In the recent events of the pandemic, technology has become a necessity in moving forward in normal lifestyles. I work for District of Columbia Public Schools at Janney Elementary School with a Pre-K 4. Some of the students that I work with took to it like a fish in water, others were indifferent, and some didn’t adjust well. That could’ve been due to the change of their everyday routine and missing some kind of normal routine. I have to say that the transition from in person learning to virtual learning was fairly smooth for myself. I can say it was truly appreciated because it took some of the stress off of the unknown. I also knew that there would be some kind of pushback and difficulties along the line of this transition. Students had direct access to just about anyone that they came in contact with before the shift. Working with younger children where the social and emotional development and consistency is important to learning it was a little difficult to navigate daily routine. We were still able to have our morning meetings, small groups and turn in journal entries. We were able to keep a sense of community within our class. I think the most difficult part of virtual learning was having to split that time between siblings and parents having to work from home. But it showed that with technology school work can still be accessed and done. That’s one of the biggest take away as to how technology is useful in education. I would suggest that there would be more engaging platforms for the different ages. But I know and understand that takes a lot of planning.
Working in a PK classroom technology was a plus to have in our daily routines. It is a tool used to support social and emotional development through play. For example, on rainy days we used the platform Go Noodle to facilitate indoor recess. This was a time for students to work together, develop their gross motor skills and those relationships between each other. Technology provides the visuals and music for the different things that we did. Children have different ways of learning it would be a disservice to the learning process if they didn’t have access to technology. Technology provides access to different learning styles, new information and provides an opportunity for new skills. Students who have access to technology can then take those skills and information and pass it along to someone who may be technology literate.
Technology has so many positive effects on education and it is always changing so not only do students gain from it but so do adults who are also in education. I think that there should be easier access to technology. When students have access to technology then the possibilities are limitless. But what about those who don’t have access to it. They may depend on their school, other family members, local libraries, or any place that might provide free internet access. How does this support these student’s growth and development by not having access to these resources? It doesn’t, school systems across the country need to work out plans so that students at least have access to these resources. Fortunately, a good majority of the students at the school have access to the resources need to support virtual learning during these times. There were some who didn’t have access and they had to find other means for getting work done. I could only think about the students don’t have access to these resources how delayed might they become in the learning gap, socially and emotionally.