Mr. Kevin Rook is scheduled to talk to the class today about how technology affects the teaching of social studies at Central. I think you will find some differences in perspective when you talk to someone of the front lines of teaching with technology at the high school level. Please comment on what Mr. Rook's advice. Are there any technology-related innovations at Central that seem to you likely to lead to improved social studies education? Any technology-related items you really hope you have when you are teaching? Did you learn about any potential problems related to educational technology?
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Shut Down System and Reboot Immediately
Mr. Kevin Rook is scheduled to talk to the class today about how technology affects the teaching of social studies at Central. I think you will find some differences in perspective when you talk to someone of the front lines of teaching with technology at the high school level. Please comment on what Mr. Rook's advice. Are there any technology-related innovations at Central that seem to you likely to lead to improved social studies education? Any technology-related items you really hope you have when you are teaching? Did you learn about any potential problems related to educational technology?
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It seemed to me that for a modern school, Central doesn't put much of an emphasis on technology.
ReplyDeleteI don't man to imply that that is a totally negative thing either. Teachers can get caught up in making sure to use technology and then forget the objective of the lesson.
But (big but) technology can greatly add to lessons as well.
I was impressed with Infinite Campus. It seems like a big improvement over paper based grading systems.
As for potential problems, Mr Rook gave plenty of real world examples. I thought some of his best advice was when he told us to make sure to plan for problems when writing a lesson that includes technology.
Mr.Rook has a fairly realistic outlook to technology on the whole. It's really a love-hate affair with him, and as I assume, almost all teachers.
ReplyDeleteHis class brought me to think, not so much about the use of technology, but the preparation for it. He has become aware of possible problems so beforehand he makes sure that simple time consuming issues are minimalized. of course, not all problems can be foreseen or predicted, so there are still some things to work out.
I like the idea of the virtual class software along with the parent portal connected to all public schools in SD. Once you get the hang of it, it seems to speed up a lot of leg work!
-Amber Eich
I agree with Amber about the realistic outlook that MR. Rook expressed about technology. It was almost a scary point of view about how much of a hassle it is to integrate some forms of technology. Even though there are many problems I think I will still try to integrate as much technology into the classroom as I can. I feel that the future is going to reward the students who spend time using technology in the classroom and I want the students to have as much experience as they can before they are introduced into the real world. I think that a lot of the concerns are legitimate ones but schools will either soon loosen their reigns or face missing out on valuable materials.
ReplyDeleteI see so many ways technology can be used in the classroom, but it seems that if the school is not putting an emphasis or effort into it, it will never work. It seems central has many shortcomings when it comes to integrating technology. The laptop carts seem to be more trouble than they are worth. I left feeling that a lot of my ideas about integrating technology may be problematic. I will still make an effort to integrate technology, but a lot will depend on the school.
ReplyDeleteZach Anderson
Kirsten Saunders
ReplyDeleteIn my last comment, I meant to give a shoutout to Josh, but I accidentally said Zach, sorry Zach.:) Anyway, Mr. Rook illustrated a realistic picture of possible problems; however, I was almost dissuaded my the notion of technology based lessons. While I am an admitted non-fan of extremely integrated technology in classrooms, there are more obstacles for technology lessons than I had thought. The obstacles didn't come in terms of poor technology, but in the student use. For example, privacy issues, password issues, permission issues, "goofing" around etc. I have always believed in hands on materials and firmly believe that we live in an age of too much information. In terms of technology innovation I did not see anything sensational that I would make a must in my classroom. Like John said, I did enjoy the infinite classroom and worked closely with it during my junior field at Warner Middle School. Once I did learn my way around, it was fairly simple, but I would caution against lost grades.
Mr. Rook's advice about the use of technology in the classroom really opened up my eyes. I didn't realize how many problems there could be when using the internet is required for completion of a project. This was helpful because now it will make me think about alternative projects that students might have to do because of their lack of internet priveleges. Even though technology can be a pain sometimes, I still feel that it is extremelely important to use in the classroom. These days, if child struggles using technology, it is almost as bad as them not being able to read. I still plan on incorporating technology into the lesssons that I will eventually teach.
ReplyDeleteSome of what was covered I had learned from watching teachers I have had throughout the years. I could tell who were the poor ones and who really captured my attention. I think it was good that we pointed out the qualities of teachers who made an impact and also those in which we would like to avoid.
ReplyDeleteI think that the biggest difference between high school lecturers and college lectures is the audience. Like John remarked. It is a big difference in the students that you are marketing your material to.
I think that a high school class has to be more accommodating. A college teacher has more ability to schedule the lesson according to how he/she thinks it should go and has a lot more leeway about the content.
High school teachers seem to face a lot more adversity from the perspective of time restraints and prior knowledge. Where as a college teacher can take some of this material as assumed.