“….but significant instances in technologically primitive societies of tools attacking the supremacy of custom, religion, or metaphysics.” This is a portion of the statement that Neil Postman writes on page 27 in the second paragraph. This statement drew me in with two parts: attacking the custom and attacking the religion. It made me think of my own school where many teachers do not like technology taking over what has been the custom for so many years. I look at myself and realize that there are times that I question the technology being used to “measure student’s progress.” Although we are not a technologically primitive society, I think this statement holds true to us today. The second was when this paragraph referred to attacking religion. I have the privilege of teaching at a Christian school, and do not for one second take that for granted. Continually, we are confronted with the decision of whether how we are using technology is appropriate and how can we teach our students to respect this technology, as well as use it in a manner that would be pleasing to the Lord.
We find on page 30, several examples of medieval scientists who question each others’ work. Although we find Martin Luther calling Copernicus, “a fool….” (Page 30, 1st paragraph), I think this shows us that we should be continually checking our technology and whether or not it is in the best interest of our students’ learning. Our schools and communities will continually be bombarded with new technological advances, but if we don’t take a step back and truly question the usefulness of the new advance, we may find ourselves taking steps backwards instead of forwards.
Again, as I think of my own school and the diverse group of teachers we have (20+ years, 10 years, and first year teachers,) I realize that each person will look at technology and the statement that was written on page 27 differently. Some of the new teachers are going to more apt to embrace new technology with open arms, while others may be slow to move away from the tool-using culture (p. 38-39). The closing statement of chapter two, page 39, states: “addressing both those who were exhilarated by technocracy and those who were repulsed by it Benet gave the only advice that made sense…..It is here.” As you look at this statement what challenges do you see as new technology is introduced to the staff at your school? Technology is here.
Technology most definitely is here and within our school we have had several of the same reactions to new technology. Some of our older teachers only use the elmo we have been given because it is easy to use once it is set up and rely mostly on textbooks and pencil and paper. We were also given projection screens and those have taken some of us longer to learn how to use. Not only those teachers that have been around for a while but those new teachers that have not been exposed to this type of technology are struggling on how to fully use and access all that is capable.
ReplyDeleteI am unsure of how this new technology will change the course of teaching. There are several websites that are extremely interesting to my students and do a wonderful and exciting job of explaining a concept I am trying to teach. I hope that one day these websites will not be teaching my students rather than myself but I hope that there is some sort of advantage to having a relationship with your students and their success.
I agree with Heather. As the Technology Coordinator at our school I know that we have a WIDE variety of tech users. The "digital divide" at my school is around the age of 40: generally teachers younger than 40 embrace technology, while those over 40 have a more skeptical view (or at least that's the vibe they give off, perhaps because they fear the unknown?) This is, of course, a gross generalization. However, I think what Lisa says here is true: Technology *is* here. I'm not saying that we need to follow every whim of our students, but if we want to be effective in engaging the kids we have in our classrooms today, maybe we need to (and need to encourage our colleagues to) consider how we are using the tech tools available to us?
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