Chapter 1 - Reflection

As I started reading this chapter, I kept thinking back to a video that I saw on Teacher Tube which would totally drive home the entire point of our nation being left behind in the area of education & technology.

Did You Know 2.0

It is long, but very well done. If you need a visual to support the importance of keeping up with technology for our students in this new 2.0 world, this is a great one. I think we may have seen this at a conference??

As we have heard in conference presentations, heard in the news & read in chapter 1, other countries are quickly passing up the US in technology and education. There are several reasons for this as mentioned in the chapter. I saw several of these reasons as being "top rated." Mainly, American kids view technology as entertainment, pure and simple. It is not something many students use in school to learn or to show what they have learned. They are not using technology in school to collaborate, investigate or contribute. For our students, technology means their i-pods, cell phones, video games, texting, You Tube, Face Book, etc.

Now, our job as educators is tough. Not only do we need to teach the 3 R's, but we need to do it in a way that incorporates technology in a way that students will realize that this is how they will be functioning as a contributing member of our society. Many of these students are way ahead of us as far as being tech saavy. But, we can learn how to guide them to use their tools wisely, introduce them to new tools and new ways to use what they already have.

Another detrimental aspect of our society is that our kids (this is a generalization and I apologize to all of those wonderful, achieving students out there) are not nearly as driven as some from other countries. Technology and education are valued and recognized as a way to get out of poverty, a way to move up in society. Students in other countries are using technology to learn, not just for fun.

We hear about other countries and their educational styles all the time. It is interesting to see which countries have recognized the shift and are making changes in their educational systems now. Hopefully, we have enough forward thinking teachers out there to guide our students in the right direction. As a librarian, I see that I can be a huge influence for these classroom teachers who may need the technology support.