In this week's reading we learned about how students and teachers have so much more information at their fingertips because of how much more technology we have access to. I know that the knowledge we get from technology can be useful for history because of digital archives, online newspapers, and other ways to access sources. How can other disciplines (math, science, art, etc.) use all the new technology to their advantage in the classroom?
Technology is constantly advancing, and our students will be keeping up with it, but our classrooms will not. If classrooms cannot keep up with the changing technology then there will be a gap in instruction that a "new classroom literacy would attempt to close" (Kist 712). The new literacy classroom would be set up like a studio and in this way the would "not only have multiple venues for expression, it would have multiple venues for 'receiving' expression" (Kist). The new literacy school would be set up with many studios for different subject areas so there would be more opportunities for creating and understanding. What would your new literacy classroom look like?
Working through the technology even teaches new literacy because you learn about the different forms of representation as you use them. "Students would be the cognitive apprentices to the teacher who would be engaged in real work themselves" and as teachers work through technology problems they can do a think aloud in order to model their though process on how to work through the problem. How would you include your students to help you work through technology problems?
As someone who despises technology, this is something im very nervous about in my career. It seems difficult to incorporate technology in the history classroom, but I am sure I will find resources and incorporate it effectively. In my observations I do see ipads as a constant distraction for many students and that is my main concern.
ReplyDeleteI have 2 ideas in mind in regard for use of technology in other disciplines. 1) KhanAcademy. KhanAcademy is an extremely useful resource. They cover many different subjects and units. It should only be used as a supplement to a lecture, though. While the information is plentiful, there are still plenty of things that they may not cover.
ReplyDelete2) is the use of a SmartPad. In highschool, I remember one of my math teachers having a SmartPad that was connected to the SmartBoard. Anything she "wrote" on it would legibly appear on the screen. Many students, including myself, were pretty intrigued by it and were definitely excited when we would get a turn to use it to solve a problem as a class. It certainly beats writing on the chalkboard/whiteboard.
As for technology in history classrooms, I do agree with Grant to an extent. iPads most definitely distract students to where they will opt to play games than paying attention to the material being taught. If I were in a situation and saw students not paying attention, I would first be nice and ask them to kindly stop loafing around and pay attention. If they continued to play on the iPad, I would probably take it away and ask them to take notes via hand. Another option could be going to the IT department to see if there was a way remotely cut off internet access, or at the very least restrict access to academics.
I do realize, however, not all classrooms will have access to such technology. We might be limited to a SmartBoard, an overhead projector, whiteboard or a chalkboard. In which case, I would just have to work with what I have. If I were lucky enough to have a SmartBoard, I would make use of it by playing movies, educational videos, pictures, etc. Other than that, the only other way in which I could incorporate technology is by reserving a day in the computer lab for research projects.
As new technology emerges, there are going to be problems in learning how to use them in the beginning. I feel if that were to happen in the classroom, one should not be afraid to ask for student help. In my experience, I had projectors in my high school classrooms and sometimes the teachers would have difficulty with connecting the computers to them or showing videos. In those cases, many of my teachers were hesitant to ask for help from students. I think that we should encourage that help as it is a way to show students that we as teachers do not know everything, especially when there is so much new technology coming out in this day and age. It also helps the teacher in the scenario as per say the student is more knowledgeable with the technology, then the teacher is able to learn something from them.
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