Embrace it-technology isn’t going anywhere! I remember when the internet was first being released and the excitement that the dial tone of dial up internet caused. It was opening a whole new world to me, we could search things up and what’s this new email thing? You mean I can send letters and messages to friends without handwriting them and mailing them?!? I remember when we got our first bag cell phone for our car, to only be used in emergency situations and how excited I was when the big Nokia handheld phone came out. The next big excitement was getting a flip phone and with that came this new thing called text messaging? No more having to make phone calls, right on, I got really fast at T9 texting. Then my 7 year old daughter came home from school and at the top of her Christmas list was an “ear pod” because all of the kids on the bus had them and she could listen to music and be like them. I thought what else can come along and low and behold out came Hi5, Facebook, the Blackberry and now the iPhone. I never thought I would have all the information of the world in the palm of my hand, but the iPhone brought just that.
I honestly don’t remember the Numa Numa dance craze, but I do remember some that have happened later. I remember the Gangman Style, and in more recent years Fancy Like. I do love seeing these crazes and how it brings people together on social media. Social media has become such a giant in our world. I was hit pretty hard in class when Katia said that sharing your ultraspound picture in a baby announcement means your child has a digital footprint before they are even born…I did just that with my son. I have continued to share our life on social media as a means of our family being able to keep up with us. But I am beginning to see how much time I spend on facebook and Instagram and how much time it has taken out of my everyday life. I have not entered the Tik Tok craze as I know that it will be a dark hole for me so I have decided to stay off.
I see so many benefits of technology in the classroom. I like that students can have iPads and laptops to look up information, watch how to videos and do their schoolwork on, my fear is that the more that we use these things we begin to lessen our developmental skills like reading and printing/writing. I do think its wonderful to use these devices for communication devices for non verbal students and the read back option and talk to text so students who struggle in these areas can continue to be successful in the classroom. At home my son turns into a different child when he has spent too much time on technology so we limit his time often, I feel like this isn’t just a problem in my home, I think this is part of the behavioral issues that we see. This is one of the fears I have for technology in the classroom, I think that it has to be monitored and in small doses. At work I often see that the end of iPad activity time leads to more behaviors as they do not want to get off.
With COVID we saw how technology really pulled us through in the education world. It was a huge learning curve for teachers and parents as online options became the education platform for all students. Online school is a huge positive for me, with the creation of more online classes it made the reality of me finishing my degree finally more attainable. I think this has been huge for many people besides myself. I look forward to what’s to come in this department.
I think schools are getting better at controlling cell phone use in the classroom, especially with the new policy in place. My daughter is in grade 12 and told me she wasn’t going to go to school if she couldn’t have her phone-these children truly are addicted. I am looking forward to exploring technology resources for my own classroom and finding what works for me and what doesn’t. Technology doesn’t seem to be slowing down so I might as well jump on the train and enjoy the ride.
