Looking at what we discussed in class, technology has grown substantially in the past years, and how it is used in schools. A lot of the technology we discussed in lecture, are not even used these days anymore. That only means that as I am beginning my career right now, in 5 or 10 years from now, there will be a whole new phase of technology that is introduced, and much of what we use now, most likely will not be used anymore. I believe that there are benefits, but also harm to this.
First of all, I believe that technology can be used for many good and useful things, especially within the classroom. It can make a lot of things easier. For example, when I was completing my internship, I was introduced to Math Up, which is a new math resource that is being implemented into many classrooms around Saskatchewan and it is all accessed online. It completely lays out each of your lessons for you, allowing you to spend less time on planning. However, with new technology constantly being introduced, teachers need to spend more time learning and adjusting to new platforms. Personally, it was a huge learning curve for me, but I finally started adjusting as I was at the end of my internship. With high amounts of youth using technology these days, they are a lot more familiarized with how to use a lot of devices and platforms, it also saves a lot time when teaching children how to use these things.
On the other hand, it is not new news to anyone that technology can also be extremely damaging and harmful to children. You can find absolutely anything online with one click and there are a lot less filters on things, compared to when I was younger. With platforms such as Instagram, Tik Tok and Youtube, there is such a large age demographic for the people who are using it, that you could access things from anyone. Not only can you see anyones content, but you can also easily communicate with others of any age and from any part of the world. This could result in very dangerous situations or cyber bullying. I believe that as a teacher, it is extremely important that you are educating youth on the harmful aspects of the internet and how to use safely. That is something that I feel as though I lacked in my earlier days of schooling, but with a huge advancement in technology within the past years, it feels really important that it is taught properly and openly versus a couple of years ago.
I want to continue learning right now about all of the effective ways that I can use technology in my classroom, as I want to be as prepared as possible once I have my own classroom. I also want to have the abilities to be able to introduce colleagues and friends to ways that they can also use the technology in their classes. With this day and age, it is a very beneficial skill to have.
Teaching to use technology can be fun and sometimes frustrating because you solve one thing and another problem arises. Just make sure you are always having fun!