Stages of Teacher Development

As I was browsing through the learning path of week 1, I was thinking of how to use ICT effectively within a classroom setting for teaching as I have not fully utilize it just yet. Looking at the stages of teacher development (Finger et al, 2007) which can be found at our studydesk, I would say that I am only in the investigation stage. I am always fascinated with using ICT to teach in all areas of learning in school however due to the confine of curriculum and pedagogy of the school, I am not able to carry out certain things.

Check out how cool would it be to teach the children in the classroom simple piano on the ipad. To the children, using ipad is mainly for gaming and no one ever told them that it can be used for learning. However, to integrate and to use ICT in teaching would require a lot of effort, resources and skills. I have the fear that my classroom will be entirely dependent on the technology for learning and slowly neglecting the real world learning. In contrast, I am sure that the children will learn better things and learn things better with the integration. In addition to that, It would require education for the parents on how to use ICT at home as well and to allow them to see and understand of the benefits of ICT integration in school and homes for learning. I think in order for me to be a competent and confident user of ICT in the classroom with my students, I would have to first understand the reason why I am using the ICT and what are the aims of it. I would need to develop a lesson plan that allows for sufficient time and resources for learning. In this way, my students will have the opportunities to interact with the ICT in classroom as well as non ICT moments.

As much as I would love to use ICT in the classroom, I have to be aware not to convert the learning experience in the classroom into a virtual learning instead, My teaching and learning experience will incorporate ICT in learning however not to the full extend of 100% reliance on it, there would be ratio of time whereby 20minutes of ICT to 40 minutes of non ICT, The use of ICT acts as to reinforce, to support their learning and to make learning fun and meaningful.