Keener,+Paul

Final Exam:

I believe that technology is a means to an end. From what I’ve noticed in observing teachers in school today, some tend to overuse technology when it’s not necessary and some tend to avoid its use altogether. This is largely dependent on teaching style, but as more teacher become more intimately familiar with the use and possible applications of technology, I believe that it is of vital importance for the means to incorporate technology into the classroom to be available to teachers.

There are certainly lessons for which the use of instructional technology may not be essential or even useful, but the majority of lessons can be modified to incorporate them. While that may not sound like a very necessary modification, it can actually make the lesson far more accessible to a much wider range of students. So, while it is ultimately up to the teacher whether or not to use the technology available to them, it is important that technology be accessible for when the students need it in order to better comprehend the content presented to them and ensure their academic success. Technology becomes almost essential, though, when dealing with any students with special needs or English Language Learners who may be present in the school, so it is good to know the means will be available to me to teach every student to the best of my ability.

The presence of technology in the classroom will benefit students after they move on from school as well. Technology is fast becoming an essential skill in the workplace today, and fluency with technology can only come from exposure to and experience with it. By offering technological tools to students within the school, we’re better preparing them for life after the classroom and providing them with an invaluable skill in today’s workplace.

At the beginning of the semester I examined this issue primarily from the point of an English teacher. Here, however, I seemed to look at it as simply a teacher. That seems to be the key difference which has been initiated by this class. I used to look at technology and think about it only how it could be applied to my subject area. Now, I look at technology as how it can improve the ways in which I present information in general and have developed a viewpoint on how technology affects the profession in general. I also more thoroughly understand how it can benefit and supplement my teaching, whereas before this understanding was superficial at best.

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