Broad and Deep: Creating Change Through Technology
Technology definitely needs to be more encompassed in the classroom. It not only can help the students grow, but the teachers grow. The only problem I have, is training on how to use the technology. So often at my school, some of the teachers will talk about a piece of technology they were trained on, didn't end up liking it, so they didn't use it. After 1-2 years, the district does not offer trainings, so new teachers are not aware the technology exists. Take for example Smartboards. Smartboards were installed in some classes in our school. The 1st year we were all trained on how to use them. The second year, trainings were offered. By the third year the new teachers were not trained on how to use them and therefor, felt they did not have to participate in creating curriculum. Instead of information being passed onto everyone, select few are depended upon to disseminate the information. If those select few do not agree with the new direction, the line of communication ends along with the new technology.
Start with a Pyramid
The real world projects in this article are so exciting! To be able to have your class work on a hand's on real world problem would be great. The kids seem to really enjoy it and they put into effect everything they've learned in several subjects. Now that I know a little more about searching on the Internet and know it won't take me 2 weeks to sift through all the hits to find a class project, it will make it a lot easier for a less creative teacher to find information.
1 comment:
Schools are failing in their efforts to educate teachers in the use of technology. I want to comment on what you said about teachers getting trained on something and then latter stop using that technology. I really believe that it takes more than a basic understanding of how to use a technology. You have to own it; it needs to be sown into your lessons and activities. If you really give technology a chance it will really act as a powerful tool in your classroom. What happens is we get use to our first education and fail to accommodate new tools. When we are pressed, for what ever reason, we go to a strength, and for too many teachers that strength is not in technology especially not a new piece of technology that we have only a basic understanding of. If we use technology in effective ways were students are using it in authentic and constructive ways they will drive its use and educate themselves and their teachers on its finer points and cement its use in the classroom.
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