Digital Teaching and Learning

Letter Home Tech Initiative

As part of an activity within my Literacy in Middle and High School course, I worked alongside a group of other social studies classmates to create a simulated letter to parents outlining a new technology initiative. In our case, this initiative would be to bring Chromebook laptops to every student within our school. To create the initiative, we split up aspects of the letter into resources, concerns, advantages, and why were started the initiative. Although each piece was written by separate people, we communicated throughout the process to ensure we all agreed with what was being included as our reasoning for each piece. Our reason why could be summed up by improving student's skills to prepare them for a future career most likely using digital resources. Our resource piece discusses our school's IT department and their willingness to support all students and whatever issues they encounter in the future with their Chromebook. Our concerns piece reassures parents by addressing what we believed would be issues that they held with the initiative and discussing how we would deal with these issues. Finally, our advantages piece reaffirmed what was stated in our piece about why this initiative was important.

The most vital aspects of the letter home and what it speaks to are the learning and development of the students within the school, as well as the social interaction between educators and parents and their students. Within the advantages piece of the letter, as well as the piece describing why the initiative was taking place, the group described the importance of technology in influencing the future of our students. The Chronebooks would build on their digital literacy and prepare them for the ever evolving digital society we live in. The letter's ability to keep in touch with parents, reassure them, and answer major questions keeps positive interaction between everyone involved. This interaction allows for better communication and in turn, better progress for students towards preparation for careers and independence in their future.

I've always seen technology as both a blessing and a curse. It gives individuals the power and the tools to greatly expand their knowledge of the world and easily access information previously unavailable to them. However, I have found from experience within various classrooms at all levels that technology can often be a distraction that takes away from this kind of learning. As I continue my path towards becoming a professional educator, I must acknowledge the importance of technology in the classroom, and learn to develop techniques to ensure that such technology is used in efficient and effective ways. By using some of the tools and ideas constructed within the letter home, I can begin to build a philosophy of teaching and advising that can be used to keep students on the track to finding success in the classroom.