hopes, dreams, and technological schemes

Today's generation of kids have more mass communication devices at their fingertips than any other previous generation. They can send a photo by cell phone to a friend, instant message another friend, talk on the "old fashioned" phone to someone else, and talk to "the world" by posting to their blogs or Livejournals...all at the same time. All of these technological tools frighten me. I'm not a Ted Kaczynski anti-technology type but I feel that over time a] technology makes people farther apart from one another [emotionally] and b] technology makes people feel that they can (and should) have things instantaneously. Of course, the teacher side of me thinks that technology will lead to a future generation of academics attempting to use words like 'cuz, 'wuz, and luv' in scholarly papers, having no qualms about it. Then the other side of me thinks, "So that's wrong with that?" We've gone from words like thee and thou to me and you... the more things change, the more they stay the same, and blah, blah, blah.

I guess that's where this course comes into play. It's easy to have a child sit in front of a computer screen and do some type of skill/drill program. However, that's not "integrating" technology---you're simply giving the child an interactive, flashier worksheet. I feel that a lot of teachers try to use computers to differentiate their teaching methods, but instead they just end up doing the same thing--but instead of using a chalkboard, they're using a computer screen and interactive pen. Instead of handing out xeroxed copies of a poem, you can project the poem onto a "Smartboard." And so on.

I don't stand here innocently. I'm guilty of showing the kids "picture prompts" on a Smartboard screen. I'm guilty of posting a poem on the laptop screen instead of making photocopies. But i don't know what else to do.

Part of the problem lies in teacher training. If teachers aren't trained to use the technology in new ways, then they're not going to. Ultimately, some will end up using it in new ways, but others will need the extra "push" to get used to the technology.

I hope that this course will show me how to use technology in more innovative ways. The idea of blogging interests me. I think it'd be great to teach a novel unit and set up a blog discussion board. Kids could start different threads, connecting the novel to contemporary movies, etc. For some reason, kids are fascinated by computer screens, fonts, colors, etc. That's okay with me---if it makes them more excited about writing and blogging, then that's fine.

Additionally, I also think it is extremely important that kids know HOW to find information online but also how to distinguish between valid websites and illegitimate websites. Also-- students need to understand that appropriate credit needs to be given to writers and artists whose information students use for papers, etc. Most of the time, Language Arts teachers concern themselves with the plagiarism issue and drill the word/its meaning into students' minds. In the tech age, I think all teachers need to make their students extremely aware of plagiarism. Just because it is the World Wide Web doesn't mean anyone can credit the information as his/her own.

Mainly, I am looking forward to seeing how we can use technology in productive ways with our students. That's a pretty simple statement for a fairly difficult task. Can't wait to see the results. I also like the idea of the unit plan project---it forces some of us non-tech-saavies to figure out how to immediately use technology and new literacies in the classroom.