Dictionary.com (yes, look at me--accessing my online resources from my laptop out here on my deck! I'm feeling so technologically savvy) gives the first definition of "knowledge" as a noun meaning "acquaintance with facts, truths, or principles, as from study or investigation; general erudition: knowledge of many things." The first definition of "belief" is a noun meaning "something believed; an opinion or conviction: a belief that the earth is flat. It can also mean "confidence; faith; trust: a child's belief in his parents." We discussed these two ideas in terms of technology use in the classroom at our last class meeting. Our professor instructed us to reflect on what the words mean to each of us individually. I have done so over the past several days.
What do I know about technology in the classroom? And what do I truly believe about its use in my classroom?
I know that technology has changed dramatically in the past twelve years. I last taught in 1999--when I regarded an email received from a parent or student as something exciting and rare. I communicated with parents of my students primarily through phone calls and notes sent home. I posted my homework information through a complicated phone system that few students and even fewer parents ever accessed (it involved codes that few people ever remembered). The school where I taught in Texas did have a school website; however, I did not have my own "page" on the website, and I certainly would have had no idea how to update it if I had. I considered myself to be technically advanced over most of my colleagues because I had access to a color printer on which I made many beautiful, incredibly expensive, color overheads to use in the classroom. None of my students had cell phones, although many of them had pagers.
Now my own children attend school in classrooms outfitted with interactive white boards, and they have "computer lab" once a week beginning in kindergarten. My third grader showed me how to add sound to a PowerPoint presentation, and my fifth grader did some research for her Colonial America project on the Colonial Williamsburg website. They want to know when they can get "their" cell phones (answer: not for a long, long time), and they text their grandparents from my cell phone. My first grader asked me yesterday if she could log me on to my Facebook account (answer: NO!). In summary, the classroom is a vastly different place today than it was when I taught, and children today have grown up in a different technical environment than I did. So how does this different environment and culture affect my beliefs about technology in the classroom?
One of my basic beliefs about teaching is that children learn well when they are interested in the material. An extension of this idea is my belief that children learn best when they lead the inquiry into a problem; when they explore literature and poetry and make connections to their own lives; and when they take ownership of their learning.
So I need to figure out how to "keep up" with the technical skills of my future students (and my own children) so that I can hold the attention of my students and lead them into student-directed learning. One obvious way I'm doing this is by taking this technology class. Another way is by talking with and learning from my own children--observing how they access and process information.
I believe that I can use technology to help my students learn. And I know that this will be a continuous challenge.
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