Sorry I missed our last class :-( From the looks of my phellow phloggers, this week's phlogging assignment seems to have taken a new twist.....Phollow another phlogger?!?
In that case, I found a blogg post dealing with educational issues ranging from teaching techniques to technology in the class room. Both of these topics resonate well within me. When teaching another student I often find that the acquisiton of knowledge is a two-way street. . As individual learning styles vary, it creates an environment that allows the teacher to learn from the student (through trial and error mostly) the best ways to explain the content. This blogg uses the well known saying "give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he eats for a life time." As a teacher, I sometimes feel like a fish out of water! Working in education, I have learned a valuable skill......HUMILITY.
Our society has embraced technology as an everyday tool to improve the quality of life. From cell phones to ipads, we have seen tremendous leaps in the capabilities of new technology. As a result, our dependence on technology has also increased. How often do we simply "google" the answers to questions? Sadly, my answer is, daily :-( I am very greatful for technology, because it allows a person with average intelligence (like myself) to obtain an answer or opinion instantly. The catch 22 of course is that society as a whole does not need to be intelligent to know an answer or form an opionion, they just need to be resourceful. Technology in the class room has created new obsticles to learning. Students that I teach will often say, "why should I learn that, when I can just look it up on internet?" As much as I enjoy technology and understand its importance in the class room, I also see its flaw......OVER-DEPENDENCE.
Change Agency Blogg http://ed421.com/
Great blog! I love the fact that when I have a question I can simply pull out my cell phone and google an answer. I think it is a great tool to supplement your knowledge and background...not replace it. I agree that we are so dependent on all the technology in life that we don't use our minds as much as we used to and that it is becoming an obstacle to learning.
ReplyDeleteFor example my husband and I were talking about how sad it is that we only have a few of our friend's phone numbers memorized anymore and those that I have memorized were from before I had a cell phone on which to store the numbers. And how about my friends that have to use their tip calculator to know how much to leave for their server? We are slowly turning the blessing of technology in to a curse that we teachers are going to have to battle until we find a balance.
I love your attitude as you talk about working with the kids. Humility is an asset when working with the kids, one that more teachers and educators could use. I’ve found that watching my lesson plans pan out over the week (I teach library) that the trial and error system is very much in force. Have you found a way to cut that down? I’m finding that I’ve gotten to know my audience to a decent point where I can see what’s definitely going to work, but sometimes feels for the kids that I had on Monday because they were my guinea pigs of sorts.
ReplyDeleteThe ability to apologize is another asset to go with that humility. It’s a moral/life lesson that you’re teaching when you can admit that you were wrong. I’ve noticed that kids soak up much more than the lesson so humility is something great to show them.
Hmm, you made me think about the technology portion. Am I teaching my kids to be intelligent or just resourceful. While there is nothing wrong with resourcefulness, we need to make sure that we teach them how the technology works so they can do the work themselves if they need to. For example, I’ve taught the kids about the beauty of the Atlas They didn’t see why they had to learn about a set of maps when they can use a gps so I told them stories about how the gps or google maps have led me astray and I had to pull out the map and do it “the old-fashioned way”. I’m a big believer is teaching kids the newest technologies so they can be savvy, but they also need the flip side of the do it yourself model. Like using calculators as long as you can either do it in your head if you had the time or even take out a pen and paper to work the numbers yourself.
You did a great job of bringing up the point of making sure we don’t get sucked into the habit of teaching our students to be overdependent on technology or even ourselves without the BALANCE of the how to do it on your own.
Yep, you got me thinking, too. I would say that while it's true that most any of us can find the info and opinions that we need instantly via the Internet, not all of us can take all those "resources" and build knowledge, understanding, and new ideas from them. Or, apply those resources to solve problems. Or create new products. That's why we all need teachers and mentors and peers -- in other words, real people -- to help us see things differently and also learn the tricks and techniques we need to actually DO SOMETHING will all this great stuff that's available to us just a keystroke away.
ReplyDeleteIf we, as teachers, can keep in mind that we do truly play a valuable role in helping our students use and apply and EVALUATE these great resources, then maybe we will be better able to achieve that balance that Kim and Rebecca describe. Because, as Kim mentions, there is so much incorrect and misleading data floating around out there.
I hope that I will be able to teach my students some levels of "media literacy" so they can discern the quality of available info and sources for themselves. By doing so, I will feel that I have provided them a critical thinking tool that they can use for the rest of their lives by applying it to whatever form the new technologies may take.