Digital Badge #B

Using Technology To Enhance Learning:

   Is this another way my 3rd grader is saying to me that he is disengaged? What did you learn in school today? Some math and what was your favorite part of the school day?  His answer to me was what he ate for lunch. And Recess. But, why!  I asked him are you telling me you did not enjoy the topic or skill that you learned about today. Now my mind is spinning and my thoughts where everywhere just trying to figure out what his thoughts about school where and why he felt this way. I have heard this since he was in kindergarten. I know the traditional pencil and paper is not enough to teach him with. I realized this when he first learned his colors. I had to go to the tree and we picked brown tree bark. We also picked green, yellow, and brown leaves. He glued the leaves and tree bark down and made his own picture of the same tree that was outside. I think that technology will help my son because it fits many different learning formats that can engage students with academic material. It’s not uncommon for children to complain once in a while that school is boring. Kids get bored in school because they maybe Under-Challenged. Bright students who don’t need a lot of instruction to master a skill or start out ahead of the rest of the class often complain of being bored at school. What they’re really telling you is they are not being challenged by the work in the classroom. Some children are under motivated an under motivated child is not the same as a lazy child. In some cases, the lack of motivation is tied in to a feeling that what he’s learning isn't personally important, that the learning process has no meaning for him and his life (Morin, 2014) 

 Speaking as a parent I think this is my son. And I think with the help of using technology to enhance teaching with instructional practice method will help my son because teachers are interacting with students directly by using the computer to teach the whole class by showing by visual example I think this could change students interest in academics. Math facts in a flash in Renaissance Place motivated my son to learn his multiplication facts it times him and gave him levels as he mastered the others however, if he does not master that level in under two minutes then he did not go on to the next level. I like this program because this is a school program that we can access from home everything is familiar to him I can see all the levels he mastered at school and at home this program is also used for Accelerated Reading,  He likes this program he wanted to learn this way more than using his paper flash cards to learn his facts for 3rd grade this program was first introduced to him in 2nd grade.      

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwgeq-t8AQk

 Barriers to Technology usage:

If the superintendent or the principal says, “Teachers, we are going to use technology in our school, but you decide how and when,” then failure to adopt is assured. There is shortage of excuses for not taking the time to integrate technology into one’s classroom. It takes leadership to say teachers we are going to use technology in our school and this is not optional .Teachers need the support of Administration; from the lack of updated technology to the lack of computers to students. These are still problems within public schools. They have gotten better but the Lack of money is also a problem. If something is considered important surprise, surprise school administrators find the money for that something. Technology must be considered important Yes, there is no new money. So what are schools doing now that they need to stop doing in order to pay for the technology? In other words not only do teachers need Administration to help support them they also need their help financially for Curriculum materials. With the mandate on teachers to teach and review large amounts of curriculum teaches do not have the time to add technology into their style of teaching with all the pressure placed in them for testing purposes however teacher who may only teach one subject matter may be able to incorporate technology into their style of teaching a lot quicker than a teacher who as more than one subject area to teach.

Student And Their Technologies:

Today students uses technology not only in school but they also use it at home. Students today are as the book way “Digital Natives" who have grown up with tablet, smartphones, and mp3 players for music to iPod’s. Today we as people want right now service, I call it! Because of technology we have become use to this way of life kids today do not know what it’s like to live without technology. Computer and online experience has positively influenced student’s attitude about using technology to learn. I know this to be true my 5^th grader likes to use my smartphone as a dictionary instead of going to get the dictionary and looking up her spelling word definitions. When I asked her to look them up in the dictionary She looked at me as though what‘s wrong with you. Many of today's teens spend much of their time with their faces buried in a computer monitor or smart phone. I know us as parents and teacher do not like the idea of the internet as a tool for learning being that it has been used as a way of fun for children and teens we see it as an entertainment source. I could not agree more in this case, however, I do see the benefits it could have if it was used in a productive manner.    

Resources:

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Morin, A. (2014). 4 Reasons Kids Are Bored at School (And What to Do). Retrieved from http://childparenting.about.com/od/schoollearning/a/4-reasons-kids-are-bored-at-school.htm

Norris, C., & Soloway, E. (2011, December 11). The 10 Barriers to Technology Adoption.