Week Two Reflections

Suzanne Hund                                                                                                                         

Janelle Jamison                                                                                               

Technology in Education                                                                                           

13 October 2014      

                                                           

                                                            Week Two Reflections

Even though I found some points in chapter one to be very disagreeable, I found chapter five to be very helpful with practical tips and ideas that will come in handy when we become new teachers. The theme from chapter five and from the article by Robert J. Marzano was capitalizing on interactive whiteboards. They are an amazing tool that will greatly benefit a classroom in a multitude of ways.

 In chapter five, I thought the classroom example of Mr. Balado’s class was quite ambitious. What an incredible amount of work he did to set that up, but it looked like his students loved it because they were very much engaged in the project. More than half of the work is done though for the next time he does the project with a new class, so that is a bonus! One of the takeaways I got from his example was that he anticipated the types of questions that would be asked by his students and so he previewed web sites he knew would be appropriate for his students to research (Shelly 214).

 One of the elements that I look forward to when I become a teacher is when “teachable moments” occur (213). I think this happens when students are excited about what they are learning. When the teacher takes the time to investigate their questions, they know that what they care about has value. Mr. Balado was prepared for this by having some videos or pictures to share just in case, and that is where for us, the interactive whiteboard will definitely be invaluable. From what I have seen in the classroom, teachers have the capability of being able to privately view the images on their computers before displaying it on the whiteboard, keeping inappropriate sites or pictures being seen by the students.  

According to the textbook, facilitating students motivates the students to want to learn, “Teachers should shift from being the dispenser of knowledge to being the facilitator of learning” (216). Didn’t Professor Kress warn us about this? He didn’t like teachers being facilitators, so I wonder what his thoughts would be on this chapter. I just don’t think that teachers should only be facilitators; there needs be a balance between that and traditional teaching. As a student myself, I like to clarify the content by asking questions to the teacher, talk about what we are learning, and get the teacher’s perspective; that usually inspires me. In a classroom, I would feel it important to have classroom discussion on what we are learning and take questions from students, because if one student asks a question about what we are learning, then I know there is at least four other students who have the same question. I would rather address questions on a whole. If they were doing an assignment online, wouldn't I have to address them individually? Wouldn't that be a time waster? I am not saying that there is not any advantages to using technology to enhance a lesson; learning to work independently and in a group teaches students how to problem solve.  I just believe there needs to be balance. I think we need to be careful in thinking that students who learn well using computers can only learn that way. Shouldn't we as educators consider it healthy for students to take a break from technology and information overload? Children need to be encouraged to go outside and experience nature the old fashion way!  Does everything have to be catchy and bright colors to hold their attention? “The internet and the World Wide Web is called the educational equalizer” (221). I agree it does give advantages to all students and doesn’t care the color of their skin or how much money their family makes; however, the reality is that there are students who don’t have computers at home and their only option is to go to the library. The problem with the library is that not all parents can get them there, or they care not to. This is a good argument of why schools should have computers and for students to have access to technology because they might not get it anywhere else.

            I have to admit it; I am inspired by what interactive whiteboards offer in a classroom. One of the benefits is that in some projects, students can interact with authors of books or government officials (221). What an opportunity for students to get to ask questions to people they admire. I think the setting would be very inviting to these public officials or authors who would love to engage with kids at schools.  It was also mentioned in our textbook that students from the U.S. could have interactions with students from other countries. How cool would that be? Some other tips that were helpful was the suggestions and benefits of integrating the whiteboard into the curriculum: it incorporates multimedia into lessons, such as video, sound, and animation; it helps to connect with other teachers to participates in forums; helps in gathering interactive lessons and resources from other teachers; and creates the hands-on approach for students to interact and solve problems on the whiteboard (235). There is also many more programs to download that are accessible to the school district and relatively cheap to download. I can imagine that in the next few years, the interactive whiteboard is going to get even more creative with lesson plans; pretty exciting!

 Robert J. Marzano’s online article about using interactive whiteboards in the classroom had some interesting statistics. Students that used interactive whiteboards had a sixteen percent point gain in student achievement; however the study also said that twenty-three percent did better without the use of interactive whiteboards (Marzano). Why is this? There was apparently too many visuals and the information was disorganized. I think we can all agree that the key to successful implementation of any curriculum is the teacher. Without an engaging teacher, the learning will be minimal in any classroom, with or without technology.

             

             

           

                                   

                                                           

Works Cited:

Shelly, Gary, Glenda Gunter and Randolph Gunter. Integrating Technology in a Connected World. 7th ed. Boston: Course Technology, 2012. Print.

Marzano, Robert J. “Teaching with Interactive Whiteboards” November 2009. Web. 7 Oct. 2014.