Technology: Is It a Boon for Today's Teachers?
... an old-fashioned grade book. The programs we use are far better than the ones we used a few years ago, and we now have e-mail to help us communicate with parents and avoid playing "phone tag". How did we ever get by before we had these tools to help us? When I first started teaching, it was possible to create materials using a typewriter and reproduce them using a ditto machine. The ditto masters were messy to use, it was difficult to correct mistakes, and they were capable of making only a limited number of copies before the master had to be retyped in its entirety. Copy machines have made ditto machines museum pieces. How did we ever get by with only the old ditto machines? Computers have replaced typewriters so that I can not only store files more easily, but I can actually find them when I need them again, and I can update and revise them whenever I need to. How did we ever get by with typewriters? I used to know how to thread a 16mm film projector, order films from ESD 189, synchronize a tape with a filmstrip projector, and come reasonably close to the right place when I put the needle on a vinyl long-playing record. I can’t remember the last time I did any of those things—nor do I want to. How did we ever get by before we had VCR’s? Now I have my own library of video tapes in my classroom, the library has a collection of tapes I can check out, and I can even order video tapes from ESD 189 if I need one badly enough to go to the trouble to fill out the forms and wait for the tapes to get to my building. I also have an old projector cart that I use as a podium in my classroom. It used to carry a 16mm movie projector between the library and the classrooms. Thanks to my computer, I’m able to do things with my students that I couldn’t even imagine when I first began teaching. Not only do I use it to keep records, figure grades, submit grades at the end of the term, communicate with parents, and create, revise, and update supplemental materials, but I can also use it to do research on the Internet, gather materials, and present them to the students in an interesting way. I can use the computer to get the students to practice what used to be boring but necessary material, and they actually enjoy the practice. This enhances learning because they tend to pay attention to things t...