To me, it makes perfect sense that if a teacher didn't know how to properly adapt their classroom practices to the use of one computer in front of each student, improvements must be made. It would be such a huge change from usual learning styles that teachers would have to be dedicated to and educated on using the most effective methods. I think that 1:1 computing could be interesting, but if I'm being completely honest, I have always envisioned myself running a more low-tech classroom. My favorite classrooms growing up have been that way, and all of my best ideas usually come not including technology. That doesn't mean that I don't plan to use technology as a teacher, I'm just coming to realize that it's going to be harder for me and I'm going to have to actively insert tech use into my classroom. I feel that 1:1 computers would be completely distracting if the teacher doesn't have a solid plan to keep the students engaged and active the whole time.
We use 1:1 computers in this class, but this is a technology based class. Many of the things we are learning about directly require our use of technology. In history, I see that being a struggle or feeling forced. It is certainly not a style of teaching i intend to ignore, but I haven't discovered my niche for using it yet.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Assesments
I'm really interested in looking at assessments in the way that they affect student's future work. Even though I was an honor student in high-school and ultimately got good grades, I had assignments that I didn't do well on. Unfortunately, this was often a set back for me. Even if I had been on a "winning streak", one bad grade would kill my mojo and I would often stop trying. Not until my parents caught me slacking or a bad grade report came out did I get my act together and remember that I was fully capable of achieving top marks.
I like the suggestion from the article that assessments are at least as valuable to students as they are to adults. I completely agree. Students need to know when they can improve and how. I don't believe that they should be baby-ed, but I think it is vitally important for students to hear that they can recover from a bad assignment and encouraged to do so. It's so easy for kids to write themselves off as unable, when really they just need to try something different. In history, I feel that a lot of my most official assessments will be tests and papers. This can include the idea from the article that suggests allowing students to assess an good and bad example of the final product of an assessment, so that they can see how to produce good work. plan to give as much feedback as I can, meaning asking students to think about topics in a different way or from a different point of view. It's hard to know how this all will work, but a lot of what I've learned in this class is the importance of feedback to students, so I know I'm going to spend as much time as it takes to develop an effective system.
purrrrrra.
I like the suggestion from the article that assessments are at least as valuable to students as they are to adults. I completely agree. Students need to know when they can improve and how. I don't believe that they should be baby-ed, but I think it is vitally important for students to hear that they can recover from a bad assignment and encouraged to do so. It's so easy for kids to write themselves off as unable, when really they just need to try something different. In history, I feel that a lot of my most official assessments will be tests and papers. This can include the idea from the article that suggests allowing students to assess an good and bad example of the final product of an assessment, so that they can see how to produce good work. plan to give as much feedback as I can, meaning asking students to think about topics in a different way or from a different point of view. It's hard to know how this all will work, but a lot of what I've learned in this class is the importance of feedback to students, so I know I'm going to spend as much time as it takes to develop an effective system.
purrrrrra.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Transformative Technology?
To say the educators can't agree on the uses of technology in the classroom appears to be.... the most insane understatement of all time. The blog post found here shows a video put out by an Interactive White Board company. In the discussion following the blog, there is an extreme disagreement over whether IWB's are worth their money, or just a marketing ploy by the companies who sell them. And it looks like I'm coming down on the side of those who think they are a waste of money. Surprise, Surprise. The video demonstrated a teacher using an IWB, but his class functioned essentially in the same way that a teacher who uses a chalkboard's would function. Students sat in their desks, the teacher lectured from the front of the class. Teachers commenting on the blog were not impressed and neither was I.
The thing that I found to be the most interesting about the discourse in the comment section, though, was that the main proponents of IWB technologies were school administrators and principals. And I have a theory that could get me into a bit of trouble. I think that the administrators want IWB's in their schools because it makes their school and their programs look more technologically advanced. It's a selling point for parents, for new teachers, and it makes the district look good to the community. I realize that this is a broad generalization, but I stand by it. It seems that there are more cost effective ways to incorporate technology that better serve both students and teachers. And we all know that no one in the education system has room to burn money. Besides, this is hard for me to think about, because all of my "best" lesson ideas, hypothetical as they may be, don't focus on incorporating the newest technology. Maybe that's because it's the only example I have to go by.
