Ch 7&8

"A National Science Board publication, Educating Americans for the 21st Century, claimed that alarming numbers of young people Americans are ill-equipped to work in, contribute to, profit from, and enjoy our increasingly technological society" (Lankshear 134-135).

I have caught myself frequently thinking, "Wow, for growing up in such a technology age, my students know nothing about using technology." We have to remember that even though students today may know how to Tweet, Snapchat, and Instagram, that does not make them technology proficient. They may be able to figure out how to use a new phone immediately and how to download new apps on a tablet with ease, but they cannot do some of the most basic things to show productivity. Using Microsoft Word, for example, is one that I notice. I actually began teaching my students last year, and have now carried the lessons to this year, basics to using Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. I figured it would be boring, but most of my students have never used bullets, italics, bold print, added a picture, word art, or even saved a document to a folder. We have to realize that teaching our students how to be productive using technology is a major goal.

"At the time the research was done the great majority of teachers in Australian state schools had relatively little personal experience with computing applications, and many of those who participated in the project expressed their unease with the pressure they felt to integrate new technologies into their teaching, often seeing themselves as, at best, muddling through" (Lankshear 139).

It is somewhat comforting to know that teachers in other countries feel the same as we do here about implementing new technologies. I have talked to several teachers while at Professional Developments with new technologies as the focus, and a lot have felt this way. I have found myself feeling this way before. I had an assistant principal that wanted me to try using the Pleckers application in my teaching, and this was without a PD. I am usually very willing to try new things, especially when it is a new tech tool, but I could not figure out the program. It is almost not right to expect teachers to implement a multitude of technology tools without proper trainings, and sometimes, 1 Professional Development is not enough to feel comfortable with a new tool.