The benefits of teaching in the
information age comes with its responsibilities. As wonderful as all the
technology is, as teachers we need to remember it is still our responsibility to
prepare students to use the technology both in their role as a student and
as a proficient individual when they leave our classroom. I believe that the best way to
meet the above duty is by integrating the technology into our classrooms.
This can be done in two ways. First we can use the technology in our
professional tasks, such as keeping grades or when providing students with
information. The other is by providing students with hands-on experience
during lessons. As educators we also need to remember that we need to stay
up to date with the ever changing technology. Although we can not always
use the newest equipment, awareness is just as important. One of the
latest trends in education that I feel has great potential is distance learning.
Whether it be through the use of the DDN system available in South Dakota or the
push in many nations for virtual schools. It is also
important to be leaders in our profession at some level, whether it be in our
classrooms, in our buildings or districts, or at a larger level such as
regional, state, or national. Like it or not, we are teaching the leaders
of tomorrow and the examples we set both in and out of the classroom will impact their
futures.