My final culminating statement

When I began this technological odyssey I would have classed myself as what my tutorial leader Carmel calls a technological native. I had an interactive whiteboard in year three so i obviously knew all there is to know about technology. Ha! My IWB in year three did not teach us music. Before beginning this class i already held a strong a strong belief in the concept of a teach as learner and the need to constantly evolve and change. This is no where more prominent then in the case of technology.  Having taught my second day on prac today i am beginning to see the role technology plays and how my learning of technology has change me as a teacher. I tried to swipe the whiteboard to scroll today (we have a projector not a smartboard in my prac classroom).I feel i have an understanding of how to understand new technologies and how to asses them in a teaching context. Glynis taught us about ethics (amazingly) which is the area of technology i most want to see change in. There is a real need to teach children about ethics and safety and equip them for an online world which they seem to be entering earlier and earlier. I think as teachers we do what we can to protect students we don't let them cross the street alone when they're with us, we make sure they always eat there lunch; so when we know that social networking sites not specifically designed for primary school students are dangerous it is only natural that we facilitate students using a site like edmodo or ning. That is how as teachers we keep our students safe.In terms of ethics i don't feel that it is ever ok to break the law as a teacher; whether it is a highly enforced law or something less so like piracy it is still against the law and in ethics especially  the best way to teach is by leading by example. I don't believe that there is a place for every type of technology in the classrooms (xbox's, playstations and facebook is not welcome) but each new piece of technology deserves to be examined and critiqued to determine its appropriateness for the classroom. As with the ipad there is potential for its use in the classroom but if they benefits do not outweigh the negatives then it is not of great use. Discovery was theme throughout with the driving factor being the desire to provide students with the best materials with which to learn. I struck gold and can't wait for my prac students to try it out! I think its important as teachers to collaborate and share ideas and that is something i will continue to do in the future whether it be through our facebook group, blogs or wikis. By sharing ideas we can find better resources and cut down on the time it takes to find good resources and put that time back into lesson planning and other important aspects of teaching. I'm still not sure if i've done all of this right but i think as with all new technology you just have to try it and i have. However as Glynis always reminds us if technology can replace a teacher then that teacher should not be teaching.

references 

Jigsaw: Assembly for 8 10 year olds. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o8auwnJtqE Retrieved 10^th June 2012.
Reid, D. & Ostashewski, N. (2011). iPads in the Classroom – New Technologies, Old Issues: Are they worth the effort?. In T. Bastiaens & M. Ebner (Eds.), Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2011 (pp. 1689-1694). Chesapeake, VA: AACE. Retrieved from http://www.editlib.org/p/38089. 

Class readings

NMA flash activity gold rush