Blog Entry 2: My Reading

While I was reading Chapter 2 in Supporting Learning with Technology, something struck me as funny. If you didn’t know how to speak Spanish, would your principal assign you to teach Spanish to your Spanish speaking students? I ask this because we often have teachers who are technologically-challenged attempting to teach digital natives. The 21st century student is quite comfortable using software and even if they are not familiar with the software are more than happy to explore and test it out, which by the way, I have found to be the best way to familiarize yourself with software. The chapter discussed the challenges teachers face and the main point that sticks out to me is the teacher has to become familiar with the software in order to anticipate and alleviate issues the students will have. When I get new software I like to personally use the software for a week before I introduce it to the students. I have 5 classes, and I only introduce the software to one class when I decide to unveil the software, similar to a pilot program. A pilot program allows you to find potential problems you will face and helps you prepare for the unexpected, which can be a major issue with technology integration.