Blog Post #1

The One Where We Talk About Technology 

          We live in an advancing age of all kinds of technology. While some people may be foreign to new technology, by understanding it thoroughly, we as future educators can include it in our classrooms! What influences teachers and students to incorporate technology into classrooms is how educational and playful it can be. Certain technology outlets such as "Kahoot" allow for technology to come into the classroom along with offering the students a fun way to use their cellphones and interact with their peers. Along with this, the majority of students are natives to technology which will grasp their full attention if technology is implemented into the learning. 

          International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) is an organization that focuses on helping educators implement technology into classrooms. One meaningful standard belonging to ISTE is being a "Digital Citizen". My skill sets thus far do include being a digital citizen as I am aware of how to be safe when on the internet. It is very important to understand how to be safe and respectable to others while on the internet as one's digital identity should consist of good standing as future students may interact with the teacher using sites on the internet but only in a safe and professional manner. One current standard that is out of mu skill set as of now is how to be a "Global Collaborator". I do intend on learning from other teachers and use what they tell me to better myself and better grow my classroom skills. I do want to learn how to reach out to other educators globally as I want to expand my knowledge on classroom computing and overall how to be the best educator for my future students. 

           I do agree with the label "digital native" for today's youth, however, I am aware that not every child is fully knowledgeable with the skill set for certain aspects in technology. To be a "Digital Native" means that one was born in an age or era of advancing technology that is taught to them at a young age meaning that their relationship with technology is great and fully knowledgeable making them natives to the advancing technology. I have seen certain differences when comparing my relationship with technology as opposed to my teachers in the past as they do not know how to turn up the volume on a YouTube video or how to "freeze" the picture on a projector. Seeing this has shown me that there is a major gap between a digital native (myself) and digital immigrants (my past teachers) due to our age difference and environment from when we were growing up. I do anticipate that there will be differences between my future students and myself in terms of how we use technology as they will b digital natives to a new generation of technology that I will have trouble comprehending. I anticipate that I will need help with the new tablets schools may have or how to work the new digital projecting system that every classroom has. Either way, I will try to be "in the know" of every progression technology may take as I know that I can implement tech into my classroom and create a fun learning environment for my future students!