September 16th, 2008
Task #1
Changes in technology have continued to alter my teaching. At the last school I taught, the students all had to have digital portfolios. An intriguing idea in theory, it usually resulted with massive frustration. I had to input all the lessons before a student could post and approve each piece, as well as helping students deal with the demands of technology skills, how to work the scanner, where all the school’s backup servers were, etc. It was hard to fit all of that into a weekly 45 min class.
Since then, I’ve entered the world of blogging, RSS feeds, gmail, etc. I feel like going through withdrawal when I can’t have access to the computer. It gives me a means of connecting with friends around the world, checking via email and blogs to make sure my friends are okay after various tropical storms, the same storms whose progress I have been tracking online. I’m hyper aware of the responsibility in teaching kids internet safety, reliability of sources, comfort levels with new technology. They adapt far quicker than I ever did, but I try to remain open to new tools, new methodologies, new technology. I do not take for granted that their comfort levels and sophisticated usage of technology means they have an adult awareness of the potential dangers to which they expose themselves. It’s a far far different world than the one I grew up in, when apples were still a fruit and not a computer brand. But it’s oh so exciting!!
