Educator+Preparation

 =//Educator Preparation and Development ////: // = //** March 2009 **// //Click the play button, to watch the video,// //then please answer the questions below. // media type="custom" key="3459412" //A Vision of K-12 Students Today // Marc Prensky (2001), in his article, //Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants //,  writes, "Today's students have changed radically. Today's students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach" (p.1).

We have all had first-hand experience with students we cannot seem to reach. Our teaching methods seem to make little impact. More and more, students seem to have a hard time paying attention, focusing, and reflecting. They seem bored and restless. Some suggest that because these students have spent their entire lives surrounded by technology, "it is very likely that our students' brains have physically changed" (Prensky 2001, p. 1). Dr Bruce D. Berry of Baylor College of Medicine says, "Different kinds of experiences lead to different brain structures" (Prensky 2001, p. 1)

 If this means the students learning methods have changed, what is a teacher to do? Prensky suggests that, "Teachers have to learn to communicate in the language and style of their students." (Prensky 2001, p. 4) Integrating technology into our curriculum may be a way to use our students' language in the classroom.

Every year our McQueeney Elementary participates in the STaR Chart, in order to evaluate our technology strengths and weakness. Our campus 2008 STaR chart suggests tha t //Educator Preparation and Development// <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 120%; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 128); font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">is one of our weak areas. Teachers may feel they are not as prepared to use technology as they should be and they may not be satisfied with current staff development offerings. <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 120%; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif;"> 1. What would help you to use and integrate technology into your classroom?

2. What specific training/professional development do you feel, is needed to help accomplish your technology integration goals? //Thanks for your input.

Works cited. Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9, 1-6 //