Being a tech teacher isn't the easiest thing in a public school. You don't always have the same technology that the students are using at home and many times it it much older than the students have ever used. I don't have access to the "latest and greatest" when it comes to software. . .I use what is given to me.
Students today are entering more and more into the digital world much younger than the generation before, yet they have no idea how to use the technology that surrounds them. They look at a computer, yet have no idea how to actually use the keyboard correctly. They don't understand that there is a technique, a process, to learning and you can't just think that one instance when you are exposed to the technology is enough for you to understand what is going on and how to use it. Just like an instrument, or dance, or sports, you need to practice the skill in order to use it correctly.
It is hard when students aren't being "forced" to do it correctly at home, yet I try to get them to do it correctly in my classroom. Yes, I'm talking mostly about keyboarding. Many think that it is a skill that isn't needed anymore due to the improvements in voice manipulation and control, but businesses are still requiring their workers to be able to type. If you don't know the keyboard at the middle school level, it just gets harder and harder to know how to use it effectively as you get older.
I try to let the students know that they need to practice correctly at home constantly, but that doesn't always work. I know of a few of my students who don't have access to a keyboard at home (let a lone a computer) but they are the ones who understand that they need to practice while they are around one in school. It is those who actually have the technology at home that feel they don't have to put forth the effort.
Students today believe that they really don't have to try in order to get by. I don't know if that is because of how they have been "led" along in the elementary level or because parents today are just shoving all the responsibility on the teacher and expecting it to be met only at school; yet not holding them accountable for what they need to practice at home.
When I send them typing homework, it should be treated with the same effort as you want them to do their math, or reading, or spelling. Not just "okay, here's the computer. Get on with it." A program doesn't actually teach them how to type. It is a person with them, letting them know that they are doing it correctly/incorrectly along the way. It is someone showing them that their skills will come into play. However, many parents don't believe that teaching good habits on the computer now will amount to anything. (Yes, I've had a parent tell me that keyboarding is antiquated, yet they couldn't tell me which finger actually typed which letter). That may be the other issue. Many parents don't have the good habits and when their students see them not using the correct technique, they believe that it isn't important and they don't have to do it either.
I guess it comes down to parents helping the teacher in supporting, not coming into the classroom and saying that it "isn't the way it is done in my house and if you want me to support you, then you need to do it my way" (again, something that has been said to me by a parent). I'm sorry, but I've got 33-35 students every 45 minutes. I don't have the time, willingness, nor the energy to do it 33 different ways for each student.
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