I'm also wanting to rethink my presentation about technology in the classroom, because I included a smartboard as something that I would want. But these comments are making me think otherwise.
Until next time,
Purrrrra
The thing that I found to be the most interesting about the discourse in the comment section, though, was that the main proponents of IWB technologies were school administrators and principals. And I have a theory that could get me into a bit of trouble. I think that the administrators want IWB's in their schools because it makes their school and their programs look more technologically advanced. It's a selling point for parents, for new teachers, and it makes the district look good to the community. I realize that this is a broad generalization, but I stand by it. It seems that there are more cost effective ways to incorporate technology that better serve both students and teachers. And we all know that no one in the education system has room to burn money. Besides, this is hard for me to think about, because all of my "best" lesson ideas, hypothetical as they may be, don't focus on incorporating the newest technology. Maybe that's because it's the only example I have to go by.
I'm also wanting to rethink my presentation about technology in the classroom, because I included a smartboard as something that I would want. But these comments are making me think otherwise.
Until next time,
Purrrrra
Monday, February 6, 2012
The Student Will Be Able To...
As a student, walking into a classroom and seeing a learning outcome posted on the board was something that I became immune to during my school years. Probably beginning in middle school, I'd say it was standard fare. But I'm not going to pretend that I got anything out of them. I know that the studies show that posting expected outcomes helps students understand what they should be learning. I get the feeling though that my teachers, like many described in this blog, were writing the learning outcomes on the board simply because they were told to by their supervisor. They never referenced them, nor made us particularly aware of them. We just saw them up there and that was that.
I understand how writing an understandable learning outcome can be beneficial to students, but in order for the impact to be seen, students have to understand not only what they say, but why they are there. When I get into a classroom, I have a feeling that learning outcomes are going to be a mandatory part of my lesson and I can handle that and definetly use them to my and the students benefit, but I'm not on board with writing them for the sake of writing them. When I have a classroom of my own, the learning outcome in going to be part of the lesson or it wont be used at all (unless they want to fire me, in which case my stance on posting learning outcomes will likely become less negative very quickly!)
Purrra
I understand how writing an understandable learning outcome can be beneficial to students, but in order for the impact to be seen, students have to understand not only what they say, but why they are there. When I get into a classroom, I have a feeling that learning outcomes are going to be a mandatory part of my lesson and I can handle that and definetly use them to my and the students benefit, but I'm not on board with writing them for the sake of writing them. When I have a classroom of my own, the learning outcome in going to be part of the lesson or it wont be used at all (unless they want to fire me, in which case my stance on posting learning outcomes will likely become less negative very quickly!)
Purrra
Minds Shifting
Technology is obviously not going away. And unlike some of the commentators that you can find here, I think that means we have to shift our curriculum and teaching methods to reflect that. Getting students excited and active in their own learning means that we have to make it relevant as educators. Getting on their level and speaking in a language that they understand, because as much as we as adults want to think that we have to make them understand our point of view, we have to realize that our point of view and methods of communication are going to become quickly outdated. The world is moving away from us and the things that excite kids now, specifically in technology, are going to become standard features in their way of life by the time they become adults.
One of my favorite parts of this article was the concept of peer-to-peer connectivity. That can be translated in so many ways. But I think that it is really exciting for students to find ways to interact with each other online, and in ways that are the norm for them. To go from online posts and discussion groups that students can interact with their classmates on to video chatting with students from other states or even other countries can expand our teaching horizons so much. Especially in history, where perspective means everything, getting the point of view from students outside of their own cultural boundaries can make a world of difference in understanding why what I am teaching is relevant and important.
Some educators worry that students are losing vital communication skills by going technical and that computers and technology in the classroom can be distracting, but I disagree. I'm not saying students should be allowed to sit on facebook, or text for 50 minutes during class, but using technology in the right way is actually building relevant skills that students need to be successful after they graduate. And if I'm being honest, some of the sloppiest and hardest to understand emails that show up in my inbox come not from my fellow students, but from teachers who were never taught internet etiquette.
