Technology and I have a love/hate relationship. My family use to always tease me that I had a curse when it came to technology. Every computer I owned crashed, every Ipod I have had, at one point or another, showed me the frowny face. For Christmas this year I got an itouch and dropped it on my first run breaking the screen. You get the point. So, I guess you could say I am not scared of technology, but rather of hurting technology. I have to work with it, and honestly, I like working with it, I am just terrified of breaking it. I think it is great that we are working with our mistakes as part of this class, yet, when it comes to technology, some mistakes cannot be undone.
My technology style is trial and error. I don't like to watch tutorials, I really dislike reading them. I simply want to play around with it until I get it. I actually really enjoy someone showing me around (as long as they don't take it out of my hands). Like many people, I learn from doing. The same is with technology.
Nonetheless, I am working at The School at Columbia right now as a 6th grade teacher and this school LOVE technology. Every teacher has a Mac book Air, every classroom has an Ipad and an SMART or Etise board. Every kid has an apple computer. All of their projects are published online on their own server. Everything is shared through google. It is nuts, but I like it. They have a huge team dedicated to technology, which I sometimes wonder if the money there could be better allocated, but on the other hand, this team and its resources are teaching these kids how to be students in the 21st century. They have made me a believer: technology can bring about a change in education that is needed. Throughout my time at The School I keep finding myself thinking, "man, this would be so great for a Special Education class!" It just has to be the right technology.
Before moving to NYC I worked in a public school as a paraprofessional in Salt Lake City. The school was terribly underfunded, so resources were pretty pathetic. We would try to do technology activities with students on these old, terrible computers, and it really frustrated me. What was the point? I understand that helping kids become more familiar with technology is a step in an of itself, but today there are so many pieces of equipment that are user friendly, and intuitive. Why should we struggle to teach technology when it can be so easy? We struggle because it costs a lot.
In short: I am scared of technology because I know its value and power. I believe in the power of technology to change education, but it's gotta be the right equipment.
Once I finished the Martinez reading I will write a brief reflection.
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