All This Technology, What Do We Do With It?

I am a 5th grade teacher in Gaithersburg, Maryland.  This is my second year at the school and we have just gone through a “technology modification” in which the whole school was wired with a local intranet system and each classroom was given three personal computers to use at the teachers leisure.  Not to mention tons of programs and resources that most technology literate teachers would jump at, however, barely any of it is being used.

I was lucky enough to come from a school where we had this “tech mod” situation occur and be familiar with a lot of the programs already, however most of my colleagues are not and have never used any of it.  I know some teachers who don’t even turn their computers on every day.  This is crazy!!!  The county I work for has spent millions of dollars investing in the latest technology to be used in the classroom and it is not happening, but I don’t really blame the teachers.  OK, maybe I do a little, but it is like giving a computer science major the keys to NASA.  He or she has so much they don’t know what to do with all of it?

Teachers are asked to do so much in a given day and things have to be prioritized, unfortunately technology seems to fall way down on the list.  There are two major problems I see with the technology we have and how we are asked to deal with it.  The first is time, and the second is knowledge. 

Time, as they say, is of the essence, and a teachers time is very valuable.  Teachers barely have enough time to use the restroom more or less sit down and self-teach themselves a new computer program that they then have to try to find time to fit into their curriculum.  However, unless you are properly trained, time is what you need to give and make technology a priority.  But how?  You should at least try to give thirty minutes a week to include some form of technology into your instruction.  It doesn’t have to be anything sophisticated, just allow the students to turn the computer on and explore.  Let the students do the work for you.  Have them choose a program and write a description about it, as they would a story summary.  What is the purpose of the site?  What are its capabilities? What contents would be best suited?  And so on.  This will get your students interested and give them experience on a computer that they may not receive at home.

The second problem I see with the technology comes from the teacher’s knowledge.  Teachers instruct about and with what they are comfortable and that comes from their own experiences.  The last thing teachers want to do is sound foolish while teaching, therefore they avoid content matter that they are unsure of.  Trainings are given at the school but they are very few and far between and can’t be relied on to make a teacher feel confident about implementing something they just skimmed over in a few short hours, if that.  Again it is now up to the teachers to take the initiative to learn something that they have zero confidence in and no time to do it.

Unfortunately, the only way I see technology becoming more apart of the classroom is by forcing teachers to take technology classes in order to be re-certified to receive their state certificate.  Technology applications are part of everyday life and some jobs now require applicants to have some technological skill.  This training is falling more and more on the teachers to provide and we need to be prepared to give it.  States already require teachers to take so many credits of reading every so many years so they are up on the latest trends in that area.  Why shouldn’t teachers also be mandated to take a basic technology applications course?  Technology literacy is becoming necessary for all students to be successful in society, so again we as teachers need to be literate as well.