One of the most outstanding things I read this week came from the very first page of Wilber's chapter 3. He makes the point that I think is at the core of the issue of technology in classroom. He says in the very first paragraph of the chapter that "[f]irst and foremost, andy teacher must habe a reason for using technology in his or her teaching. It's not enough that the school just bought Smartboards or that your principal has heard about wikis" (Wilber 4). This is a lot of what I spoke of in a previous post on the subject. Technology can't be used in the classroom just to for the sake of technology. There has to be a purpose. It has to be the best tool for the job, and that is why you choose to use it.
If you happen to choose a blog as that tool, Wilber makes some great points about that, too. For example, he mentions how personal blogs are very effective in that they help students express individuality and have a sense of ownership in their work. I find this to be very true. Too often I feel that students lose that sense of ownership and value for their individual work in the classroom whenever they simply do the work and hand it over to the teacher. When kids can have that sense of owership, I feel that it will undoubtedly translate into producing more confident, capable writers. Also, whenever their work is "out there" for anyone to see, students see that they put out their best work because they know how many people have access to it. This also would appear to bring up the overall quality of work produced.
Tyler, I also blogged about this same chapter. It really is a great point. If technology is going to be a part of the classroom then it has to have a purpose. Honestly, students know when something is just "fluff", we are not fooling them. I think the task here is to realize that it is okay to have a lesson that does not require something techy. Again, it's about the balance between overuse and proper use to help improve the lesson. Overall, I completely agree with Wilber and your post. Get blog, thanks!
ReplyDeleteI posted something about tech having its place in my blog last week, and I you're absolutely right. Technology shouldn't necessarily be used in the classroom for the sake of using it. I feel like that detracts from the message of actually integrating technology into the lesson plans.
ReplyDeleteI think you hit on something very important, and that is the quality of the work students produce. Whether it is a written paper or a book trailer that they wrote and directed, students have to be held to a standard. Being that I was a poor student in middle and high school, I always tried to (as sam so well put it) "fluff" my assignments with flashy powerpoint slides or include pictures to take up space. Educators need to be versed in the medias they utilize in the classroom so that they can recognize what is the "fluff" distracting from the overall purpose of the assignment.
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