I strongly agree with what the article says about the computer gap in low-income and high-income schools. It’s hard to do something about this gap. Most teachers at high- income are able to send their students assignments to do at home on computers. These students are furthering their learning and know more than basic computer skills. While low-income teachers know their students don’t have access to a computer, so these kids fall further behind in the education gap in a world that is thriving off technology for everything today. I think this is a huge problem that really needs to be addressed. Richer schools are only increasing in technology use in school and at home. With technology being a big part of our future and the job market, students in these low-income areas are not going to be ready to work a job or get a job because they have no background with technology. While high-income area students are going to continue to thrive in the job world because of all their continual increasing knowledge and daily use of technology.

To fix this gap I think one thing higher-income schools can do is every year they upgrade computers, laptops, projectors, and i-pads they donate all of their old technology to the low-income schools. This way these low-income schools aren’t using really old technology but fairly new technology. Another idea to lessen the gap would be, the government donating brand new lab computers and lab tops to local community centers in low-income areas. This way these students would have more access to technology outside the school day and teachers could create group projects if community computers are limited. This may not fix the school access to computers completely. But it would help the students who have had no prior use of technology later on, have a better opportunity to get a job, where they can hopefully close the gap between schools having technology access.

How would you close this technology gap in high and low-income schools?

One section that really stood out to me in the readings, was the under “Core Media Literacy Skills” with the idea of play as a form of problem solving. It’s true that many kids today spend time playing computer games and finding alternative ways to beat the system and win. I’ve seen my brother do this on numerous occasions. Taking this idea of alternative solutions and using it as a tool in history to make kids think about different outcomes to a war or an election, I think can really make them start thinking for themselves. It also makes the lesson or topic their studying more exciting and engaging because it connects to what they may be interested in real life. Baseball was an example the text used I think this idea could in love any sport. The idea of using play in the classroom is not only fun and keeps the student engaged, it really does make them better problem solvers later on.

The section on “Networking,” I think it’s very important skill for students, to be aware why they use a site and which sites are the best for collecting data. I did “web quests” in middle school and high school. Which is one of the activities the text suggests teachers to give students. It forces them to look at other networks besides the one they are most comfortable with. As well as prepares them for research they may do later on for a paper in college that requires more than one of the same sources

All of the core social media skills in the readings that were mentioned can really help students achieve a higher success in the classroom, in their daily lives and later on down the road. As a future teacher I really hope to incorporate these skills in the classroom the best I can through instruction and daily interaction with technology.

Out of all the core skills the readings mentioned, which do you think is the most important in the classroom? Why?

I think using technology to support learning is a great idea. It gives a student another way to learn other than just sitting at a desk and listening to the teacher lecture. I agree that technology provides another environment to solve real world problems, enhance learning and connects students both locally and globally. My favorite example of using technology to connect to real world problems was the class that watched the Jasper Woodbury video about architects solving community problems. After the classroom watched the video they took on the challenge of helping Christina and Marcus design a playground. From the challenge the students understood geometry concepts at a deeper level and they learned how to work with each other. I think this is a great example of technology use in the classroom. The students learned more from the challenge because it was hands on and could be applied to the real world. I believe that’s why they took more away from the assignment. This is how I hope to use technology in my future classroom. I want to challenge my kids using real world problems like building a playground because it makes learning relevant to their daily lives. Another use of technology I found interesting was GLOBE were students in all grades were gathering data about their environment and compare it with their local community. I think students should be really connected to the community so they are aware of what’s going on in their environment and how it can affect their community. GLOBE I believe brings great awareness to students and can benefit them outside the school day. When it comes to teachers learning I agree with the article that technology can bridge the gap between what students do and what teachers do. The teacher is able to teach a subject with the use of technology and learn how it’s benefiting the student, while the student is learning through the use of technology benefiting both the teacher and the student. What was one use of technology in the classroom from the readings that you though were really interesting? Why? Would you use it in your future classroom?