Techno Teachers

Okay, so today in class our teacher showed a video from Bronwyn’s blog on Constructionism. After class i watched the video again and read the paper Harel, I. (2003). Building software beats using it, which is what her video is based on…

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Enjoy! Mel

Just watched Colleen, Elise and Penny’s video blog. It was fantastic!!! Now to answer your question ” Is it possible to excite serious play in every student in your classroom?”

Yes, definitely. If we take on Lloyd P. Reiber’s advice and we commit ourselves to it I think YES. I loved the idea of teachers being facilitators of learning, guiding the students. EXPERIENCE FIRST, EXPLAIN LATER. What a fantastic slogan.

I know in my teaching I will be adopting these approaches.

Jas

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I recently read an article called ‘Help teachers Mentor one another’ by Camilla Gagliolo, which i found to be very interesting. From this i realised it’s an exciting, yet challenging time to be a teacher. This is because there is a mass of emerging technologies avaliable, providing many exciting avenues for teachers to adopt new strategies to address today’s digital learners.

However, Gagliolo (2008) also raises a great question…

How best can technology leaders, inspire teachers to take advantage of these opportunities to engage students in 21st century learning???

We can do this in 2 ways:

1. Build a professional learning community – “professional development must be multi-faceted, ongoing and meet the learning needs of the teachers adopting new technologies”

2. Establish a cadre of teacher mentors – “powerful teaching takes place when teachers teach other teachers in a peer-to-peer network”

I thoroughly believe this is true, as creating a cadre of techer leaders who serve as peer coaches will help empower teachers within the school to discover and try new technologies, providing different professional development contributions. Teacher mentors will then become advocates for new technology models and widen the support across the school community.

In class today, we briefly talked about the importance of having an e-learning buddy and i aim to have a teacher peer (Jasmin) to continually help and encourage me in improving my e-learning development. Therefore we can keep each other accountable and aware of the emerging technologies in the classroom, to better our teaching and learning in today’s rapidly changing technological society.

Mel

Gagliolo, C. (2008). Help Teachers Mentor One Another (p. 39). Learning and Leading with Technology. Sept/Oct Ed. (Volume 36, No. 2).

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I was really inspired after reading Kathy Shield’s Blog called ‘ What do Elephant Grass, Budgies, and The Beatles have in common.

Kathy Shields is a teacher from the US and she wanted to give her students the opportunity to dialogue internationally. How fantastic! She shares how she did it and the benefits.Her students interacted from those in Uganda, Australia and Taiwan. Now that is giving students a voice.

One day, with my class I hope to do this.

Thanks, Jas

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After reading Fiona’s blog , thoughts were challenged. How very true that as children we mimicked the actions of the hero’s we saw in the movies. ( pink poweranger was always my favourite). But I’m not sure about you, but often  in our play, our imagination would take over and we would create our own stories, new dilemmas in which our hero ( now played by ourselves) would save the day.

OK, now how does that relate. Perhaps as teachers we create environments ( TECHNOLOGY)  where creativity, imagination and scaffolding can take place. The students learn from the teacher, ( like the child who mimics the tv hero) but as they discover this knowledge with their own creativity and imagination they add a wealth of knowledge and make it meaningful for themselves.

What do you think?

thanks, Jasmin.

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Today i read Jessica’s blog on the article ‘Fear of classroom technology just doesn’t compute’ by Stephen Crowne which raises questions about the use of technology in school.

I totally agree with Jess when she says “it is the way that teachers use technology that will enhance learning and make technology a valuable resource”. I couldn’t agree more!  I believe technology should be used as a tool to capture attention and assist students and teachers in more effective and engaging teaching and learning, but it all depends on how teachers employ it in the classroom!

Whilst technology is amazingly beneficial for both students and teachers, I agree with Jess when she says that technology will not replace teachers. There are so many things teachers can do that technology cant! Provide classroom management, create a positive school environment, evaluate and communicate progress to parents and the community, teach students sport & expressive subjects such as dance, singing and art. As Jess said “what if technology fails???” we cannot place our future generations in front of a a man-made aspect which can turn off at the blink of an eye. What about the simple fact that teachers can relate to students as human beings! Teachers are emotional, empathetic and have advice that can help, encourage and mentor children, working through all of life’s trials and problems…

It may seem like im bashing the importance out of technology in schools, so let it be known that i am definately not! I thoroughly believe that technology is a fantastic tool that enhances education and i have witnessed the positive impact it has on student research, engagement, skills and motivation. But is not a tool that will replace teachers, only assist them!

Mel

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Ok so in class today we created our own comic as we were introduced to the Mac software Comiclife, a great program which reflects Constrctionist learning (a theory of teaching we discussed in class today). The comic represents my view on ‘using technology-supported learning in K – 6’…so check it out below!!!

Mel

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I just read Courtney’s blog on Digtal video in teaching and learning. Her blog was related to the reading BECTA (2003) article ‘What the research says about digital video in teaching and learning’

Wow, i was really convinced that using video’s in the classroom could be really useful. Motivation motivation, motivation!!! But i have been thinking of practical activites we could actually do in the classrrom to incorporate videos in a way that it would support meaningful learning in other KLA’s.

Here are some ideas, But wouldn’t it be great if as future teachers or teachers we could share our knowledge of practical ideas on how to use this form of technology for learning in our classrrom. Get thinking and get typing.

Narratives, I think i group called diged can help students make narratives in the form of claymation.

Show and tell??? does this defeat the purpose… not sure, but could be a great experience for the kids..especially for the aspiring actors and actresses.

Any other ideas…..?

Thanks, Jasmin.

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Ok…so I have now finished prac and for our e-learning subject we were asked to observe an innovative lesson that incorporated new technology in the classroom. I was lucky enough to observe a ‘Claymation’ lesson with a year 5/6 Opportunity Class which was fantastic!!!

A Sydney based company called Digi Ed. came in and conducted the all day workshop where students (in groups of 4) created their own clay-animated short film. All the equipment (Mac laptops, cameras and plasticine) was provided by the company and professionally qualified presenters and teachers came to educate, inform and assist with the task.

This ‘Claymation’ technology provided a practical, hands-on, student-centred activity where students were engaged in creative, technological thinking, by learning how to craft visual narratives. They were introduced to the iMovie program where they developed the tools of clay-animation (using photo making and film editing software) and used their creative abilities in iMovie to add titles, music and sound effects to their story. I believe it fostered the child’s ability to communicate creative narrative ideas and themes using innovative technology to form a visual, moving representation of a storyline. Students worked together as part of a team where they learn to compromise, share technology and help each other craft a masterpiece. Students’ work was watched and appreciated at the end of the day and also burnt onto a DVD so they could take it home and show their parents the new technologies they had used in the classroom, which all the students loved!!!

I highly recommend this innovative technology which can relate to the English KLA for writing narratives. If you want more information about the company or some film examples, jump onto the Digi Ed website for more details.

Mel

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If your scared of using  podcastng in this classroom watch this video and watch your fears dissapear. Also check out my commentary. thanks, Jas.