This first chapter in Teaching with the Tools Kids Really Use was rather intriguing. The main discussion in this chapter was not only whether there should be a shift towards curricula that include 21st century skills but also how the educational system should go about accomplishing this. The book stated that the majority of the public thinks it is absolutely necessary to include 21st century technology skills in the curricula, which I whole-heartedly agree with this opinion. However, it is my opinion that these technology skills should be integrated with the general education courses.
Children must be equipped with technology skills, because that is so much of what our world revolves around today. This is a fact that I did not realize until I began teaching in my field experiences during my undergraduate career. I was amazed when placed in a kindergarten classroom that students were already doing much of their work on computers. This to me was astonishing since I did not have a computer in the classroom until I was in the fifth grade, and I did not have one in my home until high school. I think by seeing this rapid rate of technology advances and subsequent skills in young children that teaching these 21st century skills is imperative. I am still quite young, yet I still feel behind in much of the technology that students are using today.
As a teacher it was encouraging to hear the author of this book urge teachers to work together. Changes in the curricula must be made, but it does not have to be done alone. Teachers can support each other in making necessary changes that will positively effect their classroom. I was also encouraged to read the authors suggestion to go beyond automated traditional activities. There have been many times when I was required to do an activity that included technology, but was not truly different from what the assignment would have been had the technology not been available. It will be my goal as a teacher to incorporate technology in the classroom in meaningful ways that will help my students to learn the technology itself as well as the general subject matter. It is my opinion that both aspects are paramount to a competent education.
I'll end with a quote from the book that summed it up quite nicely: "As educators work to align curricula to these standards it's important to remember that they do not replace content areas standards; they support them by emphasizing the importance of using modern tools and strategies to achieve academic goals." (pg 7)
Yes, the first stage in using a new technology is to do things with it that are little different than what was done before without the technology. A technology can only be understood to have matured when it enables new, useful things to be done that could not have been done previously without the technology.
ReplyDeleteGood observation!