Technology and Education

Children have the ability at a very early age to use technology. Why not teach them to use it along with the learning that they do in other subjects. They can use it for reports and for research. In a classroom that I was recently observing the teacher had her students each learn about a different president and write a report. She allowed the students to use books from the library but she also brought them to the school computer lab and had them do searches on the president that they were to write a report about. They learned about specific websites that had information about the presidents. After they had gathered their information and put it on note cards they typed out their report on a computer in the classroom. This was for a fourth grade class.

Teachers have a lot of influence over their students. In a world that uses technology in many ways, including harmful ways, teachers can be an example to the students in their class. Teachers can demonstrate how technology can be used for learning. They can demonstrate using technology legally with proper copy write awareness. Teachers can model the creative use of technology and use it for speeding up a process in the classroom or for adding more depth to a particular topic or study.

There are many creative ideas for use of technology in the classroom. Children can use it for many things. I hope to have children who will be in my future classroom be able to use a computer easily. Although there are many forms of technology to use I feel that the basics may be the most important since that is what children are most likely to have access to. I would like for my students to be able to type and research like the children in the fourth grade class I observed were learning to do. I feel that this can be useful for them in subjects such as history, social studies, and science. There are many other ways of using technology however I feel that it needs to be done carefully. Children need to benefit from the technology used and from the skills with technology that they are taught. I believe that research and word processing are some of the basics in this area. Children can also explore with many other forms of technology and many other ways of using it.

Children do not need to use every form of technology that the teacher uses to assist in teaching. There are many forms of technology that teachers can use to assist in teaching or in helping them to teach better. For example teachers can use power point presentation for presenting a new topic or for a lecture. I think this is very helpful as it allows for children to see pictures of what the teacher is presenting. I feel that this can be particularly helpful for children learning English as a second language.

There are many advocating for the use of technology in the classroom. I believe that they have a message that teachers can glean from to make their teaching skills and abilities even better.