The article grabbed my attention right off the bat.
"There was a time when teachers stood in front of the class, with chalk poised on the blackboard while pupils scribbled away furiously. Now teachers' presentations have to compete with the expectations raised by the technology children have at home - iPods, Playstations and home computers."
Being someone who has really been immersed in technology from day one - this really rang true in my brain. While I have never actually been in a classroom solely dedicated to blackboards and chalk, I can see how teachers are now competing with technologies. To gain a child's attention takes a lot of effort...especially when they are immersed in their iPods, and cell phones...let alone a computer or video game. It made me respect the teachers who have gotten through that mess and had an impact on me as a student. While I was brought up without the video games, the iPods, and cell phones (up until I was in college)...a lot of my classmates had these items. And looking back on how that effected me...I would say that some time was given on the teachers part to grab the attention of my peers.
The plus side of technology integration was also talked about in this article... (As said by Steve Powter, quoted in the article.)
"Rather than sitting behind desks and looking at a piece of paper, the pupils can play with things on screen and move things around. The kids are used to it. They walk into a room and if the white board has something written on it they follow it instantly."
TRUE - but this brings up a point in my mind. Attention spans of children these day tend to be less and less by my observation (people can feel free to disagree with me here). Can you really maintain a child's attention by keeping things technology integrated?? Is there a point where good old fashion teaching (without technology) has an impact on these students as well??
As a known fact, the costs of technology are rising all the time...and a lot of schools have a hard time keeping up with technologies that are changing so frequently. I think that if technology were more affordable there would be a lot of teachers who could afford and would take the time to learn them and possibly integrate them more into the classroom. I'm sure that things will change over time...but right now...I think for some schools it's a struggle to overcome the issues that come with technology integration.
2 comments:
Hey there! Nice articles. I use technology in my high school classroom a lot...but less than the Math and Science teachers. We have SMARTboards in school and the students know so much more about those things than some of the teachers! I like to incorporate YouTube, movies, and other clips. We also have a whole section on Propaganda. Students watch commercials, dissect political campaigns, and watch "Triumph of the Will." The children are immersed in media; we may as well help them understand its pros and cons.
It made me respect the teachers who have gotten through that mess and had an impact on me as a student. While I was brought up without the video games, the iPods, and cell phones (up until I was in college)...a lot of my classmates had these items. And looking back on how that effected me...I would say that some time was given on the teachers part to grab the attention of my peers.
How did they do this? Have faculty at your undergrad program and at the GC been able to maintain your attention? Has this differed from your high school experience?
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