When I began teaching six years ago, I longed for the most modern technology available to students. To that end, I wrote a grant to obtain a writing program for my class. The program did not meet my expectations. Then, we moved to the next level of technology, computers and whiteboards. Initially, I set up a website so my class could access information from class. Most recently, I began helping students on weekends and snow days via email.
But technology is not always dependable. The Internet goes down, and only an English teacher can properly grade an essay and conference with a student afterward. Thus, in the past six years I have learned that technology can not replace the teacher and that students want to learn from humans, not machines. Technology has become a supplement to my lesson plans and not the primary focal point that I thought it would be.
Kim Bochicchio
Dunmore High School
Dunmore, Pennsylvania
6 years as a teacher
(10 years as Director of Community Education- North Pocono School District, Moscow, Pennsylvania)
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