My interest in reading this article was that I am going to be teaching in a first grade classroom this fall. I have seen several perspectives of what the children at an early grade level are capable of, and I was hoping to find an article written with high expectations.
This article discussed the fact early literacy activities that take place in the classroom reflect varying practices as well as differing perceptions of both literacy and technology and how they are related. The author mentioned the fact that there seems to be quite a resistance to technology and it's use in a majority of early literacy classrooms. The initial focus question for the research of this article was alternated to, " Why do teachers of early literacy find it difficult to implement technology into their literacy curriculum?" (Turbill)
I somewhat agreed with some of the difficulties which included: lack of time and expertise. Throughout this course however, I have realized that if we really want to provide an exceptional learning experience for our students, we need to try the best that we can to get past these difficulties.
For the lack of time, maybe I will only have 20 min. total during the day. This time may also be seperated into groups of 5 minutes at a time. This is extremely difficult to work with, but as a class, with the proper technologies, you can do beneficial whole group activities in 5 minutes. As far as lack of expertise, I know all about this one because everything I have learned to this point, I have had to practice to retain. I think the key word in this is practice though. You can take open times during your day, or also some time out of school to practice and explore the different technologies you are interested in reading. A lot of this depends on the district you are at, how much technology is available, etc. Several other factors come into play, but if you really want to integrate technology and you are flexible, I think you are capable of doing it. Early literacy is a crucial time for students. At this age they should be learning to love to read. Not all students have the same interests, some need diverse ways of being drawn into reading. The different possibilities with using technology is a great way to capture these students' interest! If you just take some time to explore the possibilities for yourself, I think you will get excited about your students' learning!
Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, Vol. 1, No. 3, 255-279 (2001).
It seems like teaching is implemented solely by a classroom teacher, while the reality can be totally different. By this, I mean classroom teaching is fulfilled under agreement and collaboration of the stakeholders, such as administrators, colleagues, parents, and the community. In other words, classroom teacher is not fully free to manage his/her class in terms of implementation of curricula. Use of technology is part of it as well. I would say that classroom innovation is from teachers themselves. They are the very crucial hidden curriculum. Their quality interactions with students, their quality lesson plans, their time and classroom managements, and so on, are the primary parts, I believe, that could result in any difference. Technology is just one of the tools that teachers can use for their teaching, although I agree that it is very useful one:)
ReplyDeleteGood article selection. I alway think the Why? question is right on target. Also keep in mind that we don't have to use technology in the classroom every day or every minute. Pick you times carefully and ease into it. I do believe that you have a great attitude and will take steps to incorporate it into your classroom for the right reasons.
ReplyDelete