I recently reviewed my GAME plan goals that I set a week
ago, and began to think about how I could start to incorporate this into my
teaching. Justo to briefly
summarize, my goals were to include more technology to create more
self-directed learning opportunities and to open up the lines of communication
between my students and their parents and myself. These goals are very similar, in the fact that they both
involve the Internet. I am lucky
enough to have multiple computer labs in my school that I can sign out pretty much
whenever I want. There is usually
at least one lab open at any given period though out the day, and there is also
a computer lab that is dedicated to math and science classes only. This is definitely something that I
need if I want to use Internet research to promote self-directed learning. I am also lucky enough to have a
classroom website that has been provided for me by my school district through
SharpSchool. One thing that I have
learned from both personal experience and hearsay is that SharpSchool is not
the user-friendliest software to work with. Nonetheless, it at least gives me something to start
with. I did take the opportunity
to start working on my individual site way back at the beginning of the school
year, but then normal day to day operations took over and the website got
pushed to the side.
So basically I have everything I need to achieve my goals,
as far as resources, information, and physical equipment (computers) goes. The only thing really holding me back is
time. I have spoken with many of
my colleagues both in and out of the math department, and they all say that
they simply do not have time for it.
Most of my colleagues are graduate students, coaches, parents,
volunteers, etc. in addition to being a teacher, and they all admit to wanting
to do more, but they simply do not have the time to do so. I also have found that in a trimester schedule
(which is what my school is in) does not allow from much deviation from the
curriculum because time is so precious.
As a result, I am faced with the dilemma of risking valuable class time
to take students to the computer lab and trust that they will learn something
while they are there. My biggest
fear is that I will take my student to the computer lab to have a self-directed
learning experience and all they will do is surf the internet and either not
find anything about the topic we are studying, or have no desire to look
anything up that is relevant to the class. Part of my idea for setting a goal to promote self-directed learning
is because of how much I do it myself.
However, I only do this when I am super interested in something or I have
to do it for my job or schooling.
I am an adult and understand what is at stake, however, and many high
school students do not have this mentality (at least not where I teach). So my goal within my goal is to try and
find ideas, strategies, lesson, you name it that can help me get my students to
want to learn math on their own.
Ricky,
ReplyDeleteYou are so fortunate to have computers available to you at all times! My entire school only has 2 small labs for K-12 and there are always computers not working up to speed. We are supposed to be getting new laptops very soon, so hoping that I can use them in the classroom to help incorporate the wonderful resources into my teaching at my students’ fingertips!
I do not know your students like you do, but would a small self-directed learning experience for homework be an option? Do your students have access to online resources at home or additional time throughout their day?
It is easy for me to say because I am not you, in your classroom, with your students, but when it comes to seeing how the students will handle the self-directed learning activity, sometimes you just have to let them try once. Is there a small group of students that you could begin your work with? Maybe starting small will allow you to begin seeing where you can make improvements and you will be able to see how they handle the new type of learning?
I also realize that time is an issue. My current motto is “If only I had 24 more hours in a day I sure could be a happy happy person!”
Good luck with your goals, you are on the right path to success!!
Kendra
Kendra,
DeleteYes, I am very fortunate to have such a great deal of resources available for me to use in my teaching, I just wish I had time to take advantage of it. Just about all of my students I would say have Internet access at home, and they all have the option to use the computers in the Media Center before and after school and during lunch if they need it. My plan is to start small once I muster up the courage to start integrating more technology in my teaching. I think my students could handle small self-directed learning experiences, as long as I am there to guide them in the right direction.
My other fear of making this commitment to devoting time towards technology is the fact that I am not the only teacher teaching the classes that I teach. This means that I am expected to stay at the same pace as the other one or sometimes two to three other teachers who are teaching the same class that I am. It potentially has the ability to 'rock the boat' in the math department, and as a fourth year teacher I not sure if that is something I am ready to take on. As a result, part of my plan is to start discussing technology with my colleagues, just to get a feel for their take and willingness to maybe try it out for themselves.
Thanks,
Ricky
Ricky,
ReplyDeleteI share your fears of loosing valuable time in the computer lab if students do not cooperate and use time with non-so-important things. Yet, as I read your post, it came to my mind that only giving it a try will tell you if your fears are justifiable or not. I know it is sometimes a big jump, but it is worth it. However, I do not doubt that you have given it a try more than once and from what I read between the lines, you have not been very successful with it.
Could it be that your students did not have any interest in the given assignments? I am just curious and reflecting on what I could do for my teaching practice to help my students through technology. My recommendation to you would be that you could tailor your instruction in a way that students see the educational benefit that technology has for them. If you would let students choose their topics of interest and work on them, would they open up? Eagleton and Dobler (2007) state that “in order to address learner’s affective needs, we need to let them chose their own topics, focus areas, and questions” (p. 82). Even though this statement kept me thinking, I think there is a truth behind it. The UDL framework says that we have to address the affective networks of a learner (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). I would also like to learn how to let students choose their assignments more often than they do, because of the numerous topics to cover in a school year.
Another factor, which I consider key to student success, are autonomy-supportive teachers. With the little experience I have had with technology in my classroom, I found that students take more advantage of it, when they see that their teacher is supportive and not so afraid of loosing valuable time. To me it seems that students become angry and frustrated when they feel that their teacher is under time pressure, and I find that is the moment students “shut down”.
I enjoyed reading your post, and it left me thinking on what I should do to better my teaching practice. Thank you for sharing your fears with us.
Oscar
References
Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the web: Strategies for Internet inquiry. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
Oscar,
DeleteYou bring up some great points that challenged me to think about my overall goal for my technology plan. I agree that students will be much more willing to learn and focused on the content if they get to pick the topic they are learning about. However, the biggest problem that I face as a math teacher is the fact that the vast majority of my students would never pick math as their topic! The battle I seem to be facing is trying to get my students to take math seriously and want to learn it, not just learn it because they have to. I try my best by displaying enthusiasm and offering my time before and after school to help, but most of my students do not care to put any extra effort in. I think the subject of math is very intimidating for a lot of my students, although this is difficult for me to understand because I am a math teacher and more importantly a math person. I do my best to help students build their confidence, but they have to be willing to meet me halfway in order to do so.
Thanks,
Ricky
Hello Ricky,
ReplyDeleteI see time is a real concern for you and your students. Have you entertained or used technology outside of the classroom like at home? Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2010) offered that teachers should provide choices of media and tools to support students’ affective needs and reach diverse learners. Since I’m dealing with portable technologies, maybe doing some of the computer work at home will free up some time.
Craig
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2010). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Craig,
DeleteThis is a great point you bring up and it is definitely something that I have thought about and learned about from other colleagues, but I have yet to give it a shot. I have heard many other teachers in my building rave about using online resources like blog, wikis, and forums to extend their classroom, however it is usually English and Social Studies teachers promoting it. The teachers in the math department, including myself, have yet to give anything like this a try, however the biggest thing I have learned thus far is that you will never know if it could work or not until you have tried it! Thank you for your ideas!
Ricky