Vacuum of technology in today’s classroom: The Ripple effect.

I am a non-traditional Undergraduate at William & Mary; I am in my second of three semesters in the elementary education program. I large part of what I am learning deals with how to integrate technology into the classroom. My concern is how useful will this knowledge be when there are classrooms around the country that only have one computer in the classroom, and that is for the teacher to use. I have been a student off and on since JFK was President. I am amazed at how far technology has taken a classroom. The first “Computer” I saw in a classroom was just a glorified programmable calculator that took up an entire students desk. I doubt that schools out there have not advanced that far, but I know with budgeting issues that some school districts face, technology is a much lower priority.
The result of this priority is a no win situation for everyone involved. The school district with no computers has lower standardized test scores than any more technological advanced school around it. The teacher using chalk and board to teach misses so many opportunities to help students grow. Finally, the one who misses or looses the most is the student. When the student is forced to compete against their peers from other schools without the advantage of learning from and using technology on a regular basis, they are a more of a disadvantage than all but truly exceptional student could be expected to overcome.
I have the advantage of having grown up in a technologically repressed age, and going back to school at a university that stresses technology. The elementary school where I have been doing my practicum has also bought into the necessity of technology in the classroom. Every teacher I have spoken with has talked about how essential computer skills are for a competitive student. This elementary school begins working students with technology while they are in Kindergarten, and advance their knowledge through fifth grade, when they move up to middle school. During a recent “Technology Inventory,” I found technology being used in so many different ways, in almost every classroom, and by almost every teacher. I also found the best teachers are the ones that don’t just use technology to teach, they are the ones that allow their students to learn with technology. Instead of creating a slideshow and lecturing off that slide show, the teacher will allow the students to create the slideshow, present what they have learned and correct and errors.
As a pre-service teacher, it is hard not to get excited about the chance to get into my first teaching position where I can bring new technological insights to my students. It is also very difficult not to be terrified at the thought of teaching in a classroom with little or no technology available.