What are your thought on technology? As teachers, should we be using more of it? Less of it? Doing everything in our power to encourage it?
This is a question I feel that some teachers struggle with. Technology is all so new to us, and quite honestly scares some, myself included. I’ve heard teachers say things like, “My students know how to work the technology better than I do!” and “How am I ever going to integrate technology into this lesson?”. This intimidated me as a student teacher at first. I began to question whether or not I will ever master the technology and learn how to use technology within my lessons. Then I saw this quote and it made me stop and think. What am I so afraid of?
“TECHNOLOGY WILL NEVER REPLACE GREAT TEACHERS, BUT TECHNOLOGY IN THE HANDS OF GREAT TEACHERS IS TRANFORMATIONAL.” -GEORGE COUROS
This quote really spoke to me and opened up my eyes a little. I think that even though we may be hesitant at first to try new things and fail (in front of our students who seem to all be masters themselves!) we should continue to always grow and learn as well. Technology is here for good. Its not going anywhere and we can either run from it, or learn how to use it. Personally, I am now going to try to run with it and see what happens from there. Who knows, maybe my students will become the teachers until I get there myself. What will you do with technology?
Alyssa's Blog 
Hi Alyssa,
I think that we should all try to educate ourselves about all the technology we could use in the classroom. That doesn’t mean we need to overwhelm ourselves if it doesn’t fit into every lesson. I think that it is important to try new things, but don’t throw it in there just to say you did. There are definitely a lot of things that can be done, but I’ve found that a lot of the things we could do with the students will be time consuming. When we are teachers- yes, we will have the weeks to include things like Google Classroom, Sharing and Blogging, Creating websites and books ect, but all of this takes time for the students to learn just to use. I am going to fit something into my unit, but it will fit where it makes the most sense.
Kerry
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Hi there Alyssa. I like that you are thinking about technology and that #8 reason is to stay ahead of your students and your mind is there. Your skills will certainly catch up – actually, you are ahead of the game with this blog (unless they are bloggers!). Falling and showing failure in front of students is one of the best lessons we can ever teach, if done positively. I’m good with showing my weaknesses so they can see me become strong. Role model that power you hold in your hands…
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Technology is very important in teaching in today’s society, but it does have to be balanced with social interaction. If students are using the technology to work and interact together it is a great tool. If the technology isolates the student then it will not reach its potential.
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Alyssa, you wrote such a thought provoking post! I especially love when you wrote, “who knows, maybe my students will become the teachers until I get there myself (2018). What a magical image of teacher and learner walking hand-in-hand down the path of discovery, interchanging roles along their travels. What an amazing way to model the role of a life-long learner to our students!
Cheers,
Tracy
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