As I sit back and reflect upon the
past seven weeks for this course, I must remind myself where I was in my
classroom prior to this course in terms of technological usage. Seven weeks ago, I found myself using PowerPoint
to give notes at least twice a week.
Students would diligently take notes, and I would post the links to my
PowerPoint lectures on my website. As we
have learned, this is simply “putting old wine into new bottles” (Laureate,
2010). Students are still being
presented information the same way that they always have through
PowerPoint. The only difference is that
we are using a different vessel to transmit that information. Instead of simply putting a piece of chalk to
the board and having the students take notes, the students are now taking notes
from a technological piece that their teacher uses to present that
information. To the student, this is
still the same thing. They are being
given notes, and their job is to put their pencil to paper, and take the notes
down.
As educators, we need to change this
method of teaching. It is not that this
type of teacher-centered instruction has no place in the classroom. I would disagree with anyone who would state
that it serves no purpose to have lessons like the one described. However, as educators, we need to adjust with
the changing times, and adopt newer ways of thinking and teaching into our
classroom. As our culture shifts to a
technologically driven one, we need to make a similar shift in our way of presenting
information to our students. If our
students are truly going to be successful in the 21st century workforce, we
need to implement more lessons that are learner-centered. These past seven weeks have presented us with
a great deal of information on how to make that happen.
Each and every one of the students
that we teach every day has had technology in their lives since birth. “Kids today are connected to the entire world
around the clock, in real time, through their media and their myriad personal
devices, both electronic and digital uses”
(Prensky, 2005). These same students
are always on their cell phones, personal gaming devices, IPods, and many more
technological devices when they are outside of school. If we are going to reach our students, we
need to find ways to reach them in the classroom, so that they do not “power
down” (Prensky, 2008) when they get in the classroom. Assignments such as blogs, wikis, and
podcasts will certainly allow for our students to satisfy their technological needs,
and allows for us to design lessons that align with 21st century skills. Blogs,
podcasts, and wikis can all be made into collaborative activities with just a
bit of extra effort from the teacher. A
few extra steps at the beginning of the lesson from the instructor goes a long
way towards creating a successful technology-based lesson, and if teachers are
willing to work at it, many critical thinking questions can be answered.
While I have yet to implement a new technology-based lesson into
my classroom, I have certainly taken steps to do so. I have always used collaborative activities
in my classroom, so transitioning some of my lessons will be much easier than I
had anticipated. In fact, I have already
changed one of my tried-and-true lessons into a more technologically-based
one. As I introduce different continents
in my social studies classes, I place the students into groups and give them an
assortment of maps on that continent.
From the maps, they have to collaborate, and come to a conclusion as to
which areas would be the most likely to have a higher population, and their job
is to explain why they have come up with that response. They have always been required to write out
their responses. This lesson has always
been successful in giving the students an opportunity to understand why humans
settle in specific areas, instead of simply accepting the fact that they
do. Even though this has been a success,
I firmly believe that implementing a blog to accompany this lesson can only
enhance its success. Students can post
their thoughts about their maps, and collaborate with other groups as they are
progressing. This lesson will not take
place until the next school year, but I am already excited about the prospects
of instituting it.
While this lesson is certainly a start to the change that needs to
be done to help integrate technology, there is a lot more that needs to be
done. I certainly need to limit the
amount of teacher-oriented lessons that have dominated my planning in the
past. In order to do this, I need to set
some long-term goals to accomplish that change in planning. The first goal I am setting for myself is to
institute at least one lesson including a podcast, one with a wiki, and one
with a blog by the end of the next school year.
By the end of my second year, I would like to enhance that number to two
lessons for each of the three technological pieces. By doing this, I can make changes to lessons
as necessary, and at the same time I can add newer parts to make lessons
better. My second goal might be loftier. I would like to teach an in-service for my
school, and possibly multiple schools (the high school), on ways to use
podcasts effectively in the classroom. I
found the podcast activity during this course to be extremely worthwhile, and
definitely can see the benefits of using it.
By taking a leadership role in my school community, I believe that
others will see the benefits of using this technology in the class. A podcast assignment may take some time to
develop, but the ease in which it is likely to be completed is well worth the
extra time developing the lesson; not to mention the excitement that our
students will get from using this sort of technology in their education.
Our students all love and use technology, it is time that we
bridge the gap between the technology they use at home, and the technology they
use in school. While just about all
school districts are facing some sort of budget crisis, technology still can be
used in classrooms to meet the technological demands of our students. Students may not be able to get newer
technologies as often as they would like, but a creative teacher can foster
21st century skills by making a conscious effort to integrate collaborative
activities that challenge the students.
It may be overwhelming for many teachers, but as I’ve said from the
beginning, we need to take ‘baby steps’ to get there.
References
Laureate Education Inc. (Producer). (2010). The changing role of
the classroom teacher part 1. [DVD] Understanding the impact of technology on
education, work, and society. Baltimore, MD: Dr. David Thornburg.
Prensky, M.
(2005). Listen to the natives. Educational Leadership, 63(4),
8–13.
Prensky, M.
(2008, March). Turning on the lights. Educational Leadership, 65(6),
40–45.
