Chapter 7 & 8

I love technology! And I realize that technology is very important to education but I feel as though this book is trying to "ram" technology down our throats. I know that is terrible to say but does anyone feel as though we are being told what to do with technology? I found Chapter 7 unnerving as I read Perry and Areglado (2001) brow beat principals about technology. I love the idea of technology coming into my school but it is not only the Principal's responsibility to enforce using the technology. I do know that this is not the authors' intentions, however I could not get past it. There are many aspects of incorporating technology in a school. For one, you have to have the teachers', parents', and school board's nod of approval to begin. I did like the comment of Perry and Areglado (2001) when they state that a "Principal's leadership for technology transformation begins, rather than ends, when technology arrives at school." This comment I can agree. It is a transformation. A wonderful transformation that will help lead our children into the 21st century. I like to think of people who get mad that their child is no longer learning "long division" in school. They say "what if my child is in a place where there is no calculator or means for my child to do this math?" I think that logic would have flown 5 years ago but not now, there is NO place in the civilized world that you can not find a calculator, computer, phone, etc. that can divide for you... This is why I think technology is so important and teaching our children how to use it is important. However, I do have a problem with these authors writing and putting a bunch of pressure on the principal of the school. The principal has many day to day activities. He/She is there to conduct business. That is their job. Do I think that the principal should not be held responsible? No! I think that the whole school and school district should be held responsible for offering the best technology the school can buy and teaching it to them-that includes the principal too, but not only the principal.
Enough about that, sorry about that outburst...
Now onto Chapter 8...
There is ample support for technology. I believe that the public has already embraced technology. I do like Zimmerman's excerpt about doing away with old computers (2001). Someone should come in periodically and take the outdated computers out of the school. In the school I work, there are computers so outdated that I do not think my daughter's could use them. Technology moves very fast. We have to move with it. Our taxpayer dollars need to be put to good use and go toward teaching our children-implementing what the school has planned for them.

Perry, G. S., & Areglado, R. J. (2001). Technology in it's place. Successful technology infusion in
schools. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Zimmerman, I. K. (2001). Technology in it's place. Successful technology infusion in schools. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

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Teaching for Understanding-Chap 1 & 2

Chapters 1 and 2 of Teaching for Understanding with Technology was basically a view that all of us facing teaching technology is going to have to deal with. We all understand that we must incorporate technology in our curriculum, the problem now is funding it and educating the teachers how to incorporate the technology as stated in our text " schools are pressed to update their practices and to prepare both teachers and students for the 21st century." (Wiske, et al.2005). I agree with the authors when they discuss the idea of having a clearly defined purpose and goals of technical education in our schools. Parents, advisors, students, and especially teachers perform at the optimal level if everyone knows how, when, and why a product will be implemented.

Once the idea of technology is being incorporated into the curriculum, the next step must be address how and why certain topics are worth studying. I agree also with the idea of having the technology specialists involved in the topics. The TRTs are available to us (teachers) in order to help us define what goals we need to set, select the correct technology, plan ways to incorporate technology into our curriculum, and assisting us in class (Wiske, et al, 2005). We need these people to help us with our journey to the new 21st century curriculum.

I have seen a TRT in action with teachers and she is fantastic with the general ed teachers. It is so nice to have her help the teachers incorportate the smart boards into the classes. We have 7 smart boards mounted in classrooms for use. One per each grade in the elementary school. The TRT has helped the 3-5 grade teachers help bring in software and websites to help with SOL training. Because of NCLB no one really is worried about how to assess technological learning, they are too busy worried about AYP. I think that any technology incorported in the class is a step in the right direction.

Wiske, M.S., Franz, K.S., & Breit, L. (2005). Teaching for Understanding with Technology. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

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