Rethink: Chapter 2

While being in this technology class, I must admit that at times I am still a little skeptical of being able to greatly enhance our students' education with technology. Chapter 2 showed me just how wrong I really was. The list of enhanced capabilities (just in time learning, learner control, interaction, scaffolding, games and simulation, multimedia, publication and reflection) opened my eyes to how beneficial technology can be. Teachers learn about having to incorporate a variety of teaching methods to appease students different learning abilities. We are in an age where we need to start individualizing our instruction for each student. I'm starting to grasp why using technology within a classroom setting can allow our students to learn more than perhaps they might if everyone is just sitting in their desks listening to me lecture. There was one section in the reading that really made sense to me. It talked about "how much of school is like learning tennis by being told the rules and practicing the forehand, backhand and serve without ever playing or seeing a tennis match" (23). How can we expect our students to really value what we're teaching them unless we show them how it will help them in the real world. And what better way to do that than to use different outlets of technology?

I can say that before this class I probably wouldn't have felt very inclined to use technology in my classroom... what would be the point? But now, I feel that if we want to get our students excited about learning and have them feel that what we are teaching them really will help them one day, we are better able to illustrate the benefits using technology. I feel that there's few other options to explain to our students how having them do math, science, English, or history will help them be valuable members of society without the use of technology.
By using technology, students will not only have a better understanding of what they're learning, but I believe that they will actually want to learn.