Reflection: Technology in my classroom
During this past school year, I did not incorporate technology into my classroom as much as I would have liked. My classroom had one working computer (the one I used) and one working printer (again, the one I used). I brought in an overhead projector (thank you SCARCE) so that I would not always use the white board, but I never fixed my digital projector to bring that in. I also used science movies to review topics and enrich the everyday lectures. There were a few times during the school year where I took my students to the computer lab to work on a particular assignment, and they usually really enjoyed doing that. My students were very computer literate and I gave them some online and computer assignments to complete independently since we could not really do so together. I do believe that the technology that I incorporated into my classroom enhanced my teaching because it presented the material in a different format and made learning more fun.
There were a few obstacles to using technology in the classroom. Some of my students could not see the projected notes and made a big deal about moving around, TVs and DVD players were more difficult to use than I expected, etc. After a few minutes of dread (since I did not always plan an alternative), we would figure out the problem. I do believe in incorporating technology into a classroom because technological advances are happening so quickly and we live in a very wired and technologically savvy society. I believe that I should not only teach my students the 6th or 7th grade science content, but also how to do research; how to find scientific articles and evaluate them; how to cite their research properly; writing papers and PowerPoint presentations; etc. A lot of my students know websites and online services that I have learned to use at the same time they did, and I have to make sure I keep up with them and help them use those sites effectively. As with everything, technology should be used in moderation; the subject should not be lost in PowerPoint animations and other gimmicky tricks. Technology should be used intelligently and deliberately to enrich learning, not distract from it.
I especially like the last bit where you write "technology should be used intelligently and deliberately to enrich learning, not distract from it." The distraction factor is a major potential downside of new technologies.
ReplyDeleteThe notion that the students will often know more than the teacher about particular sites or devices can be an important opportunity to strengthen the idea of the students being important contributors to the classroom, allowing them to take more responsibility for their learning and the classroom, etc.
Re: teaching research skills, how to cite, how to make a PPT, etc. -- are their opportunities at your school to work w/ a technology teacher or a media person / librarian to help teach those skills?
jd