Technology in Second Grade Classrooms

1. First, explain how (or whether) you think technology might contribute to teaching and learning at a particular grade/age level. If you have any concerns about the use of technology, discuss those issues also.
In my experience as a student and a teacher, I have found technology as an advantage and a disadvantage in classrooms. When I graduate from Western Washington University with an Elementary Teaching Certificate, I hope to teach students in second grade. Last quarter, I was placed in a first and second grade class for my practicum. In this class, I observed how my Coordinating Teacher incorporated technology into her classroom and lessons. For example, the students in her class were learning to write down observations. The students were to observe solid items and write down what happened to the items after they were placed under water. Since the items placed under the water were very small for entire class to see, my CT used the overhead to magnify the science experiment, and then used the projector so that all the students may observe at the same time. The overhead and projector were an advantage because my CT was able to show all the students what was happening to the science experiment and worked together to write down observations. If my CT hadn’t used the technology, she might have had to have students come forward in groups, which could have made the lesson much longer.
However, I have also experience technology as a disadvantage for students and teachers. During high school, I found computers as a disadvantage in many of my classroom. Teachers would allow students to go on computer for research, assignments, and writing papers. Instead, students would open a word document and immediately go on MySpace or another inappropriate website.
How can we, as future educators, use technology to solely benefit our students learning?

2. Now consider what technology skills and knowledge the National Educational Technology Standards say your students will need to have. Besides looking carefully at the overall standards, please also examine the Student Profiles for a grade you hope to teach to see what students are expected to be able to do at that level. Do you consider these targeted outcomes to be appropriate and achievable?
After reading the National Educational Technology Standards and Student Profiles, I feel few of the targeted outcomes are achievable and some outcomes are difficult to achieve for second graders. I believe students in the second grade are capable to meet standard 5, which is, demonstrate safe and cooperative use of technology. In my practicum class, students knew how to carefully treat technology products; such as computers, smart board, projector, overhead, and printers. However, I feel second grade students are not able to achieve standard 5, which states, find and evaluate information related to a current or historical person or event using digital resources. Last quarter, the second graders in my practicum class really struggled to find information through the web about their pets for their pet posters. Without the individual attention from the teacher, intern student, library teacher, and three practicum students, the second graders would have never found information about animals.

3. What kinds of learning activities might you plan for your classroom to help your students achieve the kinds of competencies identified in the NETS for students?
I think there are multiple learning activities that teachers can plan for classrooms to help students achieve competencies identified in the NETS for students. According to NETS, one specific competency is Communication and Collaboration. When I was elementary school, my teachers always used overheads to communicate to our classroom. Over the past few years, technology as rapidly advanced and smart boards and projectors have replaced overheads. In my future classroom, I would use the smart board to communicate to my students. Through the smart board I am able to give visual instructions and show examples of the work I expect.