Fear of Technology

Technology can be a rather frightening thing to some, especially older folks who did not grow up with computers in the home. Even when they become computer literate, many do not freely experiment like the younger ones tend to do. Thus the technology limit in the classroom of some older teachers is to switch from the chalkboard to the whiteboard. They are usually content with this. Many teachers would put up great resistance if asked to learn new teaching techniques using the computer. They prefer to continue as they are, and hope to retire soon. They say this openly and without fear of ridicule.


Having been exposed to last week’s lesson on the creation of blogs and having created and edited a blog several times in the last week, I realise that it is a lot simpler than I expected. The most difficult part was getting started. I also gained a lot of ideas from last week’s lecture and class activity which revealed the variety of lessons that can be done in the classroom to enhance reading skills by using blogs.


Whilst I would like to rush out and begin teaching lessons using blogs, alas, I cannot. The computers are not available to the students. This is another drawback teachers face when attempting to use ICT in the classroom.

Why I chose to do this program.

I have been an educator in the primary school system for close to twenty-five years. For some strange reason, most of the classes I have been assigned to during this period consisted of students who were low achieving and had very serious reading difficulties. Not being specifically trained to deal with reading problems, I tried whatever strategies I knew; was told or read about. Some worked, some did not; it was more like hit and miss in some cases.


After completing my Bachelor’s Degree in English, I waited around for a Master’s Degree that I was truly interested in. I knew that whatever area I specialised in at this point, I would remain in for the rest of my career. However, I was not sufficiently interested in anything that UWI was offering; I found the choices rather limited. I was also not motivated to go to another institution. Whilst I was waiting, I branched out into Public Relations and completed a Diploma. It was unlike anything I had ever studied. I managed to wake up some sections of the grey matter that I had not been using previously. Nevertheless, when I saw the advertisement for the Master of Education in Reading, I immediately knew it was what I wanted to do. It was like something just clicked and fell into place. I knew that this program would equip me to better handle my students’ problems. It offers scope for a variety of reading strategies and motivation techniques. By motivating a child to learn a big part of the problem is solved. I saw this amply illustrated when teaching Adult Literacy classes for MOE and Career Enhancement classes for YTEPP. These adult students knew what they wanted and went about the business of learning without distractions. It was such a pleasure to teach them. Hopefully, I can bring this joy of learning to my primary school students.