Sir. Marlon is an elementary teacher in Methodist Christian school . From his experiences, I knew a lot of things. He said before it is difficult to get the attention of his pupils but when he learned how to use computers he was able to involve more his students. Students are energetic and playful it is difficult to get their attention once they are doing something already. When he learned making power point of his lessons accompanied by graphics, arts and sounds the learning process became more interesting and interactive. But, he said we should not only use technology to impress and get the students attention rather this should be considered as an avenue for them to learn and gain knowledge.
Technology in the classroom provides many advantages. Students can become independent learners, for example, with the assistance of a computer and a typing program. Not only do the kids get to individually express themselves through their writing, they are also learning essential skills that they will find useful throughout their life. It motivates students and involves in the discussion. It also makes the lesson smooth and sometimes time is maximized for other activities and lessons. There are many things to consider in using technologies in the classroom. These are the time, subject matter, the objectives and the mood of the students. The success of the use of technology lies primarily in the teachers skills and at the same time by considering the mentioned factors.
Although technology has proven to be very useful to help enhance a classroom lesson, a teacher must also be cautious towards the detrimental aspects of these same technologies. It is crucial to note that teachers must be both competent users and innovators with technology and moral guardians against its most trivializing effects. For example, some websites are not appropriate for younger children, so it is important for teachers to limit or restrict their students from Internet access on computers. In addition to this, some content on particular audio tapes may not be suitable for all children so the teacher must be aware of this. Although some of the students may be allowed to access this kind of information at home, the teacher should not expose his or her students to technology that has content they feel is not age-appropriate.
Another harmful or detrimental attribute of classroom technology is that some children become overly reliable towards it, and they are not able to do simple tasks that are asked by the teacher. An example of this is being asked to do a math problem, but instead of working it out on paper, the students might use a calculator to solve the problem. If students become overly dependent on these technologies, they forget how to think for themselves and fail to understand basic problems.
Technology is continuously changing and constantly impacting the way in which our world thinks and functions. I learned that it is important that teachers can understand and appreciate these technologies in order to determine if they are worth using to enhance a lesson or concept in their class. Not all technologies are necessarily helpful for classrooms, therefore teachers must determine what the most appropriate method of technology would be used for a particular task and function.
