Technology- With big changes, come BIG expectations

As I was reading the first few pages of Will Richardson's book "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for classrooms. I couldn't help but reflect on how quickly the internet and technology in general seems to change. Without a significant amount of time, the changes that are made seem to have such a monumental affect on our daily lives. As Richardson mentions, from politics, to businesses, education and even the average person, technology has such an impact on how we live and what we do.

I can't help but get nervous when I think about the task as hand, when it comes to educating our students in the realm of technology. I feel guilty at times, as I feel I don't know enough or am not confident enough with technology to lead them in such a quest to achieve the NETS for students. One thing that also keeps popping into my mind as I reflect back on the past two chapters is the technology that must be readily available to facilitate students and teachers on this endeavor. Teachers and students would need internet access through the use of smart boards, computers, laptops, iPads, etc. on regular basis in order to fully immerse students in a current technologically savvy environment. It also seems like a daunting task when more always seems to be being added as opposed to the "new" replacing the "old" when it comes to curriculum, standards and expectations. However, as Richardson alluded to and as it was mention in the videos, I believe the key is becoming technologically inlined so that this new kind of literacy can be integrated into other academic areas and other parts of the day. This will hopefully create and balance and connection between new literacies and more traditional terms/expectations of literacy.

As I explored some of the websites throughout the first few chapters of Richardson's book, I found I was familiar with a few of them. The one that really caught my eye was the "Weather Recipes" book his daughter made on Flickr. I thought it was a great way to show how technology can be easily accessible and meaningful in a primary grade classroom, as most assume kindergardeners and first graders are far to young to be worrying about technology. However, technology is just as relevant to them as the average adult or teenager, just in a different way.

http://tinyurl.com/2nfw64/