Week 9

My initial impression of the technology available to my mentor teacher is that she does not have a lot of technology available to her. My elementary school isn't the most technologically advanced school and most teachers do not have a lot of access to technology. I also observed that using technology would take too long and is often cumbersome. With first graders they do not have a very long attention span. They cannot sit still and wait patiently for the teacher to set up technology. They get distracted, misbehave, or start having long and loud conversations. I also observed that my teacher doesn't know very much about technology. She has been teaching for twelve years and I don't think technology training or using technology has ever been a high priority for her. She is a great teacher without it and doesn't have the time to learn it all and fit it in. I think the biggest things I learned this week are that there is not a lot of technology available at my school and that first graders don't really have the mentality for using a lot of technology. There is the chance that they will break something or the chance that it might be too confusing for them and nothing will get done.

I have completed parts 1 and 2.