Karl Fisch: Is It Okay to Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?

I agree with Mr. Fisch about the need for teachers to be technologically proficient. It is necessary into today's society to be able to not only master the technology but to also teach our students to master it as well. I do not have one student that does not like to search the Internet for whatever personal reason they may have. Unfortunately, my students aren't allowed to do so because of their particular behavior issues. I would need one on one supervision to do this. And if that happened I could then see them not want to search any longer. So all activities are teacher planned, as they should be, and closely monitored.

I also agree with the comments by Terry Freedman that principals and headmasters should make sure that there staff has the appropriate training in technology. I know funding is always a major issue in getting this funding so our districts and states should possibly be held more accountable for training. Our school is purchasing new school attendance/documentation software. The training will be done by webex. Personally, I know that a 2 hour webex will not teach me the program. I will only learn by using it. I believe we need much more hands on training once you leave college and begin teaching. Mobile County had just begun using computers for classroom attendance and writing student IEP's(individualized education plan). I quit teaching for a while at that time, so when I came back it was totally foreign to me. I was sent to a 3 hour class for training. By the time I figured out the terminology, the class was over. I feel that more basic instruction was needed. You can't just assume your students know what you do.