Pre-K Technology TEKS

The technology TEKS for Pre-K lay the foundation for students because they learn how important and beneficial it is to have technology in our lives. Students at this age are exposed to the wonderful world of technology and begin to explore the many things that are possible with technology. They learn the basics of technology while being engaged in different programs that are age appropriate. This is a very hard age to teach because there are students with many different learning styles and learning rates. I have taught this grade level and have used technology with my students. I saw them really enjoy learning through technology and actually gaining knowledge from it. Many programs are audio, with following directions, one to one correspondence, and vocabulary building. These are just some TEKS that technology focuses on with these young learners. Students become familiar with technology while learning their alphabet, learning numbers, and other grade level skills. What better way of reaching our students that need different ways of learning. I have also noticed that technology makes it fun for students to learn. I think that is the most important thing of all. To have fun while learning. If students start to love learning at this age, they will always have a love for learning.

A spiraling or scaffolding curriculum is one that uses prior knowledge to learn new skills. Spiraling comes back around to a skill that has been learned and builds off of that skill. The skills continuously come around to build off of. Scaffolding is learning a skill and building off of that. So the two go hand in hand. In the technology TEKs for Pre-K and Kindergarten for example, I have noticed scaffolding TEKs as well as spiraling. For example students at each grade level are always expected to use correct terminology for technology. This grows as a child a learns. Also, using a variety of input devices such as a mouse, keyboard, cd-rom, camera, and audio recorder. These eventually build as students move up in grade levels. They become familiar with one, master it and then move on to use these devices in different ways for different outcomes. The last TEK that I see that scaffolds is acquiring information. Students will learn to acquire information in different ways as they grow and learn. It starts off slow for Pre- K students, then builds as they grow older. I believe that using technology is just like learning to read. You must know your basics such as your letters and sounds in order to start to link pieces together to learn that letters make words and those letters make sounds together to make words. Technology is a process that must be used everyday in order to be mastered just like anything else in education.