http://teaching.monster.com/benefits/articles/3468-the-importance-of-teaching-technology-to-teachers
The Importance of Teaching Technology to the Teachers
Katt Blackwell discusses how the spotlight has been placed
on technology as a need in schools. So much so that the National Council of
Teachers of English (NCTE) have stated that being technology literate is a
vital part of overall literacy. With much of our daily information coming from
online sources, it’s easy to understand this emphasis. She reinforces this by stating "21st century readers and writers need to.."
1. Develop proficiency with the tools of technology
2. Build relationships with others to pose and solve problems collaboratively and cross-culturally
3. Design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of purposes
4. Manage, analyze and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information
5. Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multi-media texts
6. Attend to the ethical responsibilities required by these complex environments
However, while we are pushing technology literacy on our
students, we are missing our teachers. Many times, teachers are the ones being
taught about technology from their students. Katt Blackwell mentions that
technology varies depending on the teacher. There is no standard across the
board for complex skills to scaffold within the classroom. One year a teacher
may have many project-based lessons with the use of technology. The next year,
the teacher may only use technology to practice basic facts or for word processing.
If we expect technology to be as powerful a tool as it has
the potential to be, we must train all of our teachers. Blackwell suggests teachers
taking action themselves by hosting a monthly tech focus. Here teachers can
introduce a technology they feel proficient with to the staff and allow them
time to develop ideas with how to utilize it effectively. I like this idea, but
I can see it creating a divide between those who are interested, and those who
aren’t. This movement has to be across the board in order to be effective. For
real progress to take place, the administration has to play a role in getting
technology training in place.
I completely agree with you Jessica! I feel like in order for everyone to be using technology to its full potential it needs to be mandatory for teachers. I think you are right about the divide between those who are interested and those who aren't. I think that is how it is right now at our school. I think there are some people who are willing and eager to learn new technology tools and interested in finding out ways to incorporate technology into the classroom but then there are quite a few who are not interested and therefore not using the tools they have when it comes to technology. Again, I think it all goes back to allowing time for teachers to explore and become familiar but it needs to be something that is required otherwise it will be the same people trying these different tools all of the time. I agree with administration also taking a role in this. A teachers voice can only go so far and in the end, they do have the final say. Even if it is something that cannot take place at an early dismissal, at least require teachers within their levels to sit down and do a tech focus. I sometimes feel like this is a never ending battle!
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