As a future educator of
the early childhood classroom, I will admit that I was a bit skeptical of
whether or not to add technology into my upcoming classroom. After reading over
chapter one of “Understanding The Power of PLN’s” and revisiting my thoughts on
the matter, I did have a change of mind. One of my main arguments on why I should
not include technology for these younger students is, because I did not quite
find it a hundred percent appropriate at such a young age. To be clearer, I mean
the internet can be a very resourceful place, but it can be a very dangerous,
as well. Then, I rethought that idea. My two year old nephew knows how to work
an iPad, so whether we agree or disagree on the matter at hand, these children
are most likely already going to have technologies in their lives. As an
educator, we can include the positives of technology, such as teaching the threats,
showing how it can be resourceful, making the classroom a more engaging place,
etc.
In chapter one of
Personal Learning Networks, written by Will Richardson and Rob Mancabelli, they
ultimately discuss the positives of technology in the classroom and the other
types of techniques that come with it. A specific part of chapter one that
particularly grabbed my attention was the “Changing Skills.” In this portion,
Richardson and Manacabelli first talk about how, as we are conveying our
information to our students we have to always be wondering if the material we
are researching on the internet is actually valid. I agree wholeheartedly with
them, because as someone who is fairly acquainted with the internet I realize how
anyone can pretty much state anything as fact on their webpage. They also point
out how it is very hard to keep our attention on what we are meant to be paying
attention to. Their solution? “Attention
Literacy,” and in summary, it is basically a talent in which we have mental
control of what we are doing. The authors write, “In the end, these types of
skills must become a seamless and integral part of how we interact with
information and people online, and as educators we have to be able to model
these for our students.”
Overall, while I do
still have some arguments on whether or not to add technology into my classroom
at a younger age, I can also see a lot of positives as well. I enjoyed how Richardson
and Mancabelli managed to talk about integrating technology into the classroom,
but also finding a good balance as well. As the world is becoming more and more
technologically sound, children will have to start learning and understand the
different concepts that come along with that. As an upcoming teacher, I realize
that I may need to incorporate these ideas into my lesson plans, whether I am
for the idea or not.
