Significant Role of Technology on the Daily

I think that technology is a great resource for us to have at the tips of our fingers. I also see while there may be many pros about technology there are also many cons as well. Coming into this school year and being told by our admin that there will be a no phone policy in the classroom I was skeptical for many reasons. One of those reasons being is that, smart phones are not going anywhere, and completely eliminating the use won’t teach students how to work in a real world setting with a cell phone distraction. Additionally I am also very grateful for this change because as many of us know and maybe have taught our kiddos, cyberbullying is happening and it happens a lot during school hours. Kids also know how to hide if they are listening to music, or if given time to use their phone for academic purposes there are always a few kids that turn to TikTok, instagram and snapchat instead…

This is not only a problem for grade school kids as I can admit I am guilty of using technology when I should be doing school work, and it’s my biggest fault in procrastination. I also use a lot of technology for work, and school related purposes, but I am not shy of using apps for leisure to pass time. Snapchat and Instagram are my kryptonite which are mainly my ways to social interaction, I also love crossword puzzles. As for work I use edsby and email a lot, I am also in a temporary LRT role, and have used ChatGPT a few times to help me figure out Pre Cal and Foundation 20 math questions. I used to joke that I would never use this math so it was silly having to learn it, but here I am now using it again lol. 

I was gifted a skylight calendar and this is my digital calendar/organizing lifeline. I can update everything through my phone, I can also view the calendar on my phone or at home on the giant digital calendar. These help me in adding school assignments, when they are due, when classes are changed or canceled as well as updating appointments and plans that may be upcoming. I also have many technology tools that have been helpful during my short time teaching. One that has been amazing is called Brisk. You can use this chrome extension to help mark essays, create assignments and quizzes based on readings or youtube videos and you can change the academic level of the reading and assignments to fit your current students level and needs. While of course with all AI tools you need to be careful as some things may not be perfect, it helps alleviate some of the heavy work especially coming in as a new teacher with very minimal resources and lessons already created. I have only really used it to adjust reading levels for articles and making little reading concept assignments, but my biggest takeaway is that you can change the academic level for students that may be working below level in some of their academics. 

Technology is such a valuable resource that we are lucky to be able to utilize in our personal lives, at work, and in school settings. From a teaching perspective, I think it is important to learn and to teach our students ways to use technology in a beneficial way and how to eliminate the distractions of notifications and social medias.