I believe computers are an important role in teaching
because technology is taking over. Nowadays, teachers are expected to take
courses and pass tests to keep up with the standards of teaching. Technology
components are even incorporated into the common core standards. With all the
resources and help available to teachers, there shouldn’t be a reason why
educators should have less knowledge than anyone else.
Most presentations, for any topic or subject are given via
computer or projector. When I have my own classroom of eager-to-learn kiddies I
will use presentation applications to keep them engaged. Some of these include
prezi, wordle, and photo story. In this technology class I hope to learn how to
make and give a presentation to keep the audience engaged and listening for an
extended amount of time, no matter their age.
The term digital native does fit my generation. Everyone
born within the last 25-30 years knows what a computer is and is most likely
tech savvy and knowledgeable on how to work one. The difference between a
native and immigrant is, we grew up with a computer while the older generation
chose whether or not to conform to this type of lifestyle.
Personally, neither set of my grandparents own a computer.
They believe since they’ve made it this far in their lives, nothing new needs
to be added for confusion. Whenever I go to visit them and we have
conversations about social media their response is usually something like,
“Back in my day we didn’t have any of these picture sites, we clicked our
Polaroid button and the picture was instantly in my hand.”
The futures of students will definitely be different. When I
went through grade school, we used vis-à-vis markers and an overhead and
thought it was the coolest thing ever that we were able to write on a plastic
sheet. Today, these children are taking notes from a power point and sometimes
even interacting with the presentation using clickers.
