That is one Smart looking board if you ask me!
As you may have guessed this weeks blog rant is on the topic of Smartboards, and how they may be used in the classroom. I'm from southern Alberta, and a very large number of K-12 classrooms received these devices over the past few years. It just appears to be a whiteboard, with a projector attached, but it is really much more than that. The computer software that comes with the board is a platform for teachers to create lessons in a whole new way.
As our assignment last week we were tasked with creating a very short (7 minute) Smartboard activity that had to do with one of the SLO's from the curriculum in a specific subject area. Me and my partner decided to do the Grade 6 Sky Science, and explore our solar system with some smart board technology. I am not ashamed to admit that I was pretty excited at the notion of making some fun Smartboard activities come to life, and I LOVE the solar system! I think the rest of the class was just as excited, because I saw most of them playing with the software before the lecture was half over.
So anyways, after class my partner and I got to work right away conceptualizing how an interactive activity on the solar system would work. It was great fun just sifting through the possibilities, but we eventually settled on (what we think is) a very fun activity where students get to learn about the basic appearance of the 8 planets and Pluto. They then get to drag the actual planets into a line after the sun, putting them in order as given by the slides leading up to it. I think it will be great fun and am very excited to try it out!
Until then....
I don't think that technology is something that teachers need to be afraid of in the classroom. It is certainly true that as teachers we must be careful how we use the technology, but it is certainly worth learning to do right. I think the most common mistake teachers make with technology is what I like to call the "wizard" problem. Teachers generally love to learn, which is wonderful in the world of technology as there is always something new to learn. Teachers will very often learn how to USE the program very well, and will be well versed in many of the features. This does not mean they know WHEN to use these features entirely though, and it can lead to problems in how smoothly a class is flowing and how much actual learning transfer is being accomplished. An example of this from class would be glitzy animations and effects in PowerPoint that take away from the presentations effectiveness. I think sometimes teachers employ these fancy features as a way to prove to students they know the technology well, but could be lacking the knowledge of when and why it is worthwhile to apply the tech.
Now that I've gone and stated the cautions above, I cannot stress enough how important it is that teachers take the time to learn the when and why or tech integration. Luckily for student teachers like myself these things are taught as part of our programs, so when we enter the education field we will have a good idea of how to effectively integrate technology, not only currently but also as it changes. For current teachers in the field who may have years of experience though, it is harder to leap that hurdle. The key of the issue is that leaping into a new technology leads to the scenario like I explained above, where we use the technology simply for the sake of using it, and it doesn't really lend itself to the instruction. The other risk, one even worse in my opinion is choosing to try and avoid the tech like the plague so as not to make a mistake, and teaching without it's use. While I would not suggest technology needs to be used all the time in instruction, as it is not always an enhancement to the lesson, I would say that we should definitely use it where we can. The idea of 21st century skills and the explosion of the digital world are clues enough that tech is on the move and it will only become more integrated into our curriculum.
The best thing teachers can possibly do to help their students ride that wave is to be educated themselves, not only on how the tech works but also in when they should be using it as an additional enhancement to instruction. When we as a province can master using technology in all the right places, students all over Alberta will be ready to face the digital world they are growing up into.
Should Student's be blogging in our classrooms?
Blogging is nothing new by now, it's been around for quite some time on the internet as a whole. Despite this, blogging hasn't really become a hugely common practice in the K-12 classroom. Our province of Alberta has one of the most highly regarded and progressive education systems in the entire world, yet many teachers have not integrated blogging or another form of web-sharing into the curriculum; why is that?
It has been noted that having students blog comes with challenges and concerns, much like anything we do. Some are concerned that students will be publishing posts and comments with inappropriate language, or that they will take the opportunity of commenting on another student;s work as a chance to insult and attack others. I for one, find these concerns to be completely unwarranted. As mentioned in the "Blogging in the Classroom - Why your students should write online" article on the guardian, students were not prone to using bad language or being bad online citizens. In fact, it reinforced the point that these kids are perhaps even more aware than we are that anyone can read those posts and comments, and this prompts them to post responsibly.
Try to think of it this way, there is nothing a student can post on a blog meant to negatively impact others that they can't have just said in person. Of course, one could argue this way the bully could reach the target 24/7 over the internet, and through the comfort of his screen. The prospect of cyber bullying is scary to teachers, and this is a perfectly fair concern to have. To put this in perspective, think of how many students have either a cell phone, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc, especially in the middle and high schools. These students already have an arsenal of outlets for which cyber bullying may occur, do you REALLY think that a student would choose to use a teacher-moderated blog as an opportunity to be hurtful towards others? I don't think so. If any sort of inappropriate commenting does occur it is now visible to the teacher and action can be taken to correct the problem. Not only are most students aware of this accountability, but most of them will be critically thinking about how what they write may look like to others, and moderating their use of language carefully. So, if anything the learning blog in the classroom presents students with a much more safe way to express their thoughts and attitudes, where they still feel as if they are connected to the classroom and the teacher, not adrift in the dangerous waters of social media.
Long story short, we should not shut out the many advantages of classroom blogs highlighted in both the short video on weblog basics and the interview with Jessica about he classroom blogs, simply because we don't trust the kids with the ability to interact out of the classroom. I don't believe that introducing a blog community to the classroom presents students with any more negative opportunities than they already would have had. Naturally we have to educate our students on internet safety and give the guidelines about what kinds of information to share, and what kinds of responses are appropriate, but any interactions they have with each other on the blog would simply be expected to follow from how they would act at school and in the classroom.
I agree with both the article and the short video posted on the class website in that blogging is a fantastic way to help our students broaden their skills and perspectives and allow them to experience the concept of public writing in the context of the classroom. There is always going to be some potential for students to misuse this tool, but this is ALWAYS a risk that is prevalent in the classroom with any tools or technology, and it should not stop us from utilizing them to enhance the learning potential of our students.
RSS Feed