While reading chapter one, I came across a few things that I was not only surprised by, but intrigued by. The first thing was the amount of children that are exposed to technology at such a young age. I was already aware that we live in a very technology driven world, but I was surprised to know just how many youngsters were using technology so early especially because the numbers were from four years ago. The book states “By 2010, over half of the U.S. children under age 5 were using some type of electronic learning toy and watching nearly four hours of television every day.” While I was not surprised the number was high, I was taken aback by the fact that in this has been going on for so long. I guess I just never actually realized how prominent the us of technology was in the young ages even years ago.
Something else I found interesting was the technology-based textbook that was briefly talked about in chapter one. Being very new to the teaching world, I am basically a blank canvas; I have very little knowledge about the technology that is used today for teaching. I find that the technology-based textbook where the teacher can create his/her own online textbook with lessons as well as incorporate external information to help teach the lesson is an innovative technique to combining technology with teaching. Because the topic was only covered briefly in the book, I would like to do some more research on this as well as find out it’s advantages and disadvantages in the classroom.
One more thing that caught my attention in this chapter was the paragraph labeled “Teaching 21st Century Learners with 21st Century Technologies”. This section of the chapter explained how teachers are expected to convey “21st century skills” which means we, as teachers, are not only responsible for teaching things like math, science, and reading; we are now responsible for teaching skills that our students will utilize every single day. These skills will not only be used in school, but in daily life by the students for the remainder of their lives. Teaching them these skills with the use of technology will help students learn the curriculum as well as help prepare them for real world situations.
In closing, I have realized just by reading the first chapter that there is a whole lot I don’t know about technology and how it affects teaching in this century. I am excited to see what the rest of the text has in store and I’m anxious to put my skills to the test.
Resources:
Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.
