Prerequisite #458 for being a teacher: Creativity

I've been thinking a lot lately about the requirements for being a teacher.  There are so many classes to take, so much experience to acquire, so much to learn about learning!  However, there is one aspect to teaching that is often overlooked:  creativity.  It is so essential to teaching; without it, teachers lack the ability to not only share the passion for the subject they are teaching but also ingrain the information into their students' minds.

This week, in technology in the classroom, we learned about different technologies (such as Google earth and Prezi) that can contribute to our effectiveness and creativity in the classroom.  It really opened my eyes to the various ways that teachers can impact students' learning and make it real for them.  Although I am not creative when it comes to drawing or painting, I love to think of creative ways to reach out to people or to show them something.  One of my ideas for enhancing Spanish vocabulary and verb conjugation skills was to have students interact on a social networking site for homework.  I loved the ideas that other students in our classes had about taking trips around the world via Google maps.  Maybe for a cultural lesson, we could go to different parts of the world from Google Maps and sort of go on a "virtual trip," where we learn different dances, eat different foods, etc.  If the subject material is not relevant to the students, they will not enjoy the class.  However, if you bring it to their level through technology and creativity, you open up the door for students to learn so much more!

Talking about all these creative ways that technology (along with creativity) makes me excited for teaching students Spanish!  I want them to be able to see that there is more to the world, to what God created, than simply American culture.  There are people who live lives completely different than ours, yet they still have the same need for a Savior like we do.  I want to use these technological advances to help my students see that learning does not always have to be boring - that life enriched with other cultures and languages can greatly increase perspective.  Certainly, I can increase my effectiveness through these areas of technology.

Technological Advances: Scary, Exciting, or Both?

Welcome to my blog!  My name is Karly Heitzmann, a future Spanish educator, and this picture and article scare me:

6 Technologies that will Change the Classroom

Why does this scare me? I FEEL OLD!  I grew up in the late 90's and early 2000's, so seeing children with laptops is always an abnormal sight to see.  Now, it is becoming a more integral part of the classroom, and it will soon become an essential part - as essential as a pencil or piece of paper.  Looking back, though, I would have never expected that students as young as elementary-school-age would be allowed to use a computer for their assignments during class.  The article in The Journal is interesting because it explains how and when each different aspect of technology will begin to change the classroom.  Computers and mobile devices will be used very soon or already used.  Not long after, the use of educational gaming will also become an effective teaching method.

In some ways, this new influx of technology makes me excited.  Even as I made my Google website and this blog, I was excited in the ways I could be creative and fun with it.  This new way of learning could be beneficial for students who want to show off their creativity a little more.  It excites me that learning could actually be exciting!

However, I still get nervous when I think about technology in the classroom.  I envision children at their desks, with their computers, typing words with glazed-over eyes.  As they are typing and educational-gaming, they themselves become the machines.  They talk less.  Their minds are consumed with their own thoughts, and they think little about what others are thinking.  

Now, this is a little extreme. I'm not saying that this is what the classroom will come to with the use of technology.  It is my fear, though, that this could happen.  Technology could and will be useful and effective in the classroom, making learning a whole new concept - something that can be more fun and interesting for students than simply sitting in a classroom, listening to a teacher talk.  But it could also increasingly take away the foundation of human interaction, which is far more important in life (both in one's career and personal life).    

It is inevitable that technology will, indeed, change education.  However, we have control over just how much it will transform it.  There are beneficial aspects to the utilization of technology, but we must realize that there are other aspects of education that are equally as important!