Teacher Interview

    Before I began my interview I wanted to come up with interesting and thought provoking questions. I came up with several that I thought would prolong a conversation about using technology in education. I think everyone could agree that technology has both its benefits and its drawbacks.

    The teacher that I interviewed works in a large school district in Northeast Kansas. The teacher I interviewed is a fairly new teacher and had a very interesting perspective when it comes to using technology, the different types of technology that are available and why some teachers love and why some teachers hate to use technology in their classroom.

    The teacher I interviewed discussed that fact that they use a moderate amount of technology in their classroom. The main pieces of technology that teachers and students at their school have available are laptop and desktop computers. Teachers have major access to them and their school has a couple of different computer labs with nice, updated computers. Also, students may rent laptop computers if they really need one to use at home. The laptops can also be brought into a classroom so that teachers and students can work together on certain computer programs. They specifically mentioned that the laptops are beneficial because students can work with certain computer programs that allow them to work on a certain concept they may need to work on. An example would be working on an elementary math concept or studying social studies facts through online flashcards and quiz games. They also briefly mentioned they have projector screens and projection machines as well as access to smart boards.

    When it comes to keeping up with trends they discussed the fact that they find it somewhat time consuming, but ultimately beneficial to them and their students to continue education on up and coming technologies available for the classroom. The fact that students are surrounded by technology everyday in their lives outside of school was also briefly mentioned. One reason the teacher I interviewed enjoys learning about new technologies is that fact that most technology made today is easy to follow and is uncomplicated. This is one reason why the teacher I interviewed said she thinks that the assumption that older teachers don’t like using technology in their classroom is untrue. They think that the use of technology solely depends on a person’s ability to adapt and change to new trends and adapt to change in a classroom in general.

    I agree with everything that my interview said. I think their thoughts on the positive aspects of technology really show their enthusiasm and care for their students. Technology can allow us to further advance our students understanding of concepts. I also agree that one can’t make the assumption that older teachers don’t like using technology. I have been in several classrooms were an older more experienced teacher is embracing and taking full advantage of the technological devices made available to them. I really feel that the benefits of using technology are outstanding. We must understand and accept that technology is out there and is taking its place in education. As teachers, I think we should utilize pieces of technology such as laptops, smart boards and any other pieces of technology that are available so we can help our students understand concepts better and make our jobs easier.