Reflection for Class

Post a reflection about the differences between how you plan to teach with how you were taught.

In general I had very good teachers in elementary school and they hardly ever used much technology. How I would change their take on teaching would depend on the job I had, the needs of my students, and the resources available to me. I am observing in a Title 1 school and I understand that the classroom I am in is special because my teacher is amazing at her job. She doesn't need technology to support her lessons, she is engaging and imaginative and kind to her students. Because of her ability to maintain order and control and still teach she is able to educate her students without very much technological help.
The students do use computer games and computer tests for reading comprehension mostly. But there's only 4 computers and the program is shared bu the district so the cap on people using it at the moment is sometimes hit and students can not use that computer system for a while. Mrs. Kenyon uses her white board as her teaching podium while I have not ever seen her use the overhead projector. She uses a movie most times as a reward or completion to the unit. She brought her lap top in once to show the students pictures of places she had visited when they were making travel brochures. But technology is not an everyday classroom experience and for these students I do not think they are losing out on anything.
I think it depends on the teacher and to what ends the lesson is heading towards. If the classroom is based on guided exploration then maybe technology should be more integrated, but it doesn't have to be the focus of the lesson. Students should not be talked at, they should be involved in their education. But technology in a classroom of a teacher that doesn't know how to reach her students without it is useless.
Maybe for higher grades the computer can be more integrated, I am in a 2nd grade classroom where 95% of the students are either bilingual or trying to become bilingual in Spanish as their first language and English as their second. I think at this young age these students have not had the experience with computers that maybe a fifth grader might have had. Technology is important and has entered their world but I do not think it is enough of an influence yet to be necessary in the classroom.
It depends on how well you know your students whether or not technology should be used and how it should be used. We are supposed to know our students anyways so finding out if they would learn better with a technological lesson and then accepting the answer and using it to help teach in the classroom is the best way to change how I have been taught.