Professional Experience Prac 3

During this semester, my prac is taking place in a Greater Western Sydney school. I chose it even though it would take me almost 2 hours to get there and 2 hours back because I wanted to see if there was a difference or 'divide' between schools. Monday was an observation day where I arrived at a staff meeting and discovered there were so many student teachers from different universities there. This school told me that they truly believed in giving back to the new generation and providing a supportive place for student teacher placements was a great way to do so. I think so anyway.

As I made my way to my year 3 classroom, there was a big difference to my previous placement. This room had no Interactive white board, not even a white board. Just one of those old black boards that I had when I was a primary school student myself. I asked the teacher if there was a Smart board and she replied that there was a communal one in the workspace just outside the stage 2 classrooms. It had to be booked if teachers wanted to use it but my cooperating teacher said  barely anyone uses it. This wasn't much of a surprise since we had been made aware of this in professional experience class. I hadn't previously taught on an IWB before so I decided to use it for art on Thursday. 

When I asked my teacher why she didn't use it she replied that she doesn't understand it and doesn't want to touch it. She'd taught using traditional methods for years and she hasn't needed to use the IWB. However she does tell me that her son is in his first year of permanent teaching and uses it for everything. I asked her why doesn't she learn from him how to use it. She replied saying that she thinks the IWB should be for the younger teachers. Unfortunately, this is the view that I'm sure many teachers hold about new technology as it can be daunting and may seem unnecessary. It is therefore a reminder that we as upcoming teachers should keep an open mind to new technologies as it is moving more rapidly than in the past.