When
I walked into the Whitney Auditorium on Friday morning for our first day of
class I was a little apprehensive. Technology scares me. While I consider
myself fairly adept at the basics of technology (I put together a mean
PowerPoint presentation), I never seem to have much luck when things get more
complicated. Maybe I’ve just had my computer break down on me one too many
times in the middle of an important assignment. My fears were eased slightly
when the first thing the professors did was hand out note cards. They made the
point that technology isn’t necessary useful all the time and this made me feel
better about what is to come this summer and in my future classrooms. Also,
when going over the different technological applications we would be exploring
this summer, I was relieved to hear words that I know. Skype, blogging, and
smart phone, among others, are ideas I understand. Thankfully, by the end of
class I felt excited to learn new applications that I will be able to use to
enhance my lessons in future classrooms.
We
then shifted to a discussion of the Sheskey article, “Creating Learning Connections
with Today’s Tech-Savvy Student.” The article begins with the story of a middle
school teacher who used a digital camera to photograph his students engaging in
a classroom activity and presenting these photos to the students at the end of
class. The students then were able to critique their own work against the work
of their classmates. This led even the most reserved students to get involved
and request to re-do their projects.
This story led to a discussion of
accountability. We seemed to come to a class consensus that if students know
that people other than just the teacher will see their work, they will be
motivated to do a better job. A fellow MAC intern made the point that this
could shift the focus away from a teacher-centered classroom. Using technology
allows the students to communicate with each other and use new resources to
find information rather than having the teacher stand in front of them simply
reciting information. I also found Sheskey’s idea of the “digital native” and
“digital immigrant” interesting. I babysat for a 3-year-old who was able to
find YouTube videos on my iPhone. His 15-month-old sister was able to flip
through my phone’s pictures. Technology is becoming the native language for new
generations and being able to incorporate this into the classroom will
hopefully help engage students and make them more willing to participate.
I am, however, unsure that such a
focus on technology is entirely helpful. Another MAC intern said that she
believed some kids would be horrified at the thought having their work seen by
people other than just their teacher. Early on in my school career, I was this
student. I went to a highly competitive prep school and would have been
absolutely terrified to have my very intelligent peers judge my work. While I
have moved past this in many ways, even the idea of posting this blog for the
world to see makes me a little anxious. I believe that forcing this on certain
students would overwhelm them and cause them to shut down. This fear may be
further enhanced by the horrible, drastic increase in cyber bullying. A student
experiencing cyber bullying may not want to share anything that will add fuel
to the fire. We need to continue questioning how to best tailor our use of
technology and public forums to ensure that all students are benefiting from
every classroom exercise.
I
am looking forward to learning more about technology and how to use it in the
classroom, while maintaining a safe and engaging learning environment.
Sarah, this is an interesting post for a few reasons. While I liked your recap of what we discussed in class, I particularly like how you related the subject matter to your own life. I too wonder about the place of technology in the classroom (refer to my first blog post!), but it was interesting seeing how we both had different reasons as to why. I hope we both can come to understand technology's place in the classroom. I think we'll see much more of how technology has impacted today's youth even more than it did us. It's an intimidating thought and I'm glad to see that you are apprehensive but also open to exploring the complexities behind it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thoughtful posting, Sarah. I'm glad that Rayhan said what she did, and that her comments resonated for you. The entire question of what it means to make our work public, whether that could have value, and what might get in the way of our students doing that comfortably is a hugely important matter, and is one that frankly transcends technology. It gets back to how we see the classroom, and what kinds of experiences we feel that our students should have.
ReplyDeleteWhich is all a way of coming around to where you (quite commendably, I think) concluded your posting, with each of us as educators continually asking ourselves where and how our students will benefit from assignments, or from our decisions about how to orient the intellectual (and interpersonal) work that gets done in our classroom. With luck, we'll have a Fall visit from a MAC alum/English teacher who has done some very interesting work with making student work more visible in class.
Sarah, I was really apprehensive about this class too. I'm not the most technologically savvy person. I'm glad we're not doing anything too intensive. I think it was very interesting how you related this class to your real life. I find it crazy that kids so young are able to use technology, I still have trouble using smart phones sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that the idea of student accountability is on many of the interns' minds. I think I can counteract their possible nervousness about sharing their work with other students. I believe that if students know before hand that a certain assignment will be presented in front of their class or that some of their assignments will be recorded or posted online they will be more comfortable. You can't have all their work posted for everyone to see.