Prior to reading these two chapters in the textbook, I had serious reservations about technology in the classroom. While I still think that society has become too obsessed with being connected 24/7 and always having the latest updates and coolest gadgets, these chapters showed me that technology in a learning environment can be so much more than a distraction. As an English major in my undergraduate studies, I always valued the way different authors expressed themselves in their writing, so I was especially excited to read the subheading in Chapter 3 entitled "Redefining Creativity". The authors state, "For students in schools, computers transform the process of expressing one's ideas creatively using writing. Writing electronically features speed and flow as ideas emerge in lighted letters on a computer screen" (Maloy et. al, 63). The authors of the textbook also explain how different social medias encourage self-expression. I think my problem is I tend to look at these things strictly in a negative light, and I guess I need to expand my mind's view about all things technological.
Part of my current job involves supervising mentors and tutors who work at an after school program for children from kindergarten to about grade 7. I am able to notice the difference in engagement when the students are allowed to work on computers as opposed to their normal, boring school workbooks. As I have said in my previous posts and probably as I will continue to say throughout this course, I believe there must be a balance in the use of technology and doing things the "old-fashioned way". Reading these chapters really opened my eyes to the positive ways in which children can work together to create and express themselves through technology. I think I was holding the misconception in my head that once students are in sight of a computer or iPad, all attention is lost and there is no way to reach them. However, such aspects that the textbook introduces such as "digital citizenship" are so important. The internet can be a scary place, especially for young and naive students, and so teaching them to be safe in their web searches and also virtually treating others with respect is of crucial importance.
Chapter 9 was also very interesting for me in that it taught me a lot about different multimedias. Admittedly, whenever I am assigned a video project in class, I begin to immediately stress out. That's why when we were discussing EdTPA in class last week and a video was mentioned, I got quite intimidated! However, reading this chapter taught me why some of my teachers in the past assigned me interactive projects. I now believe that rather than assigning them as forms of torture, they were giving me and the members of my various groups a chance to express our creativity. Instead of assigning yet another essay, some teachers chose to give me video projects, and now I can appreciate why. This is one of the things I love about my education classes now, they are giving me the ability to look back and truly appreciate all of the hard work my teachers put in to their jobs!
Here are some questions that I think would be interesting to address now:
1) How could a video assignment be a teaching tool for a 4th grade math class? Can it be effective? The only video assignments I had were in my history and English classes, never math ones. I wonder what such a project might look like.
2) What are some multimedia projects from your past educational experience do you remember? Which one was your favorite, and why?
Hi Jessica,
ReplyDeleteLike you said, you feel like that sometimes using technology in the classroom is not a good thing for students. I understand what you are worry about. I always think that as a teacher, we need to keep learning new things, such as different new technologies. But it is not enough, teachers need to teach students how to use these technologies and what is the right way to use them in study. These two chapters introduce us a lot of good ways on how to use different kinds of technologies.
It is a very good post. Thank you a lot for your sharing.
Hey Jessica,
ReplyDeleteHave you ever heard of Khan Academy? The person who runs the program explains different subjects through his videos. His YouTube link can be found here - https://www.youtube.com/user/khanacademy
I actually used his videos to help me with basic algebra and found this method to be very effective; for example, the ability to pause, play and rewind the lesson.
Also, I'm pretty old so unfortunately I never had advanced technology incorporated in my education growing up. I remember games like Math blaster and Oregon Trail on old dusty black and white computer screens.
I really like the words you wrote in your blog " positive ways". Yes. that's very important when we are integrating technology into our classrooms. Once I had the same feeling with you, I felt when children involved with Ipad or computer, that could be hare to control. However, after reading the whole chapter of our textbook, the way of directing students to do their tasks by using online technology in the positive way is much more important.
ReplyDeleteFor your second question, I would like to use videos to attract my children's attention. And videos are functional, I can pause and rewind to give my students time to think aloud. That could make my classroom difference and bring more interests.
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ReplyDeleteI concur with what you say about technology not always being good for our kids. Sometimes it can prove to be a hindrance as it is a distracting factor when trying to teach them content.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to your second question I can tell you about my favorite multimedia project. In my senior year of HS I took a Shakespeare class. Our end of semester project was to create something that portrayed Shakespeare in a pop culture light. My group decided to make a video that represented the MTV Movie Awards Red Carpet...The STV AWARDS. All of our group members were engaged the whole time and each person was responsible for parts of the presentation. At the end our project, while embarrassing, was funny, educational and it met the needs required by our teacher.
I do however suggest that if you're going to introduce a multimedia project to your students that you give it an element of fun so that students don't dread wasting a whole Saturday or Sunday doing the project.