarten. We also have drop in care where we will occasionally get an older kid, this week Kindergarten has an 8 year old girl!
I've been teaching for...not a long time ha ha. I started as a substitute in early March and I picked up a position as a teacher in May, Cinco de Mayo!
So it's fairly accurate to say that I am still learning, a lot, each and every day in the classroom. It's one thing to study Early Childhood Education and pedagogy, and a whole other thing to be suddenly thrown in a classroom with 20 kids.
I'm also still working on my degree in Early Childhood Education, approaching an associates degree at my local community college.
So not only do I have the fun filled job of being a full time preschool teacher year round, but I am also a year round part time college student. 3 semester hours in the summer and 6 during regular semesters.
It's a crazy life, but it's my life.
As I will probably mention many times, I don't have any kids (although people keep asking when I plan to have some, and I'm 21 and not married so...) so my viewpoint may be different from parents. My opinion is my opinion, and I acknowledge that as I'm only a teacher and not a parent, I may not completely get it. However, it's not my intention to judge parents or their parenting practices. I have a very diverse group of students, and every parent raises their child(ren) a bit differently.
I do however have a cat, so if you have any funny cat pictures or videos, feel free to share!
That's all for now, expect more actual posts about actual things soon!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)