The MTTC tests are over! It was a rainy day and during the lunch break, my car apparently decided that it has not been getting enough attention and went on strike. On the tech side of things, upon getting a desperate call from me (I had to go back into the testing center and couldn’t even role up my windows) my lovely husband got right on Car Talk’s website, went to the mechanic review pages and found some help. We have used Car Talk’s recommendations before and had good luck. Hopefully this will not jinx us but, I think the streak is still going. When we called the mechanic, they were already closed but offered to stay until we got there, and then took the time to make sure we hadn’t missed any quick fixes.
Onto the educational tech side of things, the classroom I took my tests in had what looked like a smart board and a technology cart. I think the smartboard would be a useful tool bring develop topics or ideas that you may not be able to physically demonstrate or create in the classroom. It would allow you or you students to manipulate what was being viewed without being stuck behind a desk. One educational piece I love that a professor used in class is this The Inner Life of a Cell movie. The video helped me to bring together the different parts and functions of cell. While my example is passive, I am looking forward to learning ways to use technology to engage students. I am not quite ready for online chatting during class, but would like having a resource like Chatzy to use for holding online office hours. After hearing Elizabeth say that 80% of students have cell phones, I wondered what about the other 20%? They are already fully aware that they are in the 20% w/o a cell phone and I wouldn’t want to make this more an issue for them. How should teachers take advantage of the technology their students are using without further isolating those who don’t have as much access? Also, I often get overwhelmed by how much information is out there and have to cut myself off when I am trying to work. Is this generation of students, because they have always had to deal with it, better at filtering out unwanted information that I am?
Have a great rest of the weekend SMACers!
As we go forward, I hope we're going to continue to use technology to make really big differences in how people live and work. - Sergey Brin
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Welcome, who is Mr. Bradley?
6 years ago
8 comments:
That statistic about students with cell phone scares me. I did not have a cell phone until I left for college. I can’t stand the fact that elementary students have them. Kids today are very spoiled with their phones. I think that is part of the “instant gratification” mentality that is so prevalent today. I also don’t like the fact that having a cell phone means that people expect to be able to talk to you anytime, anywhere. Privacy please! My kids will not have cell phones until high school at the earliest.
Hi Brenda,
I had no idea that your car broke down during lunch! The rain poured into my windows, too, and left a puddle of water on my sandal that was in the back seat. And the physics test was HARD. Anyway, very neat that you posted the video. I tried to post a video but it was a high speed video and thus had several frames and was taking over 5 minutes to post so I gave up. Better luck next time.
Hi Brenda,
I am so sorry about your car! I know that had to be stressful having to go back in and take a test after that. I hope it is fixed quickly. Also, I liked your compilation of reasons we have all decided to become teachers.
Technologically speaking, I agree with you that technology in the classroom will be valuable as a teaching tool. I have been wondering about the balance between the effective use of technology and distracting the students from the course content. I'm sure we'll have a better feeling for this as the course progresses and we gain some experience as teachers.
Cristi
Brenda
I really appreciate you trying these activities and thinking of how they might work (office hours for Chatzy), rather than immediately assuming they are not for you.
You bring up a common and important question about the cell phone issue. Here is my best answer: In the USA, there are currently more 6-18 year olds with cell phone access than with Internet access at home. This does not stop teachers from giving out Internet-based assignments/notes/activities...and they often give alternatives for those who do not have Internet. The same can be done with cell phones. As we explore in our workshop, there are many cell phone based activities that can be done with one cell phone for an entire class of students and many activities can also be completed with a landline--toll free (such as podcasting---we will do this in class). Hopefully some of these class activities will give you another perspective.
Glad you made it through those awful tests. Evil things.
So many students have cell phones these days and it doesn't seem to correspond to SES status (that I have seen so far). But I have seen that the type and abilities of the phones (like texting for instance) seem more lined up with SES status.
I hope if I try to use tech in the classroom it will be straightforward and I will know if everyone has access or not ahead of time.
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That statistic is intense. I still find it strange when I see such young kids with cell phones. When I was working at the elementary school in Boulder, it was not uncommon to see a student whip out their phone and call their parents....so weird. Whatever happened to going to the office to use the phone??
I love your list on the sidebar. Really cool to have that recap of the wide variety of reasons we are here.
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As a science teacher, I try to incorporate technology in the classroom whenever I can. Tech. is an essential tool to science, and it usually captures the interest of students quicker and more fully than "traditional" methods.
I could certainly believe the stats on cell phones. I see many studs. with them during school hrs.(which is prohibited in my middle school). I confiscate them when I see them during class, especially when they are texting. In my mind, there is absolutely no need for a stud. to have a cell during school hrs. In fact, when I taught at Wayne Memorial High School, cell phones were such a security threat that when one went off during class it was an immediate lock down for that classroom until admin. could locate the phone.
On another note, I have found that studs. are usually quite familiar with the Internet and a variety of other tech. devices, but are no better at filtering info. than kids yrs. ago. They can certainly perform a search on an Internet search engine, but are still (even with extensive reminding and training) unable to fliter what is accurate and what may not be. They also often think that there is no info. out there on their topic if they do not find anything with their first attempt.
Overall, students seem to enjoy class a bit more when tech. is incorporated - Internet, PowerPoint, CPS, probes, video clips, animations, etc. I suppose I enjoy using it just as much as the students appreciate the change from what is possibly just "ordinary".
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