A Teacher’s Diary: Integrating Technology in a Listening Session

     It all started when Dr.Bilal Al Kaderi asked us, the students of the Education Management and Technology course, to describe a technology-based lecture; looking deeper into the used technology and how it influenced the teacher’s strategies in teaching his class. Being the student, I had no choice but to find a teacher and observe his lecture. To be honest, to me, technology was not a new brand and I wasn't surprised with the tools used, but I was amazed to see that after some teachers’ accuse of technology as a management problem, as previously mentioned in a conference entitled LAU/Levant Continuing Professional Development: Using Technology in Schools, presented by Maya El Zoghby (Zoghby, 2013), this teacher made me believe that technology wasn't but totally the contrary. In fact, the teacher used technology to save time, trouble, and effort. Also, he integrated technology in his listening class to foster critical thinking and problem solving, creativity and innovation, and communication and collaboration, agreeing with Lynne and Barbara’s (2009) idea in Leading 21^st Century Schools: Harnessing Technology for Engagement and Achievement. Finally, the teacher declared to bring technology into play to target his objective; a meaningful and engaging practice of listening, and thus, going hand in hand with the 21^st Century Content Area Standards mentioned in Lynne and Barbara’s (2009) book.

An Administrator’s Interview about Technology

     To start, as Ballantine and Spade (2004) stated it, in their book Schools and Society: a Sociological Approach to Education, “Education is a major institution in most societies. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine any industrialized or unindustrialized society without a system of schools; from preschool to graduate level.” Ballantine and Spade declare that sociological analyses of education give us a deeper understanding of the form and purpose of education in society. They state it clearly that organizations, like education, make up the major structural components of any society, and that, in some societies children attend formal schools from a young age and there they learn the skills and knowledge needed for survival. From here, one can see the importance of studying schools and what is going on within its walls to better understand what the near future is carrying and where society is heading. In an interview with a school administrator using the latest fashion, that of technology, the interviewer tended to gather some information; that describes the integrated technology, and investigates the reasons and the strategies that were followed to implement and evaluate that technology, all this to have a humble idea of what a school in his district, Central Bekaa, is training and preparing (students) to offer (society) for the coming days.

A Personal Experience with Technology

     Every time I look back at my teaching portrait, a summary of a humble experience pops out, sometimes accompanied with pride and others with smiles of the funny instances and events that I once encountered as a technology immigrant. Being freshly graduated with juicy technological ideas and being acknowledged with the importance of integrating technology in education, I discovered new horizons and a new arena where my teaching ship should embark to settle. It is thanks to my personal experience, of using and learning technology, during college years that I have gained a new philosophy and a new approach towards mending my teaching career; by means of meaningful technology integration. To continue, in order not to fall within the cracks, I followed some strategies for managing the technology used, which in their turn proved to be effective on the students’ learning. However, in accordance with Stephen Covey’s (1989) quotation: “To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you’re going so that you better understand where you are now so that the steps you take are always in the right direction.” Whenever I compare my use of technology, in that flashback of the previous scrapbook of ‘technology integration’ in my teaching experience, to this rapid innovation of digital technology (Web 2.0) and its integration in education, I admit that the ship of technology hasn't reached its destination yet, and I can clearly see the difference among where I was (Web 1.0), where I am (Web 2.0), and where the experience, being a passenger aboard in the journey, will persist to take me (Web 3.0 on the go).