Reading Response
I recently started working at Barrow Elementary School (BES) in the After School Program. From a girl raised in a very small town, Barrow Elementary School’s campus and supplies have really shocked me. When I graded high school, our school had one iPad, one single iPad in a Chemistry class, and that was a big deal. At Barrow Elementary, students in upper grade levels (third through fifth grade) are issued county owned laptops. These laptops are nice, sleek, and modern. When I heard about the students getting these laptops, my initially reaction was bitter and jealous.
“I didn’t get my first laptop until senior year of high school, but elementary schoolers are given them?” I thought “What do they need laptops for?” After taking a step back, I realized I was wrong for thinking in this manner. This progressive movement to get students plugged into technology is a great step forward for this generation and it also helps create a fair and even opportunity for children as far as technology is concerned. Some students with fewer resources at home may not have the opportunity to own or work regularly on laptops or other forms of technology, which would put them at a disadvantage in the future. By issuing the same type of technology to every student, showing them how to use it during school, and assigning homework with it every student, regardless of what their home life may be, has an equal opportunity to learn and use technology.
Chapter One discusses the topics of learning with technology rather than learning from technology. The idea of learning with technology is an important concept to me as a future educator. Again, students at BES are learning lessons in different subjects from their teacher and then completing exercising that correspond to their lesson on different kid-friendly educational websites. It’s a perfect way to prepare children of this generation to live and work in a technology-heavy twenty-first century.
Technology is more than just electronic devices, contrary to what I initially thought. While reflecting upon this chapter and lessons in my Assistive Technology course, technology can be anything that helps a student learn outside of the traditional methods. The chapter lists out that educational technologies can also include cognitive-learning strategies and critical thinking skills. This idea, again, really resonated with me as a future educator.
“I didn’t get my first laptop until senior year of high school, but elementary schoolers are given them?” I thought “What do they need laptops for?” After taking a step back, I realized I was wrong for thinking in this manner. This progressive movement to get students plugged into technology is a great step forward for this generation and it also helps create a fair and even opportunity for children as far as technology is concerned. Some students with fewer resources at home may not have the opportunity to own or work regularly on laptops or other forms of technology, which would put them at a disadvantage in the future. By issuing the same type of technology to every student, showing them how to use it during school, and assigning homework with it every student, regardless of what their home life may be, has an equal opportunity to learn and use technology.
Chapter One discusses the topics of learning with technology rather than learning from technology. The idea of learning with technology is an important concept to me as a future educator. Again, students at BES are learning lessons in different subjects from their teacher and then completing exercising that correspond to their lesson on different kid-friendly educational websites. It’s a perfect way to prepare children of this generation to live and work in a technology-heavy twenty-first century.
Technology is more than just electronic devices, contrary to what I initially thought. While reflecting upon this chapter and lessons in my Assistive Technology course, technology can be anything that helps a student learn outside of the traditional methods. The chapter lists out that educational technologies can also include cognitive-learning strategies and critical thinking skills. This idea, again, really resonated with me as a future educator.