Journal 1

All teachers share a common goal. This goal being to ensure that students are prepared for their place in society. This is the main factor that influences teachers to use technology in their classrooms. Not only does incorporating technology in the classroom allow teachers to accomplish their instructional tasks, but also prepares students for contemporary life. Another factor that influences teachers to use technology in their classrooms is their want to meet identified standards for 21^st century learning. Both teacher and student literacy in technological tools is critical. A variety of environmental factors, psychological factors, and personal filters may influence students in the classroom. The use of technology in the classroom allows for students to be engaged in school, with these factors impacting them less.

The ISTE standards layout basic guidelines for students, teachers, and administrators to work together in order to improve our educational system. They provide reasonable goals for the schools to attain. The first educator standard, Learner, is meaningful to me because it encompasses the fact that all involved in the school system, even teachers, are constantly learning. Many assume that once someone becomes a teacher, learning is done for that individual. This is completely incorrect. Teachers constantly learn from and with other teachers. The fifth educator standard, Designer, seems outside of my current skill set. This standard encompasses that teachers create unique assignments to meet the needs of students with a variety of learning styles. I feel that it is outside of my current skill set because I do not feel equipped to meet the needs of a class containing students with a wide variety of learning styles.

I agree with the term “digital native” for today’s youth. The term “digital native” refers to individuals who have grown up knowing technology.  These people usually cannot recall a time in their life when technology such as computers and phones did not exist. I have seen several differences between how most of my teachers and I use technology. For instance, most of my teachers have a more difficult time navigating through digital classroom tools in comparison to the rest of the students and myself. This is because most of my teachers learned to use these technological tools later in their lives (digital immigrants) while my classmates and I learned to use these tools while growing up (digital natives). Most of my teachers do not rely on technology very much while my peers rely on technology heavily. These differences have not had much of an impact on my learning experience. This is because I personally am a “digital native” who does not rely on technology heavily or at least to a point where it impacts my learning. I anticipate that the same disparity that currently exists between “digital natives” and “digital immigrants” will still exist in the future. I will most likely have to heavily rely on technology as a classroom supplement in order to spark my students’ interests.