Welcome to Fossil
Poetry. The name of this blog was
taken from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “The Poet”; the quote is written below the
blog title.
People seem to have mixed feelings regarding the use of
technology in the classroom and I am no different. Media technology was not used a great deal
when I was in public school and I feel as though lack of exposure has not hurt
me whatsoever. As a teacher, I am more
comfortable writing on the board instead of constructing a Power Point. This is not an attempt to rebel against the
new era; I just feel that, as a student, it is easier for me to see words on a
white board than on some flashy screen.
On the other hand,
technological advances do not seem to be slowing down. Last semester while student teaching, our
class was rewarded an ELMO. This is a
visual presenter that projects whatever image you place under it, onto the
overhead screen. The benefit of having
an ELMO in the classroom is the amount of transparencies you won’t have to
make. My students loved seeing their
work on the screen and put more effort into it if they knew their work could
possibly be shown to their classmates.
Overall, I believe incorporating some technology into
teaching is essential to keeping students’ attention, but I also believe that
too much technology use could result in burn-out. Last semester I was able to use the My Access
program with my students. I was warned
by another teacher to limit the amount of times I use My Access with the
students because they will “get sick of it”.
This could be the result with any type of technology. Part of teaching is knowing how to sell a
lesson to your students by making it exciting and changing things up so each
lesson contains something new.
I like what you said, that media technology was not used when you were growing up and it did not affect your education. I like the idea of traditional teaching, but like that you said we should keep with the times to keep students interested. Because kids are so dependent on technology out of school, it would be almost foreign to them for a teacher to write on the whiteboard the whole class. While it does make me a little sad that traditional teaching methods such as writing on the board, transparencies and lecture are being replaced by technology, it is a necessary change to keep the students involved.
ReplyDeleteKristin,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your middle road approach to the topic of technology in
the classroom. I definitely had a similar lack of technology in my
middle and high school years, but I also do not seem to be worse off
than others who may be overly exposed to technology. One article/study
I found the other day which may interest you discusses their findings
in relation to the possible harm or help technology of various medias
may result in:
http://www.csudh.edu/psych/ADHDVideoGames3.htm
I think it is safe to say that some technology. such as the ELMO,
smart-boards, and various programs for networking and communication
via the internet should be essential parts of the classroom. However,
as you mention, we should not result to the same forms of media for
every lesson: use ELMO, use MyAccess, but throw in some good old
fashioned white board and markers which, yes, are arguably technology
as well. Moderation is key, as with it seems most everything. Thanks
for sharing your thoughts, Kristin!
-Allison Smith