I find it very interesting that we now have so much technology in our society. It is used world wide for education of children through adults. We use it in our schools, our medical facilities and in our work places. I find that we use it a lot more than I realized. Hospitals use it to educate their doctors and nurses. They are able to discuss medical conditions with many other health care professionals just by using a link. They can get help on a particular case which is good for the patient and the physicians. In our pre-k through 12 schools we are teaching more about how to use technology and integrating it into our lessons. It is a necessity for children to learn to use technology in order for them to be able to function in society. We use technology in all jobs in some way or another. In post-secondary schools technology is used and taught. We can attend school online just by clicking a link. We can share a professor with another school with cameras and a link to that camera. Technology is everywhere we turn and it can no longer be avoided. As a Kindergarten teacher I use it in my everyday classroom. I have 4 desktop computers, 4 laptop computers, 5 iPads, 3 iPods and a Promethean board. We use all of these technologies everyday is some way or another. I can also use my technology at work to collaborate with other teachers in my district and get help with things I don't understand. So I think in my profession I use my technology very much the same way a Doctor may use his. I teach with it and I can get help and get educated by other with it.
As far as teaching our students in a world that is be over run by people, I think we are doing a good job. I think sometimes we are trying to hard to teach children to problem solve by giving them thing to solve that in a lot of ways is way our of their reasoning. I think we need to slow down a little and get back to the basics. I think we do our children an inservice in a lot of ways by asking them to grow up to quickly. We don't let kids be kids anymore. We have a system where were are supposed to be leaving no kids behind, but they are being left. We change learning standers all the time. For example we take learning standards that were being taught to say 6th graders and make those the standards for 4th graders, then there are two grades of students that are expected to just know those standards that they were never taught and never will be. We need to slow down!
Oh, I so agree with your ideas regarding our fast pace expectations for children. We are absolutely placing way too much emphasis on technology in a dynamically fast rate. I find it often stressfully difficult to keep up myself with all of this implementation of technology. And you're right, kids need to be kids and experience some things that are not so "pressing". However, our country is trying to get an edge on other countries that have been outperforming our educational system for so long. We, meaning the United States, feel as though with technology embedded within our children at an early age, will indeed counter balance and juxtapose our placement in the "learning game". It may be an effective tactic, but I feel that our children will indeed be the ones who may suffer in the end.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your observation that technology is present in almost every aspect of our society. As I am not currently a classroom teacher, I was unaware of just how much technology is used in primary classrooms. While I think that it can be a good thing to introduce children to technology at an early age, I can certainly agree with your statement that "we don't let kids be kids anymore". I come from a family of educators and I am constantly hearing about the changing standards for education. I honestly do not know how the state officials expect for teachers to be able to effectively teach their students if the tests and expectations are ever changing.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed reading your post.