Day 71 - Technology through the ages

Today's assignment was to make a photograph that illustrates a role of technology in your life. I have an iPad on a trial basis from the school board. My job is to find various apps that can be used at the elementary level. While doing this I've also found some great apps for preschool (We do have preK at our school) and have tested them out on the godchildren. This is little Sarah's hand. She loves the Whimsy app. When you finish putting all the pieces of the puzzle together, a real-life picture appears of the animal and it plays its sound. The trickiest part of the app for Sarah is keeping her touch light.

Day 45 - Look into the future but don't forget the past

This evening a friend and I took in an English movie at a theatre near the hotel. Quebec City is a great place to live but one downside is there are seldom English movies playing in town. We went to see "The King's Speech". We both really enjoyed the story. I'm not a huge history buff but I do enjoy stories from the past.

I found myself seeking balance when I got back to my hotel room. You see, the conference we're at is focusing on preparing students for the future. The students we are teaching are digital natives. They think, learn and work much differently than we did as students. One speaker told us we needed to do more to catch up to our students. I agree that we need to teach students differently than we were taught and that we must acknowledge and take advantage of their ability to use technology as a tool. Rather than trying to strip them of their tools we need to teach them to use them wisely and safely.
While we must nurture their upward growth I also believe it's important to encourage them to explore their roots and the traditions and history connected to them. I don't believe we have to close our eyes to the past in order to see the future.