Cantu Chapters 6 and 7

Chapters 6 and 7 of Cantu investigate the impact that technology has in the modern classroom. Chapter 6 opens by claiming that "teachers who are unwilling to learn, unlearn, and relearn new classroom technologies will soon find themselves to be pedagogically illiterate in the classroom" (Cantu, 6). These struck me as powerful words because oftentimes we think about how we have to remain up-to-date in our content are that we forget we have a second concentration- technologies. I think that being competent with technology is important because it allows you to remain connected to students who undoubtedly know their way around the internet.

In order to stay ahead of the curve, and our students, it is important that we remain lifelong students in the field of technology. There are many arguments for technology in the classroom as a means towards enhancing learning, so it is important to become on board. I believe the most important aspect of technology in a classroom is making sure it WORKS- students need to be learning; it is not enough for them to be happy that you have set up a web-quest instead of presenting them with questions from the textbook. Students have to be able to enhance their skills in ways that are beneficial towards their future in a global society. I think the biggest component of technology I will be using will be targeted towards developing collaboration between students. If they can work on a project together without having to worry about the travel to get to a meeting point, they are still learning how to work with others as well as becoming more proficient at navigating sites such as Blogger or Google Docs.

Finally, just as teachers are tasked out at creating good citizens, we now also are responsible for forming their digital citizenship- the internet is available to us all, but we have to be models and guides for the proper way to use it.

Technology helps us reach higher standards of learning than were expected in the past, so it is important that we keep up with the changing times in order to have a digital classroom that works rather than one run by students who know more than we do. One example of a useful digital classroom tool that was mentioned in Cantu is survey monkey. This is something that students can use for their projects outside of the classroom, or one we can quickly utilize in class in order to start a discussion. Survey Monkey

Big Question: When does technology take away from direct classroom instruction, and how do we achieve a good balance between digital learning and traditional methods of teaching?