For the past 11 years I have taught 7th grade English Language Arts. I am tasked with helping my students maneuver the muddy waters of plot line, genre study, precise use of language, and appropriate use of grammar. However, I have always told people that I wouldn’t see it as a failure if a student left my classroom and forgot what a gerund was as long as something that they learned in their time with me helped them on their path to becoming a successful human being.
Use of the basic suite: word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation software may be just the tool that aides my students on their path in life. As much as I hate to admit it, their ability to name each grammatical element of a sentence may pale in comparison to the life skills my students will acquire when using the software listed above. Luckily my content allows me to incorporate these tools into my instruction consistently and almost seamlessly so my students are not only learning about literature and language but doing so using technology that will ensure their ability to achieve 21st century success.
As much as we don’t like to admit it we are a first impression, judge a book by its cover society. Thanks to the appearance and accuracy aides that the basic suite offers us assistance with we can constantly ensure that our documents and presentations are organized, polished, and precise pieces of work that resemble the likes of professional designers such as as outlined in Robler (2016). In addition to allowing us to create these high quality documents the use of the suite software lets us interact and collaborate. Of all 21st century skills, this may one of the most beneficial to students. Our world is riddled with problems of those who experience an inability to communicate and/or problem solve. If we incorporate elements of instruction that foster the ability to create, collaborate, and be cooperative in group learning activities perhaps we can encourage the next generation not only to create quality work but to do so in a manner that makes their working world and possibly the world around them a little bit better of a place to be in general.
- Robler, M. (2016). Integrating Technolody into Teaching (7th Ed.). Massachusetts: Pearson
Becky Bridgewater EDTECH learning log 
What a fantastic outlook. I love thinking how it could better the world we live in. Imagine if the goal of ever teacher was not to only inspire their students, but to inspire others that will teach. Collaboration is essential for growth. You have an awesome post. Thanks for the thoughts.
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Great thoughts! I love that your primary goal is to make sure that your students are successful human beings. That is what I, as a parent, want so it so refreshing that a teacher sees the importance of it too. Your statement ” we are a first impression, judge a book by its cover society” is very true. Many times if something is not aesthetically appealing, it will not be read or passed along in a company. The suite packages allow for us to create these awesome, inspiring documents without much effort through templates or own creations.
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We definitely are a judge a book by its cover society, and I think the basic suite can be a double-edged sword in that regard. I believe that in the workplace it is assumed that everyone knows how to effectively use these tools, which is not always the case. Not using some of the simple features can make work look worse than it would if you didn’t use the software simply because of the expectations we set for professional work. These expectations, fair or not, of today’s professional worker makes teaching students to use these tools that much more important.
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