A
few short weeks ago, I started a class, which has totally changed my
perspective of incorporating technology into my lessons. I learned how to set up and use a wiki,
blog (obviously), podcast and other resources. A few of these things, I already knew how to use, but I had
no idea how to incorporate the use of them into my lessons and classroom. Now, I have so many new ideas for
using these different technology skills with my students. I have wanted to get my class headed towards a more student-centered, project-based learning atmosphere and these skills
have really pushed me further in that direction.
Most
of the research I did for this class helped me understand the advantages to
using these technological skills with my students. Technology is a second language to most of my kids and it only
makes sense that they would learn much better with the assistance of this
language. At my school, students
have more access to technology at home than at school. To me, this is a little disheartening
but I want to rise to that challenge.
What good is a room full of students with smart phones if they only use
those phones to text/tweet/post while they’re suppose to be paying attention to
lectures? Instead, I want to focus
my classroom in on the benefits of educating WITH these devices, rather than fighting
against them.
This
past weekend, I attended a math conference (OCTM annual conference in Dayton)
and was bombarded with the same ideas, over and over again. The focus of our classrooms needs to
move beyond the teacher and more to the learners. An amazing statistic from one of the presenters gave me a
glimpse into the reasoning behind learner-centered teaching; visual and audio
help us retain somewhere between 15-30% of what we learn, but teaching helps us
retain around 95% of the information.
This is HUGE!! I need to make my students the teachers so they can learn
the material inside and out.
So
what do we do about it? Well… that’s the question I keep asking myself. Over the next few years, I am hoping to
change up the entire structure of my Algebra II class. My first goal is to incorporate a
“flipped classroom” at least once or twice a chapter. The process of a flipped classroom starts with students reading/watching
some kind of lesson on their own, as ‘homework’, then coming in to class to work
in groups on the actual homework of the chapter. I think this will significantly help infuse my class with
student dialog and a higher conceptual process. My second goal is to focus on at least one project per unit,
with both my Algebra II classes AND my Calculus class.
In
a small, rural district, it can be difficult to find the resources I would like
to use in my classroom, but that’s no excuse to avoid the resources I CAN have…
especially if it keeps my students more engaged and better prepared for life
after high school.
Isn’t that what it’s all about?
-Kate
“Don’t limit a child to your own learning, for he was born
in another time.”
-Rabindranath Tagore
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