Joe Wood, a teacher and technology guru at Natomas Charter School, provided some great advice for teachers who are trying to build their repertoire of technology skills in the classroom. He offered many suggestions that could be useful for a variety of applications.
He described the technology standards that are part of Common Core as being an important part of a new approach to education. Students must become technology-literate to face the challenges of a more competitive job market, and they must begin to develop these skills at a very young age. Also, by using more technology in the classroom, Mr. Wood believes that schoolwork will become much more engaging.
Mr. Wood described several tools that could be useful for all content areas. I liked his ideas for using the Google Earth site to produce "digital stories" to trace the paths of historical figures, as well as that of the students' own ancestors. Another interesting prospect was the Game Star Mechanic site, which helps students create their own video games. In one example he described, students wrote problem-solution essays on which they based their video games.
While I embrace the idea of using all of these fun ways of engaging students in the classroom, I am still concerned about the amount of "screen time" students may be getting--especially for very young students. If students are using technology devices all day at school, and then go home to use them for homework and entertainment, I wonder if this is healthy. Even as I adopt more and more technology into my daily life, I long for more fresh air and exercise. I hope that students will still know how to play outside and use their imaginations without being attached to anything requiring a battery.
I enjoyed reading your description of the guest speaker's talk. I missed class Monday, so it was helpful to catch up on what I missed, especially the specific tools to use in class. Using Google Earth to track historical events is a terrific idea!!
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree with you about the screen time. I've been working with computers for most of the jobs I've had over the past couple of decades, and I swear it's done a number on my eyesight! That's not to get into what it might be doing to my brain or my attention span... I definitely sense a difference in our ability as a society to focus, and when there's nothing going on, we're immediately bored. It's a reality for me as well as the kids that are growing up in this era, but it's sad. It seems I'm always busy, yet am I accomplishing more than I did when my life was not so hectic? And were kids this stressed out when we were growing up? Life has always had pressures, but I don't remember worrying so much about time. Now, it's a constant pressure. Perhaps after we've made this giant push for technology, we will realize that we also need to counteract it with things that might help our students (and us!) become more well-balanced people. Two tools I find important to my own personal sense of well-being are exercise and meditation. (Perhaps ironically, I use technology for both of them!!)
I also agree with you both. These presenters make it seem like teaching off a white board is ancient history. In addition, they dismiss the socioeconomic factor teachers in parts do San Jose are faced with. Many schools don't have enough computers for this years upcoming testing, how are they suppose to integrate technology on a daily basis...
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