JJohnson Reflection

Technology is a necessary evil. So much of our society depends on technology both inside the classroom and out. Days when I cannot connect at work adds frustration to my day, since everyday I need to communicate with a variety of stakeholders. Fortunately, I grew up with technology and access to technology despite my age thanks to my father who was the Director of Technology for a high school district. Fast forward 30 years, and technology has become the means of business and hopefully soon education.

As an educator, technology can be used to provide access to students for tutorology, asking questions to the teacher and classmates. I observe my 6th grade daughter who accesses a variety of resources to practice and discuss her learning. She uses extraMath to practice her math facts and Edmodo to communicate with her teacher. Teachers bringing in networking methods into a safe forum for students to be successful. She also has to use NewsEla to practice her reading skills and is constantly working towards getting a perfect score and moving up in her lexile band.

In a district as large as ours, we need to have a concise, user friendly means of supporting all the stakeholders. Websites should only take three clicks to get to what/where a person wants to be. I feel that my website, is clear and easy to navigate what is there, but it is important to see what others think because what I see as simple, is not what others see as simple. A gem from this class was the use of blogging. I plan to work with my staff to see what we can create and manage to support both the literacy for students and the instructional practices of teachers. We use bi-monthly strategies that are shared via livebinders and email, but maybe we can use blogging to make it a two way communication instead of one way.

In re-examining my use of technology, I will continue to use it as a means to an end, especially for communication. My next step will be in working with two way outside of email. Creating academic resources and conversations. My only fear is that email already rules my world - what happens when I try to manage other platforms for two way communication. Last, but not least, Sunday morning until my children's heads hit their pillows, I will continue to be tech free!