After reading this chapter in Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology I have mixed feelings on incorporating technology into the classroom. The book mentions that with technology students would have the ability to study their own lessons that based on each child’s interests. The book compared these individual lessons to an IEP. I however feel a little weary about having children choose to learn according to what the child’s interests are. When I was a student I first wanted to be a ballerina, and then a teacher, and then a doctor, psychiatrist, to finally deciding to be a teacher. If I were learning based on my interests the things I would need to learn to succeed in my career would keep changing. If a student wanted to become an actress, what would motivate that student to learn math facts? It is our job as future educators to prepare our students for their future. However we are not sure what their future holds. We should be preparing our children for multiple possibilities instead of just one outcome. Today, many people are layed off, forced into finding jobs they never dreamed of having. My own mother owned her own flower shop, and then decided to sell and is now working as a customer service rep. These two jobs are not related. If she only learned in school information about flower shops she would have lacked the communication and technology information needed as a customer service rep.
The chapter also talks about just in time learning. I compare just-in-time reading to cramming. You are learning the information as you need it and then when the information isn’t needed anymore we discard it. How do we know if we will never need the lost information in the future? We don’t. This is why it is important to retain all the information we have learned. Our brain is a powerful computer able to store far more information than any computer. Why put your intelligence in relying on the less effective model.
This chapter had some good information as well. When I am a teacher I will integrate different material to learn information. It is good to recognize that everyone learns in a different way. This is why it is important to teach many different ways. I feel technology is a great tool to use in the classroom, but should enhance learning not take over learning. If students can only learn from a computer what is the point of school at all? I feel as a teacher I should reflect what old methods are still working in the classroom and what methods need to be replaced by technology.
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