Dave Neal, Week One, Chapter One Reflection

Three ideas or learnings from our reading that are of interest to me:

1. The first chapter delves right into our preconceived notions of technology. When I think of technology within the classroom, I immediately think of computers and the internet. During my first few years of teaching, I would use computers solely as a source to conduct research. As my teaching strategies have developed, I have grown to use computers for much more (PowerPoint presentations, quizes, messaging, research, etc.). I do believe that my perspective of classroom-based technology is limited due to my exposure. Technology that is used in my classes is essentially technology that I have used in my education. I look forward to learning about the vast technological resources that have most likely been available for quite some time within our tech-lab.
2. The growth and speed of technological development boggles my mind. I remember the days of typing class in my seventh grade classroom. Our techlabs consisted of green-screened Apple computers, with only one typing application that I knew of. Today, we are blogging, electronic tablets, smart boards, and who knows what else. It is tough to keep up with the pace of this industry, both professionally and personally. Professionally, I want to keep up to date so that my fifth grade students are exposed to new technologies. Personally it is tough because there is always a new 'thing' on the market that outdates everything in its competition.
3. TPCK really hit home with me due to the amount of time and energy that I put into technology in the process of teaching almost any subject. My classroom has the luxory of being nextdoor to the tech-lab (which is often vacant). I use the techlab on a daily basis to conduct research, create presentations, or type papers. TPCK initially made me crack up, thinking that technology did not have a place in the traditional PCK model, however after reading on, I realized that TPCK makes complete sense. Technology plays an integral role in both my teaching and the students learning.

Two new ideas for integrating technology for student learning in my own classroom/content area.

1. In one of the examples, Professor Chavez used electronic tablets as a method of instruction to his class. This is really inspiring to me, and made me think of what the future classrooms (or present classrooms in some schools) will be be like. I currently use dry-erase boards for the kids to use to show me their answers to math problems and various other classes. Of course, this is great because I can immediately see the thought processes of each student. The thought of having this ability through electronic tablets is fascinating. Potentially not any better than the dry-erase boards....but definately more interesting and fun for the students. A possible advantage to the digital version is that the educators could possibly save each student's responses for future use.
2. The idea of using concept mapping software like Kidspiration or Inspiration to to tell a story sounds great to me. My students use a variety of different tools to create story-maps and outline stories. I would be very interested in learning about other technological tools so that I can continue to offer a wider variety of writing tools to my students.

What is my one main concern about integrating technology for student learning after reading this chapter?

1. The author writes that besides knowing their subject(s) and knowing about teaching and learning, teachers need to know about technology. As I mentioned earlier, I use the technology that I have been exposed to. Hopefully, this class will introduce a multitude of new technological techniques and resources that I can use within my classroom. The problem is that technology continues to grow and develop at such a rapid pace, that even with this class, it will be a matter of time before these new strategies and tools will be outdated. How do we keep in touch?