Blog Comments Digest from Session 1
Pithy snippets from last week worth a bit of discussion:* So now that we've established that as the medium we're all swimming in, whether we know it or not, I think about my 3rd-5th graders reading novels and ideally thinking about them, and wonder if I'm trying to give them waterwings when what they really need is a jetski. And yet I still think what I do is important, because they're learning to get inside other people's heads through reading literature, and isn't that part of being human?
* ...has my own technology fear kept me from becoming a better teacher? Which leads me to my last comment, how much do I need to know to be more effective in my classroom?
* This evening has been another reason to communicate on the kids level, to understand "what they know" with the technology.
* I don't think I teach any where near the way I did ten years ago, however.
* It is heartening to be reminded that it's not as important to know the technology as it is to know how to teach the thinking skills necessary to use the technology and to sift through all of the information that is exploding around us.
posted by skoelker @ 8:59 PM
10 Comments:
I have been teaching 10 years, but I believe I change every year I am a teacher.
Kids had better know how to swim before they get on a jetski. In others words, they do need to be able to read. The better readers usually have more success in using information.
Today I learned about how to use drop boxes and various and sundry other neat things that will be shortly available to us.
I definitely agree with the comment "know how to teach the thinking skills necessary to use the technology". It's always interesting to see the kids' responses to me when they ask me a question and my answer is, "Gee, I don't know the answer to that...where can we find out?" Learning how and where to find the answers is such an important skill to teach (and to model!).
After class last week, I informed the kids that it my job to inform them how to think. I need to give the skills to be able to learn new material and file the information to be retrieved at a later date.
I will admit that my fear of math is currently my fear of technology. I go in phases of what challenges me. I hope that by using technology more my fear will go by the waistside.
In the last week I watched a teacher decide to embrace Web 2.0. She decided to plunge ahead and create first email accounts and then blogger accounts for all her students. Watching her made me think that the most important factor was her willingness to try.
Dan
I suppose as an elementary teacher, I don't need as much technology knowledge. We have not as many projects and a computer teacher. The websites are predetermined and available for students to choose. I see more of a need in information gathering for my teacher needs.
I agree....I don't teach the same as I did ten years ago either. I think that is what makes teaching a challenging and exciting career. Of course, there are times when it overwhelms...as with this information explosion that we are talking about now. But on the other hand, it is good to be challenged and to be able to learn new things all the time. No time to get bored, that's for sure.
I find myself feeling humbled...as a near beginning learner of this level technology....I have jumped into the shallow end of the pool....I feel like I have the smallest waterwings made!!!...each small step that I taken and each experience of success moves me to the next small step...I have called on my "teachers", peers as I envision my next step and need direction or help overcoming an unexpected obstacle...a great reminder of how students feel every day....
How much do we need to know to be more effective in the classroom? I just started to read a journal article yesterday that talked about different uses of PowerPoint in the classroom - you can use it to bore kids to death, or not. Unfortunately, I only got as far as being boring. More next week. I must say I distrust PP as a way to have kids present what they've learned. Lots of times it's all flash and no substance, and people are wowed by the special effects without realizing that there's not much worth knowing conveyed.
I agree that students NEED TO know how to swim first. I find that they want to get on and learn how to ride, but they want to put the car before the horse. They need they the listening skills pertinate to the skill. When they flip the ski, they look at me to determine what I did wrong.........
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