Reflection #4

In week 5 we had a guest speaker from SD62, Ana Galac, who talked to us about the different technologies that they have to support their students and how they handle AI in their schools. The most basic thing was how teachers all get a district email. This is the email you must use when communicating with parents and other staff and allows you to use lots of the online resources the district pays for. If you are a student teacher in SD62 you will not get a district email instead you will have to use your host teacher email to access the resources. Some districts do give student teachers a district email so you’ll have to check your specific district. Teachers also have access to smartboards, projectors, document cameras and iPads. Along with all that there is more tech that is available for students to enhance learning. These include chrome books, ipads, computer lab, adaptive reading pens and access to so many different sites for research and for creating their projects. I was very surprised to learn that the students are allowed to use Ai. It is restricted to Co-pilot and Canva, and they are taught proper ways to use it. As much as I dislike how Ai is used, I do think it’s important to teach correct and ethical use as it is not going away probably ever at this point. 

I really appreciated the overview of tech found in classrooms today. It’s been a while since I’ve been in an elementary school classroom, so it’s hard to know what the standard is for most schools. I think the main thing I need to learn about now is ethical AI use so that I can teach students moving forward how to do it. With how prevalent Ai is now, it’s so important for us all to learn how we should use and teach it to the future generations.