Blog #6 - Wrapping Up My Third Year

One of my big takeaways from this course is realizing how important technology is in the classroom. Technology has been my best friend throughout my practicum as I utilized it for majority of my lessons. I relied on technology everyday for movement breaks, presentations, videos, and so much more! Our classroom had an older version of a Smartboard so we did not access it normally like other classrooms. But one new technology I was introduced to by my mentor teacher is the document camera. When working with younger students, modelling is important for anything and everything you do. I used the document camera to demonstrate every task I assigned the students. This worked really well with my students as they can follow along and understand the expectations of the task that is demonstrated right in front of them. 

I think having a balance when using technology is essential as we know kids in this day and age are so accustomed to using technology at home. My mentor teacher had a strong belief that we did not need to use technology unless needed. Although I thought this was going to be hard, at the end of my practicum I believed it is possible! I only used technology for when I had a presentation to go along with my lesson or to show videos. The remainder of the time I used the document camera (not so much of an interactive technology but one that is still so beneficial) to model the task or draw on the whiteboard. I think this worked perfectly fine for my lessons and actually helped the students get more used to practicing their motor skills. Although I think it is essential for teachers to have access to technology as it is very much needed for planning and resources, I think when it comes to younger students it is more beneficial for them to learn from traditional worksheets and activities where it can be more hands on and interactive. I have seen lots of growth from my students who went from not knowing how to hold a pencil and writing their letters to better and improved penmanship because a lot of the performance tasks I had given them were meant to help them practice their writing and motor skills. 

Overall, this practicum has taught me a lot about finding the balance when it comes to technology. Like my mentor teacher has said, technology does not have to be used unless needed. There are so many ways to plan and make activities that are engaging for the students without technology. I came to realize that technology is like a teacher's assistant. It is there to support the teacher in planning and researching resources, but it does not have to become the teacher itself.