Brittany Wahila - St. John Fisher College

Brittany Wahila - St. John Fisher College Brittany Wahila Professor Robson MSTI 260 1/21/10 While reading the article, “Listen to the Natives,” I agreed with a lot of the ideas and motives presented and ways to set these new practices into place in the classroom. I did not realize how much technology is used in the classroom until last year spring semester when I took the MSTI 161 course for technology in the classroom. We read an article similar to this one that presents the need for teachers and students to use technology in the classroom. After taking this course I added the instructional technology minor to my 4 year plan here at Fisher. I agree that technology is growing at an ever expanding pace and our students don’t have the same minds they did just ten years ago when I was a student in primary school myself. There are so many forms of communication and so many new technological devices that have changed our communication so shouldn’t we bring this into our classroom. As young teacher candidates we must realize that our students’ minds don’t work the way they did in the 80’s or even the 90’s. Our students need technology integrated in their school day in order to help them focus, in order to get the same results we did in the 90’s simply by reading out loud in class, which is the main idea of this article. As I read this article there were some very interesting new ideas presented to help integrate technology in the classroom, which I have never thought of previously. The idea to bring cell phones into the classroom in a useful way seems to be a very positive way to teach. It allows a restriction in the classroom to now be a fun tool that makes students want to take a test or answer questions. By adding these element students who usually sit with a blank stare all class, hardly speaking with now get intrigued and make an effort to be a part of the class. This also helps to remove the element of the need to check the cell phone during class and find ways to use it to distract from the lesson. When something is taken away, don’t we tend to want to use it or have it more, simply because we cant? By allowing students to use cell phones for educational purposes, the need to text a friend during a lesson is less likely to occur. This idea hit home with me and is something I plan on doing if I get the chance to work with a level of students who have cell phones. The article also presented an element that did not agree with my philosophy of education. The idea of letting students have a say in their curriculum does not settle well with me. Letting student have too much of a say of how their class is run takes control away from the teacher. It is very important to maintain authority as a leader figure for a teacher and to maintain respect. Although letting students have a say in the curriculum and lessons makes the students more active in the lesson because they chose it and want to do it, it does not make sure that they are definitely doing the necessary needs that must be met. Students should be able to give their opinions on the lessons the teacher does with them, but they should not be given the control to challenge the teacher. This will surely take effect away from that teacher.