Most Important Point: Here's what I'm hearing.

We have had an interesting assignment this week. We heard many different variations of the most important points of the technology world. I believe Mr. Ozolnieks touched on the situation I am seeing with technology in my school. He mentioned the immigrants (people who have taken on and learned technology) and the natives (the later GenXers and Millennials who have never lived without it). I believe herein lies the biggest challenge for my school and schools in our conference. Faculties are of mixed ages and training, as they have always been since the years following WWII when schools changed to the form we see today. The gap is growing wider however, as schools use limited resources to cover a variety of programs including the expensive technology issues. Some teachers reject learning any of the new technology ideas by ranting about the useless nature and waste of funds. I was one of those people several years ago mainly because it was thrown at us without the proper training. Our tech guy was a good history teacher but a poor and extremely arrogant tech teacher. Many people simply rejected his taunting nature during the inservice meetings. We lost precious time. As the years flew by and younger, tech-savvy teachers hired on, I changed my views about educational technology. When my husband passed away ten years ago, I was forced to become even more independent in my thinking. One of those areas was knowing I needed to keep teaching and I needed to step up and learn everything I could about the tech world. It is a slow process. I avoid asking questions of the teachers who have the same "make fun of the question" attitude the early tech guru had. I avoid them. I have no time for people who will not share the knowledge they have in an attempt to make themselves feel powerful. I have a group of teachers with whom I can discuss tech issues. We share information and we all are the winners. I believe the key point of educational technology is our willingness as seasoned teachers to learn the ways of the future and the knowledeable techies to recognize their opportunity to be a huge part of moving schools into using technology in a precise and admirable direction.