Tanyaward's Blog

This course has definitely put me out of my comfort zone in terms of challenging the tools and methodologies I use in my classroom.  As a fifth-year teacher, I would still be considered a newbie—yet it is surprising how quickly I have found myself gravitating towards instructional methods which are “tried and true” and which I find have predictable results.  I see now that this approach has been robbing my students of an educational experience which is rich in exploration—which is found more by asking questions than finding answers.   As I write this, I am reminded of a quote  by Brent Davis (2004) from a book I read for another one of my masters courses, “The belief that teaching is mainly a matter of explanation—of flattening things out—continues to prevail in contemporary discussions of education.  Yet the notion has recently given some ground to suggestions that teaching is more about explication than explanation”.   I am a self-declared “flattener”, but I’m working on it.   I see that the richest learning happens in the journey towards knowledge, not in the destination of it.  This is where I see technology integration being so powerful—it gives students so much more autonomy and self-directed ability in terms of their own discoveries.

Many of my previous courses, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels have centered around social justice and anti-oppressive education.  As I have worked through the material of this course, I have nagging questions about how technology integration will perhaps widen the socio-economic divide.  As technology-based pedagogy becomes more prevalent in education, where does this leave students who are from homes without computers or internet access?  Will this divide students into the technologically-rich and technologically poor?  I see the potential for technology to become another disadvantage for students who are already struggling in oppressive situations.