On this particular post we are supposed to talk about three concepts in the first chapter of Transforming Learning with New Technologies. The three concepts that I found most interesting were building our digital identity, current tech tools used for teaching, and the technological pedagogical content knowledge.
A digital identity is what you know technically as a teacher. For instance, I went to school to be a graphic designer. I am certified in Adobe Photoshop CS5, Adobe Dreamweaver, and Adobe Premiere Pro. Photoshop is a program that allows you to manipulate photos and work with design. Because my vocational technical school was a business school, I learned how to make business cards, flyers, post cards, ect. Dreamweaver allows you to make websites, and Premiere Pro allows you to make videos. I was an after school tutor at a middle school and I taught the kids there Photoshop. We were able to make book covers, motivational posters, and movie posters. I also have made two teacher appreciation videos, interviewing students about their favorite teachers. In the summer I work for the Boys and Girls Club and have taught my kids for two years photography and film. They enjoy the process. This is what my digital identity is. I have been asked to make power points and with newer versions have been extremely lost. Students have shown me what to do. So I would love to step out of my Adobe comfort zone and learn other technologies.
Current tech tools used for teaching are Laptops, smart phones, tablets, ect. The school that I taught after school at is a BYOD school. (Bring Your Own Device) The kids always had phones and tablets that they could get on during their day school and look up projects and research information. The book club in the school gave out rentable nooks. The kids could read books and at the end of the school year turn in the nook. Although I thought this was a great idea, it had its problems. Kids wanting to take them out, downloading inappropriate music on them, and the countless amount of charging phones. But like everything that can become a distraction, it's easily fixed. I was born in 1987. Which means I was a child of the 90s. Any kid growing up in the 90s can tell you their favorite thing about reading class was Reading Rainbow. Just recently I noticed that the host of Reading Rainbow, Kickstarted a petition to bring Reading Rainbow to schools and home via technology (Burton, 2014). As a future mother, I was excited to see that it would be available to my child. As a future teacher, it made me think of how beneficial it would be to implement it in my classroom. I began to daydream about my second graders (my dream job) on tablets listening and watching (and of course reading) Reading Rainbow. I knew that that would be something that I made happen.
The last thing that I want to discuss would be the technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). There are three TPACK concepts, content knowledge which is strictly the concept you are teaching, pedagogical knowledge is the knowledge of teaching methods, and technological knowledge is knowing all the types of teaching with technology (Maloy, 2013). The book talks about implementing all at the same time while teaching. I think that is what most teachers do, or at least, all the teachers I know do. I can see where one teacher may excel teaching in one concept, but it is critical that we take all of these concepts and teach them together.
Resorces
Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Burton, LaVar & Reading Rainbow (2014) https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/readingrainbow/bring-reading-rainbow-back-for-every-child-everywh
