In his article So Long Constructivism. Hello Smart! Larry Kuehn looks at the last ten years or so in the area of technology in education and reflects on where we have come from and where we are going in the area of technology changing the learning environment. Kuehn begins by looking at what was known as the constructivist technology revolution that was supposed to change education in a fundamental way. He reflects that what they said would happen did not in that the teacher has remained the primary teacher and not turned into a guide for the technology doing the teaching. He postulates that the teacher instead of moving to the side has used the technology as a tool and has remained the center focus. Ultimately Kuehn likens the Smart Board to the modern day overhead projector with the ability to go so many places in that it can access different areas of the internet and provide students with a visual tool to learning.
What I found interesting about this article was his view of teachers and people always making new things to be the cats meow so to speak in that they think that this technology will revolutionize the way we teach in such a way that it will render the teacher almost useless. I would say that with this new tech coming in such as the Smart boards it certainly has the potential to turn the teacher into more of a guide than a center teacher, but that depends on how the teacher decides to use it. If, like with the overhead, it becomes just another visual tool for the teacher to use while teaching a lesson with which they are able to access greater amounts of information in a better way it will remain that way. If it is used as a teaching tool in a way where the students are being taught by the smart board then it changes what the teachers role in the classroom is. Ultimately I think (as does Kuehn) that it will remain a tool.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Turning on the Lights response
In his article Turning on the Lights, Marc Prensky makes the claim that schools now days are places of darkness where students are increasingly bored and don't learn as well as they should. I can understand where this thought is comming from. this generation that is growing up now has had little time away from the technological world that makes up our modern experience. They know from a very early age how to use a computer, in short they are born with it. Where I fundamentally disagree with him is with his discussion on the varrying subjects of education, that is the learing of four thousand year old math (ie. the basics). I don't think that is the issue. Kids today are so used to moving at a fast pace that they want everything quick as high speed internet. you don't become an engineer over night, and if you don't learn the basics you can't be successful at whatever career you choose to pursue. Prensky uses the illustration of an astronaut having to learn math. Well yeah, you kind of do need to learn a lot of things that you probably don't want to learn in becoming what you want to be, but that is the nature of the game. The kids focus on the end result and don't want to do any hard work to get there.
As for the boring factor I agree that technology in the classroom (not to mention some of the older teachers retiring) can liven up things in a way that makes the classroom a more fun place to learn, but to suggest that our current way of teaching things in inadequate and is just making kids bored is not how I would go about it. It all comes back to the fast pace of the current generation, they don't want to sit through the boring classes, some might find that they are rather interesting. Ultimately the students need to realize is they are there to learn and not necessarily have fun. I agree that the school can be a boring place, but in a place of learning it cant always be fun.
In terms of his section How to Turn on the Lights, I think there is a need for technology in education to stay relevant to the students, and the example that he gives of students making videos that talk about things is very cool for the students, I struggle to understand what they learned of value in that exercise. As for the Finding out how Students want to be taught section, I agree that a teacher should understand his/her students in that he/she should see how they learn and what works for them best, I don't know that bringing the student in on the process would be very helpful. If your goal is to educate them then there should be a time and place for their opinions but school is not meant to be a place of opinion only.
In conclusion I think that Prensky has good motives in his talking about the new kind of classroom that needs to be more oriented to face the future in a way that will be valuable to students. What he is suggesting may even work for some teachers. His way is not necessarily the way I would do it. In my classroom I will make every effort to make the learning process fun, engaging, and even forward looking. If using technology helps the students to engage in any given subject then that is what I will use.
As for the boring factor I agree that technology in the classroom (not to mention some of the older teachers retiring) can liven up things in a way that makes the classroom a more fun place to learn, but to suggest that our current way of teaching things in inadequate and is just making kids bored is not how I would go about it. It all comes back to the fast pace of the current generation, they don't want to sit through the boring classes, some might find that they are rather interesting. Ultimately the students need to realize is they are there to learn and not necessarily have fun. I agree that the school can be a boring place, but in a place of learning it cant always be fun.
In terms of his section How to Turn on the Lights, I think there is a need for technology in education to stay relevant to the students, and the example that he gives of students making videos that talk about things is very cool for the students, I struggle to understand what they learned of value in that exercise. As for the Finding out how Students want to be taught section, I agree that a teacher should understand his/her students in that he/she should see how they learn and what works for them best, I don't know that bringing the student in on the process would be very helpful. If your goal is to educate them then there should be a time and place for their opinions but school is not meant to be a place of opinion only.
In conclusion I think that Prensky has good motives in his talking about the new kind of classroom that needs to be more oriented to face the future in a way that will be valuable to students. What he is suggesting may even work for some teachers. His way is not necessarily the way I would do it. In my classroom I will make every effort to make the learning process fun, engaging, and even forward looking. If using technology helps the students to engage in any given subject then that is what I will use.
Monday, January 17, 2011
First Reflection
I decided to become a teacher during my senior year in high school. I had, for the past few years, been helping at an after school program at a local elementary school called little buddies. This program gave me time and experience working with kids in a setting where I was a role model to them. I remember one kid, went by the name of Dillon. He had a rough home life and was always in trouble at school. I was able to be a positive influence in his life and he started to change. This had a profound impact on me as it is one of the reasons I want to be a teacher, to be a positive male role model to some of these kids who don't have one at home. After I seriously decided that teaching was going to be my career choice, I started teaching piano lessons. I started this as part of my senior project and turned it into a business where I was teaching about ten kids a week. This gave me real experience teaching kids and working with them to improve their piano playing. What I found through this experience was that I enjoyed teaching the kids. When I get out of school I plan on teaching the upper grades of elementary school or Middle school humanities. What I hope to learn in this class is how to effectively implement technology in a classroom setting. I have some experience with technology, meaning I know my way around a computer, but in the implementation in a classroom is something I have never really though too much about.
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