Technology Changing History

The first week of Social Studies Methods, Dr. Smirnova showed the class a YouTube video on 21^st Century Learners. When the video was playing, I was so engaged right away. The music and images moving quickly caught my attention, however I was also focused on the message it was trying to getting across. Using technology in classrooms is very beneficial for both the students and teachers. The students want to complete their work with what is offered to them and today in the 21^st century there are many tools that teachers can use for their class. However some school districts do not have the money to have a lot of these tools, such as a Smart Board, iPads, clickers, etc. But the schools that do should prepare their students for what the 21^st century has to offer them.  

My major at Mount Saint Mary College is Information Technology for Educators (ITE) and I choose this major because I believe using technology in the classroom is very important and I know there are a lot of tools I still do not know how to use that are out there. After viewing this video, I realized that I chose the right major and need to continue using all the tools I use in my presentations and lesson plans. I realized in some class discussions that I was the only familiar with certain tools, which was helpful since I learned it from my major. Although technology has technical difficulties at times, teachers should also prepare a backup in case the internet was not working. For one of my Information Technology classes last semester, I read multiple articles on the benefit of using technology in the 21^st century.

The excerpt above explains all the different tools that teachers can use in a classroom. There are many apps on an iPad that teachers can use to help their students develop different skills. Today in the 21^st century, technology is very important since it is used in our daily lives. For the most part, every household “has been equipped with at least a technological device namely a desktop computer, laptop computer, smart phone, tablet, etc., and students love to use them” (Bhaskar, 2013, p. 2). Therefore teachers should think about teaching these students to be 21^st century learners and further their experience with using technology also. The school district I attended, many teachers used technology when they could. Although we did not have as much technology as we do now in elementary schools, my teachers did do reading stations. In my language class in high school we would use clickers all the time and it made me interact, but also made the period go by faster. I believe teachers that are engaging their students help them remember the material while having fun.

For example, Dr. Smirnova did a unique getting to know you activity with the class. She allowed her students to pick one tool to use to present themselves digitally. I thought this was a great way of getting to know each other. Some of the tools that were used were glogster, prezi, pinterest, word cloud, voki, tagxedo word cloud, etc. I personally used tagxedo word cloud for my presentation, which was very user-friendly. I could see teachers using this tool to wrap up a unit with vocabulary words and important key elements. The YouTube video on 21^st Century Learners, shows that students want to learn digitally and become 21^st learners. According to Santosh K Bhaskar (2013), “It’s a great way to implement their use in education as it has been already proved that technology improves students’ learning, communication, creativity and problem solving skills. 21st century classroom enables game-based learning, project-based learning, inquiry-based learning, visual learning, auditory learning, kinesthetic learning, etc.” Dr. Smirnova asked the class, if we are ready to teach the 21^st Century students. After thinking about how much knowledge I have with all different programs and applications, I am certainly prepared to have engaging and motivating lessons for my future students. I have experience with using the Smart Board from high school and college and I think that I can go beyond that and have my students explore other helpful tools. I want to make an impact with the students I teach.

Thank you for reading,

Works Cited

Bhaskar, Santosh K.  "Technology in Elementary Classrooms." Impact of Technology in Elementary Classrooms. N.p., 23 Sept. 2013. Web. 28 Jan. 2015. <http://edtechreview.in/trends-insights/trends/658-impact-of-technology-in-elementary-classrooms>.

Nesbitt, B. (2007, November 28). A Vision of K-12 Students Today. Retrieved January 28, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A-ZVCjfWf8