My Comment for Mrs. Kelly Hines

In the blog post, It's Not About the Technology, Mrs. Kelly Hines elaborated on the title with four main points. She says that in order to generate effective learning,
"Teachers must be learners. Learning and teaching are not the same thing. Technology is useless without good teaching. Be a 21st century teacher without the technology."
The main idea of this article particularly impacted me because I spend 10 hours a week witnessing the success and tribulations of two different teachers and their classrooms. The successful teacher that I am referring to has 30 students in her 4th grade class. She is equipped with one computer which is barely capable of running the AR Test program and one laptop for her SmartBoard which has snail like processing speed. However, her classroom is still a success because she has built a partnership atmosphere between her students who are constantly buzzing with relevant input for class discussions-- albeit Math, Language, Literature, Science, and Social Studies. Her previous classes enjoyed music and art classes, but as a result of budget cuts she willingly came up with ways to incorporate music and art into her daily routines. It's amazing to see how quickly the students are learning despite the absence of sufficient technology.
Unfortunately, I also witness a classroom that thrives much less as a result of an outdated system of learning. The classroom atmosphere is silent and stale. The students spend most of their time warding off behavioral problems that accompany unused energy and boredom. This classroom is equipped with a quick processor for the smartboard and four computers. The building itself is a mere 8 years old (relatively new in terms of educational facilities). Just this morning the teacher I volunteer for expressed her love for the smartboard. I asked her if she learned how to use it in college or if she took some kind of tutorial when she got it-- neither of which occurred. The lack knowledge of its capabilities is evident. For her, the smartboard is nothing more than a touch screen transparency projector.
I believe the forementioned experiences that I have shared serve to highlight the points that Mrs. Hines made. We all must become what teachers should exemplify, life-long learners.