Here is a list of the principles that I hope to incorporate into my teaching. This is still a work in progress…..
1. Make sure technology is fully understood before incorporating it into the classroom.
2. Make sure this technology is standardized (i.e. compatible on all types of machines).
3. Students must be given clear directions, goals, and expectations for all projects incorporating new technology.
4. Technology use should enrich material being covered, and not just be incorporated because it’s available.
5. Use technology to help better explain processes/material (videos and simulations can be highly affective).
6. Technology use should be interactive and allow for creative thought.
7. Technology should be used to supply data sets and incorporate a real-world/current events component to material being covered.
8. Technology should be used to make material covered more “relatable” or “relevant” to students.
Note on #8: A history teacher at my school created an assignment where students had to create a hypothetical facebook page for an assigned historical Chinese Emperor. How cool is that?!?! And talk about relevant....
This is a great start. I will ask you to revisit these at the end of the course. I have seen a few science teachers assign their students to create a facebook page for different elements.... I wish I had examples to share!
ReplyDeleteI think the idea of having guiding principles is a great one, and I think our lists have to fit our personalities and skill sets. I think the only one that I'd tend to disagree with is your very first one. I think there is often value to time spent figuring things out together--a presenter I've seen calls this "just enough, just in time". In other words, giving them the basics and letting them figure out the bells and whistles (kind of like us making our blogs, no?)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, your blog makes for good reading! Thanks!
I appreciate your comment and I completely agree with where you are coming from. I think there is definite value in figuring the bells and whistles out together. That being said, I think there is a fine line between the above and what is sometimes referred to as "going in blind". I would like to provide a strong foundation for the students to build upon; and to do that I think a certain comfort level with the web-tools is essential. I probably should re-word my first principle a bit to stress the importance of understanding the fundamentals of a tool not necessarily "complete comprehension ". Thanks again for making me articulate this more....
ReplyDeleteI especially agree with #7. I think that real data makes it relevant and is good practice for real life. Even using something like the oil counter posted. Students could graph oil released over time, compare this spill to others, etc. It's much more engaging for them then to give a list of numbers to them. You have some great ideas here. Have you thought of something you might do yet?
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