integration of technology in the classroom - moving from appropriating to innovating, Hopefully?9/24/2017 After completing the readings and watching the videos for this week I wanted to think more about how I use technology in the classroom. I know that I use technology regularly, but all this new information about 21st century learning forced me to consider in what ways does my teaching or my students' learning benefit from the use of technology in the classroom. I found the SAMR model and the article about effective integration of technology in the classroom by Debra Rein particularly helpful in evaluating my own technology use. According to Debra Rein's five stages of technology integration, I believe I am somewhere between adaptation and appropriation. My students use technology often, and in some activities they are merely using technology to become more comfortable with it, and other times I truly believe that technology use expands my students' learning experience. Programs like FrontRow or IStation which are adaptive to all of my students' needs allows all of my students to practice the same skill in a way that allows them to be successful. That would not be possible without technology. Likewise in the SAMR model I think I fall somewhere between augmentation and modification for the same reasons. The questions I am therefore left with is, how do I take my use of technology one step farther to the innovation or redefinition level, depending on what model you are using?
I won't lie, I find this next step pretty intimidating. Allowing students to construct their own learning experience seems pretty risky, and how will I know if they have done this successfully? How can I be a good facilitator, rather than instructor to my students while implementing new technology? What I really want is to help my students become more collaborative and to develop more critical thinking skills and I know that technology can really help with those areas of development. What I don't know is what technology to use, how to implement it into my classroom, and what that looks like in my classroom specifically. I have a feeling it will involve some risk taking!
3 Comments
Having reviewed the IRB form I am realizing I need to get a much clearer plan for my research project organized. I know that I want to focus on finding different strategies that increase student engagement so that they can more effectively learn content, but I am still unsure exactly how to go about that process. So I need to know what has prevented them from engaging with lessons thus far, as well as how I am going to measure their (hopefully) shift in engagement moving forward. I am considering trying a combination of content assessments and student interviews. I feel like both of these forms of measurement have benefits and drawbacks. Content assessments would, I believe, improve with increased engagement, but if they do not that does not necessarily mean students were not engaged. Student interviews would be useful to see how student opinions change over time, but I worry that students would not want to tell you they were not engaged with the lesson, or that they did not find the lesson important to their learning experience. Hopefully by combining these two measurement strategies I can get an accurate `measure of their change in engagement.
The other need to knows I need to consider are the different factors that contribute to engagement. There is interest in the topic, agency in learning, as well as differentiation. Obviously students will need to find a topic interesting on some level, but they also need to find studying that topic worth their time in some way. They need to see a larger value in learning about this. In addition they must be able to learn the content being presented, so the lesson must be appropriately differentiated for them in order to engage with it. Hopefully as I think about all of this more, the answers to all of these questions will become more clear! Based off of the reading and videos I watched this week one thing has been abundantly clear. The world that we are teaching our students in today is not the same world we are trying to prepare them for. When my fourth grade students graduate from high school there will be technologies, jobs, and challenges in the world that do not exist today. So granted that we cannot rely on the old form of education where a teacher imparts knowledge into their students, teachers today must teach students how to teach themselves.
One struggle I have had in my classroom is convincing my students to be deep thinkers who are willing to struggle. After reading Darling-Hammond this week I have a better understanding why. My students see know point in putting themselves through all of that uncomfortable-ness. While they are less keenly aware of systemic differences in education, they are aware of cultural and racial inequalities in this country and in our state. They have very few role models to look to to show them why they should struggle. This means that there are several key elements that must be incorporated into my classroom in order to prepare my students for the unknown future. These are:
My favorite on-screen teacher always took her students on this magical bus where they would go on amazing field trips which provided her students with incredible opportunities for failure, problem solving, and eventual success. And while I may not have a magic school bus like 'The Frizz' I can always encourage my students to "take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!" |
AuthorI am a fourth grade teacher in Vacaville, California. Archives
November 2017
Categories |