What it Means to be a 21st Century Early Childhood Educator

In the Early Childhood Education field, an educator will work with children ranging ages from birth to 5 years; within this age range there is a wide range of opportunity present to use technology to enhance your student's lives. Many parents and scholars may debate the harm technology at a young age can do, however, in my opinion at the speed our world is advancing technologically, it is vital to integrate technology into children's lives as early as possible. Who better to do that than early childhood educators?

Now, don't get me wrong, technology should not under any circumstances be used as a "babysitter". Parents and teachers that plop kids down in front of a television or a computer screen and expect an educational outcome drive me crazy; the key is to utilize technology as a cooperative learning tool. When properly utilized, technology can greatly enhance a good lesson. An issue with this in early childhood is that we as educators don't teach the typical lesson, it's more of setting the foundations for future educators.

A great example of technology in an early childhood setting that I had the privilege to observe was in a Montessori classroom in Fort Thomas schools. The teachers used iPads to work on printing and numbers and to reinforce their vocabulary. Applications that have children use the touch screen to trace numbers and letters, play games to enhance their memory and vocabulary all are viable methods of technology that a 21st century early childhood educator should highly consider using in their classroom.

It's time for a change, many educators that have been in the field for a long while are expectantly going to be resistant to the great change in classroom technologies. Over the next 30 years I highly expect that technology will become a great resource within the classrooms of the world.