Day 3: Article Review #1

Today I read an article in Technology class. The article is Survey Reveals Gaps in School Technology Perceptions.

Description

This article talks about the result of several surveys that were given to more than 5,00 schools. The results of these surveys have the administrators VS teachers on the topic of Technology in the classroom. Majority of teachers want to incorporate more technology into their lessons, but they are not receiving the education to do so. Also, in the article it mentions that administrators want to use more mobile devices in the classroom. For example, they want laptops, smart phones, and ipods to be used as a educational tools. About 76 percent of teachers do not want these items in their class because they can become distractions.The last thing that is mention in this article is the students explain to the people conducting the survey that their teachers are afraid to let the them use the Internet because of safety and liability issues.

Analyze

There were many great points in this article that I liked. I think its a great idea for students to learn how fully use a computer. Including, how to fix it if a problem occurs. These students are learning more than I did as a student. For instance, when I was an undergrad all I learned how to do was make a power point, how to use word, make an imovie, and some other basic stuff. I was actually going into my classroom with not much information to incorporate technology into my lessons. Now as a CADRE teacher I get to go into my classroom with some really cool ideas on how to use technology to enhance my lessons and make them more fun. :)

I agree to an extent with this article about letting students using laptops, ipods, and smart phones.

Reflection

I really enjoyed reading this article because it talked a lot about how technology can help children become more self-efficient with technology. I feel that I don't have to worry about the issue of safety because I can have everything setup for them and not have to worry about them trying to find the website. I would like laptops and ipods, but not smart phones. I'm going to be teaching kindergarten and I don't need my four and five year old learning how to use a smart phone. They do need to know how to use a computer/laptop for educational purposes. The ipods would also be great because I could have students listening to books on tape and educational songs as part of their workstations. As a teacher you cannot monitor what your students are looking at every single second that they are online. I know that websites can be blocked, but kids in this generation can find a way around them. I enjoyed having my first grade students help me figure out how to get the computer working or to find a website. This builds their self esteem and they think its cool that they know something that their teacher does not know. Its amazing how tech savvy these kids are. Overall, I thought this was a good article and I enjoyed reading it.