Today was our first foray into the wild world of teaching with technology. I think that the most important thing to take away from this class is that technology is not the enemy, it is a resource. All too frequently in my experiences, teachers were on a spectrum regarding technology; they were either uneducated in its use and therefore disapproved of using it too much, or they were enthusiastic supporters who integrated it into the classroom when they could. The success rates of the latter varied and I will most likely delve into them each as we continue with the course.
For now, a quick analysis of the class from today will suffice. Don't expect too much Meta-cog, I'm still shaky on the concept ;) (Conceptual Knowledge/Understand Interpreting!!)
I thought that the exercise of comparing different concepts was useful, though the time allotted was a bit short for my liking and the fact that anyone who facilitated a table missed out on the 5th standard was problematic. This type of activity would be very useful as a short presentation format; perhaps for use on research papers. Each student gets 10 minutes to explain their topic to a group of 3 additional classmates and receive input from them on further study; this is repeated for a class period a week until each student has presented to the others. It would be best used in a collegiate setting with longer periods or in an extremely small classroom, but I feel the method is worth exploring.
Since I already had this blog (which I rarely used, as noted by the single follower!), the blog creation and upkeep was not new information to me. The survey and wikis intrigue me though and I look forward to exploring them.
As for right now, I have an antsy german shepherd begging me to go for a walk. Something that I feel must be addressed immediately.
More on life later,
~Ren
Great idea about using the cafe conversations technique to help students share their work. Enjoy the weekend!
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you are now a resource for the rest of us in the clss who are new to blogging! I feel like a total luddite , but want to be a techno-geek, stranger things have happened!
ReplyDeleteThe class sharing in the first part of the class left some persons out, I think, as a few people in my group didn't even have time to tell their stories in full. I do think it is very valuable to have both introspection -knowing where we came from and the positive and negative experiences which will color our teaching. That we can also hear our fellows bad experiences can enrich our emotional too kit.
Ren, you are 110% correct that technology is a resource, and teachers should use it to their advantage. For whatever reason, teachers seem to be so resistant towards technology, and I feel this is not the way to go. Teachers must utilize technology to advance learning and supplement the in-class material.
ReplyDeleteMy CT at John Glenn this year explained to me that the administration gave him a SmartBoard for the upcoming year. Having worked with one previously, I was very excited to hear this. He appeared a little less enthused. He said he never used one, never heard of it before, and would most likely use the board sparingly. It broke my heart. I firmly believe that students enjoy using technology in the classroom, and they learn better when using technology.
Ren, I agree with you that technology is a great resource in the classroom. However, even though I consider myself pretty tech-savvy, I have great hesitations to allow laptops, cell phones and other technical tools in the classroom because they are such great distractions. That being said, I guess it depends how much that you trust your students.
ReplyDeleteRen- first of all this is a pretty advanced looking blog, and I think it puts mine to shame! I am definitely going to be picking your brain in making my blog better! Also, I agree with you that technology is a necessary resource in the classroom. it is important to have both teachers and students respect the use of technology in classroom and to respect each other when using the technology. I think that students can abuse the technology in the classroom if they do not have a good relationship with the teacher.
ReplyDeleteHave fun walking your dog!
I want to hear more about these good and bad experiences... I think you're spot on in terms of seeing comfort with technology as a spectrum. There are so many factors at play there: comfort with the basic how/why of use, comfort with the degree of use, etc. etc. It sounds like you're approaching it with a good, critical eye for productive use. I'm curious to see how that plays out in your future blog posts.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your thoughts--you have some good ideas. It's also good to know that you've seen some teachers do it right. It gives me hope! I also liked your idea about how to use the classroom activity we did. But most of all, I like that you have a German Shepherd. My dog is a Shepherd mix (unless your my landlord, then we call her an "Australian Cattle Dog" mix) and she's great. I think the only problem with those dogs is that they're too smart. My dog knows what I'm going to do before I know I'm going to do it! If she was a little dumber, she might actually behave! :)
ReplyDeleteHey, Ren-
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you brought up the activity we did in class the other day. My problem with it was not so much that I didn't get a chance to visit all five stations, but rather that I didn't quite see how the different standards were all that different. This has been a recurring theme, IMO, with all the standards we've been discussing. It's leading me to wonder why standards have to be so vague and idealistic in their wording. Why can't we just say, "students must understand the plots and themes of three Shakespeare works," rather than, "students should be able to use language in creative ways," or something equally ambiguous and lame. How do we really expect educators to tailor their curriculums to such ridiculously wordy standards?