Blog #1

In most recent years, technology has been incorporated into the classroom. What influences teachers to use technology in the classroom is how accessible it is to students. It creates an automatic relationship with the teacher and students. If the teacher uses twitter it is easy to get kids attention with a social media site. Even something as simple as canvas for students at FSU is a technology tool that is easy for the teachers as well as the students. What influences students to use technology is their familiarity with it. Students have most likely grown up around technology and are pretty much adapted to it. It makes doing and presenting assignments much easier.

There are 7 different ISTE standards in which teachers/students should use. There is the empowered learner, the digital citizen, the knowledge constructor, the innovative designer, the computational thinker, the creative communicator, and the global collaborator. One standard that is meaningful to me the standard #6, the creative communicator. This standard is the most creative to me and allows kids to be creative through technology. This is important because most classes focus on the STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and math). Although technology is apart of that, it is rarely used to be creative, that is why standard #6 is so important to me. Standard #5, the computational thinker, is the idea that is most out of my comfort zone. Using technology to solve a major problem is not something that is on my side, so it would be difficult for me to be able to demonstrate and live out this standard. 

I do not agree with the label "digital native." A digital native is someone who grew up in the generation of technology. There are many different classifications to be a true digital native, some more true than others. For example, a digital native has lower attention spans, can only work where media is present (cannot use older ays to learn), and does not prefer to read and instead would rather play on phones. I do think that technology has its negatives as well as its positives, but I think that my generation has more access to creative and learning ability than older generations did. Using a paper and pencil to take test, or simply learning through a lecture and a white board, is something that is easily doable and will not take away from the learning factor. This idea that the "digital natives" cannot focus or learn without technology is not true. Technology just makes learning and connecting easier. Of course, when I become a teacher there might be new technology that comes out that I am unaware of. Knowing what your kids you teach are learning with and engaged in is very important because it puts you on the same level as them and takes away that "gap" brought on by society.