Technology is impacting everyone in the world. Years past everything turned into teachers was hand-written on a piece of paper. Teachers then would grade it and give it back. Because of the new technologies that have been created including tablets, smartphones, laptops, and computers, everything has now been developed into a new, faster way to complete work, turn the assignment in, and grade the assignment using online features! The first section in the chapter that really caught my eye in the textbook was "Technology and the Work of a Teacher," as referenced by Maloy, et al (2013, pp. 5-9). This section explained all the new developments in the ways of teaching where technology has snuck it's way into the school system. I never really realized how easy everything has come out to be for students like me in the college atmosphere! I am able to access the schools library from my home computer or laptop without even getting out of bed. There I can access articles, newspapers, online books, and journals. The only thing that would stop this process of getting information this way to the students is if students do not know how to use it. That's where the teacher comes in handy. With all this technology continuing to develop, the teachers in today's classes must move along with it in order to attain the best for their classes. Another interesting aspect to that section of the chapter was the technology-based teaching tool. I have experienced this in classes I have been in, but I didn't know how to refer to it. I believe that dividing the class into different groups (half working on the computers and half learning with the teacher) would be able to gain the needs of multiple kinds of learners that the class has instead of unintentionally focusing on one group. Every person has their comfort zone and so do teachers. While it is in every teachers best interest to involve each student sometimes it happens less than others. With the switch of different teaching techniques, I believe each student may be able to thrive better, thanks to technology. In addition to learning about how different technological developments are impacting today's society, I also found it interesting learning about Technological pedagogical content knowledge, also known as TPACK. What interested me the most was that there was actually quite interesting names for the different types of knowledge. While I know the different names for the types of learners that can be in an environment, I did not know the type of knowledge that each one could contain. For teachers, it is important that each must attain content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and technological knowledge. I read over the definitions of these and got that "OH! Duh, that makes sense!" moment. In order for me to become a successful teacher I must embrace into my teaching TPACK. This will not only make me a successful teacher, but my students will be successful as well.
Finally, the last subject of interest I would like to discuss is from the section "Digital Identity and Social Media." Social media has a big impact on whether or not someone gets hired for a particular position, especially teaching. Because I am seventeen years old, a period of my time each day is spent on social media. I am not always posting on the internet, but I do browse it. Teachers have to create a professional look. Students must be able to look up to the teacher and parents must feel comfortable sending their children into the classroom with that teacher. Teachers influence the youth surrounding us. While social media not only influences whether or not someone is hirable I found it interesting that you could also use social media as a showcase of your own teaching talents! I did not know that if I featured my own lesson plans, they would get noticed. The Web can either make you or break you.
