As an elementary school teacher, technology has had a tendency to be a focus of the teacher versus the students. A reason for this is because educational technology trends change so quickly that it is difficult to keep up. Also, it can be difficult to teach young students how to use technology in specific ways. More often than not, children are able to navigate technology through video game play. However, when it comes to using a source they are not familiar with it takes time to teach and learn. Something as simple as typing properly can take a large amount of time to teach and thus the debate of necessity arises.

In reading this weeks articles I found that the model of TPACK spoke more towards how I view technology as a third grade teacher. This model outlines the connections between technology, pedagogy and content knowledge. When integrating technology into the classroom one must ask the purpose for it. So when we combine technology as a way to teach content and improve our pedagogy it becomes more simplistic than overwhelming. In thinking about this model, I start to think about how I have integrated technology into my classroom. Technology has served as a tool within reading such as listening to stories that would otherwise not be available to students. It is also used in mathematics where students are able to play games that cover a variety of concepts as opposed to the paper and pencil games also provided.

Koehler and Mishra 2009, used the best example for explaining the multi use of technology by comparing it to whiteboards.

“For example, consider how whiteboards may be used in classrooms. Because a
whiteboard is typically immobile, visible to many, and easily editable, its uses in
classrooms are presupposed… However, it would be incorrect to say that there is only one way in
which whiteboards can be used. One has only to compare the use of a whiteboard in a
brainstorming meeting in an advertising agency setting to see a rather different use of
this technology.”

The SAMR model however offers the view that technology serves varying purposes. It allows us to think of the uses of technology and how learning can occur within each use. Technology is either a replacement for a traditional activity or the learning comes from the technological activity itself. Other then the breakdown of each use, the SAMR model failed to provide enough examples that would lead me to use the model within elementary school teaching. All the examples were from higher level education making me question its ability to be effective in lower grades.