Purrra
One of my favorite parts of this article was the concept of peer-to-peer connectivity. That can be translated in so many ways. But I think that it is really exciting for students to find ways to interact with each other online, and in ways that are the norm for them. To go from online posts and discussion groups that students can interact with their classmates on to video chatting with students from other states or even other countries can expand our teaching horizons so much. Especially in history, where perspective means everything, getting the point of view from students outside of their own cultural boundaries can make a world of difference in understanding why what I am teaching is relevant and important.
Some educators worry that students are losing vital communication skills by going technical and that computers and technology in the classroom can be distracting, but I disagree. I'm not saying students should be allowed to sit on facebook, or text for 50 minutes during class, but using technology in the right way is actually building relevant skills that students need to be successful after they graduate. And if I'm being honest, some of the sloppiest and hardest to understand emails that show up in my inbox come not from my fellow students, but from teachers who were never taught internet etiquette.
Purrra
Thursday, January 12, 2012
There's a First Time for Everything
I never thought I would have a blog, but considering it has been assigned, there seems no better time to start! Technology, it seems, is ever changing and I'm bringing myself up to speed. When I was in elementary school, we didn't have computers in the classroom. Not even at the teacher's desks. There was a Mac lab in the library where we learned to type, use paint, and played a lot of Oregon Trail. Our teachers didn't use slideshows or PowerPoint, they used overhead projectors and no one was the wiser. In a time when chewing gum in school was outlawed, we were more concerned about who had the 96 pack of crayons.
In junior high everyone had an AOL screen name and a computer at home on which to use it. We were required to take a speed typing class and learned the art of adding animations and sounds to PowerPoint presentations (can you say obnoxious?) Now, our school papers required some level of research and all the information we could ever want was readily available to us on our computers. Cue the lessons on plagiarism, intellectual property and the ever increasing urge to cut and paste. By 8th grade, AIM was out and MySpace was in.... until the birth of Facebook, that is. Growing up, we have interacted with our friends online as often as we did in person.
In high school, technology became a more relevant part of the classroom. A few of our teachers used PowerPoint presentations to lecture, though it was rare; we even had a few smart boards installed at my high school, but it was difficult for them to be integrated into the classroom, because the technology was so unfamiliar to both teachers and students.
I hope that technology is something that I can work into my classroom as a teacher. It's important because it is becoming the most common medium for communication and something that young people especially are extremely proficient in. I do hope to use it in an effective way, though I think that it can be overdone. When you get to a point that its use is distracting rather than supplemental to the learning environment, you have to rethink the way the technology is being used and come up with a new strategy. Hopefully I'll be able to incorporate it into my future as a tool to get kids excited about learning, specifically excited about learning history, which we all know can be a challenge.
Until next time,
Purrrrra
In junior high everyone had an AOL screen name and a computer at home on which to use it. We were required to take a speed typing class and learned the art of adding animations and sounds to PowerPoint presentations (can you say obnoxious?) Now, our school papers required some level of research and all the information we could ever want was readily available to us on our computers. Cue the lessons on plagiarism, intellectual property and the ever increasing urge to cut and paste. By 8th grade, AIM was out and MySpace was in.... until the birth of Facebook, that is. Growing up, we have interacted with our friends online as often as we did in person.
In high school, technology became a more relevant part of the classroom. A few of our teachers used PowerPoint presentations to lecture, though it was rare; we even had a few smart boards installed at my high school, but it was difficult for them to be integrated into the classroom, because the technology was so unfamiliar to both teachers and students.
I hope that technology is something that I can work into my classroom as a teacher. It's important because it is becoming the most common medium for communication and something that young people especially are extremely proficient in. I do hope to use it in an effective way, though I think that it can be overdone. When you get to a point that its use is distracting rather than supplemental to the learning environment, you have to rethink the way the technology is being used and come up with a new strategy. Hopefully I'll be able to incorporate it into my future as a tool to get kids excited about learning, specifically excited about learning history, which we all know can be a challenge.
Until next time,
Purrrrra
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)