Princess’ World

After reading this article, it took me back and made me start thinking about how I came into this technological run world. When I was a little girl it was common for everyone not to have a computer at home. We were stuck with the confines of using computers at school. Using word processing on the computer didn’t even come into my world until I was in middle school. I can remember typing my fifth grade social studies fair project  using a really old typewriter. Fast forwarding a little to the present, now I can’t live without using technology tools everyday. I am always on the computer whether that be checking email, surfing the web, helping others, or playing the ever addiciting online computer games.

How did I get to where I am today with technology? Well I think it is because I am not afriad to try new things. I am in the world of Digital T&E, which stands for Digital Trail and Error. I don’t consider myself a Digital Immigrant, nor do I consider myself a Digital Native. I find myself somewhere in between the two worlds. I think many of our educators today are a little afriad or apprehensive to try using new tools in the technology world. I believe many of them think that they have to be an “expert” with computers in order to be technologically sound, but you really only have to know a little mroe than the next person or people you are working with. We need to get used to the feeling of working off of each others knowledge and possibly combine the worlds of Digital T&E with the Digital Natives.

So, how do we teach our children in this tecnologically growing world? I believe we need to let the students  be more apart of the process. Often times when I am working or talking with the students about technology the give me ideas to think about more than I would give them ideas, and this is at the elementary level. I agree with Mr. Prensky, students today really haven’t changed, only how they go about doing things has changed. I would have never thought of watching TV and listening to the radio all while doing homework when I was coming up through the ranks. However by the time I hit college, I could have five or more people on the IM while trying to type a paper, with the TV going on in the background.

I enjoy being in a technology-driven world. Yes, I get frustrated sometimes with technology, but I still get excited when a new tool is brought into our world. As a matter of fact I can’t wait to get the new Smart Boards at school. I am hoping that I with the help of a couple of others get the other educators excited as well. I have already heard the moaning and groaning of how they won’t use it because it will take more time. I ask myself what if I put in an extra 10-15 minutes of my time, would that be more recieved by my students? I think ninety percent or better of the time the answer to the question will be yes, then why wouldn’t I go the extra mile. I think back how much cooler school could have been when I was in school if we had been exposed to the opportunities we have today to use with our students.