For many years, as I was training to become a teacher, I never thought it would be a lifelong career. Ever since I was young, I was convinced that teaching was a dying profession. Computers would take over and we would no longer be needed.
You might be asking then, why would I spend so much time and money to move into a profession that would not last. The answer is simple. I wanted to make a difference and did not care if I could only do that for a few years. My years teaching really changed my perspective of the "dying profession" thing. I came to believe that there is more to learn at school than facts about history and how to factor trinomials. Yes.. there was something more that I was destined to give my students. I cared about them. I spent extra time with them. I listened and worked with their challenges. I was giving them a belief in themselves and a desire to succeed. So with budget cuts and the push for technology in the classroom, are we still at risk? Can the job of educating students happen without the certified teacher in the classroom? Do they really need "teachers who listen?" This article proves that it might be possible. Some Minn. high schools try going without subs This article makes it seem like schools can save a lot of money if they choose to use technology instead of subs so why not go as far as replace the teachers? Because teachers are IMPORANT Teachers are the ones that are bringing the technology in for the kids. We are modifying classes and adjusting lessons based on the students. We are trained to use our skills to promote student success. In a nutshell... we care about them and their needs, something a computer can't do. Technology is not something that we need to be afraid of but should use to make our lessons better for all kids. Our job is not to teach the kids how take a test, but how to successfully learn in today's day and age.. and that is with the use of technology. At the end of this article that I read on Creative Destruction in Teaching (and Ongoing Relevance of Teachers) Don Wettrick has an amazing and inspiring quote. He says: "I believe that innovation will not push teachers out -- it will enable us to empower our students to change the world" It is so important as teachers that we don't forget this in our day to day activities under all the stress, fatigue and pressure that we have. If you care about your students and want what is best for them, take the time to try new things. Set our students up for success in the future. Their future is not in a classroom, it is out in our ever changing world. We need to show them how to truly use the tools that they have. Do not be afraid of technology, embrace it.
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It was only about two years ago that I remember questioning what this "Cloud" thing was that everyone was talking about. I even tried to look it up but still was very unclear about what it was, how it worked, and if I could trust it to keep my files and keep them private.
It is 2016 now and I feel like I can not live without it!! I use it for work and school everyday! That is what got me interested in reading this article about how it is used in K-12 education. Cloud Computing (p. 36-37) Now that I am no longer teaching in the K-12 environment, I was curious to find out how and why they are using the cloud. Although the article was short, it brought up some great points! In schools, it seems to be used for a lot of similar things that I use it for. One of the tools I use most in the cloud is document storage from anywhere, so no more carrying around your laptop or a pesky memory stick. I (and students) can work from anywhere, anytime. Most programs even auto save so you never need to worry about losing any work that you have done. If you have read any of my previous posts, you know that I am very interested in the BYOD movement that many schools are adoption right now. With cloud computing, this makes for even more convenient options for students. Since you do not need storage on your device to access or work on your documents, they can choose to bring tablets or even smartphones as an option! Another feature that I love about the cloud is the option to document share. Document sharing allows multiple individuals to view and edit a document in live time. It is a huge improvement over emailing a document, editing it, sending it back over and over. You can literally work together even if you are working in different spaces. This can completely redesign the idea of "group work". Now, you don't need the physical space for students to gather in one area and divide the work among them, you can set them up to work with kids in other classes or even with other students around the world! Imagine the potential. The article did bring up the concern about privacy and security with cloud computing, and in other courses I did learn that these items are a lot more rigid in Canada than in the United States. If you are worried about these issues (and live in BC) here is an article I found about using cloud computing in BC. If you have another article that could help, please share it. CLOUD COMPUTING GUIDELINES FOR PUBLIC BODIES
Games have always been part of my life. I was fortunate enough as a kid to have a computer and a Nintendo in my home as well as dozens of board games. If my brother and I were not on the carpet, playing a game, one of us was on the computer and one of us playing Nintendo. We played so many games! What is astounding is that we had no idea that we were actually building problem solving skills, math skills, and more. Here is an article I wrote on my history with Gamification a few weeks ago.
My Google+ rant about gaming. I also found a great infograph that might help you wrap your head around where this whole "gaming" culture came from. If you scroll about halfway down, you will see the history and progression of gaming and might have played many of these games in your youth. Created by Knewton and Column Five Media
So what does this have to do with the education system of today?
Do you remember being in grade school and game time was AWESOME but it was complete chaos. It was loud, unorganized and often served no purpose but to give the teacher a little bit of downtime. I, personally, didn't learn anything from playing Hungry Hungry Hippo. Many teachers are using the students love of games as a teaching tool in their classroom in much better ways than in its early years. Unfortunately, computer games are not an option for every student in every classroom so teachers are using traditional games to instill many different types of skills. If you are a teacher yourself, you might have tried using games already but it ends up like my experience in grade school. LOUD, unproductive, and a mess when all the students pack up and go. So how do yo umane this experience even better for the student? How do you keep it organized and part of the classroom learning? I came across an article that give some great tips on how to accomplish a learning goal using classroom games. You can watch this video first then click on the link for a breakdown of all tips.
I think my best takeaways from that article are as follows:
Keep your same classroom expectations. This will help it become a "learning" experience rather than just a game time. Help facilitate. As the teacher, treat this as any other lesson. Let the students discover and make connections and stop the class to share student discoveries and ideas. Wrap up. I think this is the most important part. If you are not discussing their learning, they are more likely to remember playing a game rather than remember what they learned from the game. Take a few minutes after clean up to allow them to summarize what they learned. Have you ever had a great experience with games in a classroom? Do you have any games that you would suggest for teachers to use? Please feel free to list all your comments and ideas here for those who need a little help :) If you have been a "traditional" teacher in the school system in the last 10 years, you will have seen the evolution of personal devices in the classroom and how kids are using them. It was only about 15 years ago that texting started to emerge and it was only used by people that were fortunate enough to have a cell phone and knew how to work them. Since then, cellphones got smarter, laptops were a must and tablets became affordable devices that you could let your kids use. So what happened when our devices got "smart"? We (and our students) suddenly had all the information we ever wanted at our fingertips. We could search out historical events, find what is happening in our community, and even solve the most difficult of math equations. Rather than embracing this awesome source of knowledge, teachers fought it. <--- This is a sign you still see on many classroom doors. But why? Why don't we want our students to use what they know? When they are outside the walls of the school, they actually use their free time to seek out answers using their devices. If they are at all curious about something, they Google it and moments later, they have their answers. Then they enter into the walls of the school and are punished for doing that same thing... for practicing what they know. If you have ever been a teacher in a classroom where these devices are banned, you know that much of your time is spent spying on kids with their hands under their desks and confiscating electronics. What if we shifted out thinking and encouraged them to use them instead? BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) is the shift in thinking that we need to embrace. If we encourage the students to bring what they know and use it in the classroom, don't you think that there will be more engagement in the lessons and more to learn and explore? If they spent the amount of time in class that they use to hide their phone on using the phone to learn, how much more could they do? If we incorporate devices into their learning, they might even be more apt to try new things as they are so comfortable with the technology. Another important aspect of the BYOD model is that it is also a great way to teach responsible digital citizenship. It is important to teach kids what this means and how important it is in the classroom and even outside of the classroom. Also, think about how better off you would be in the workplace if you grew up in a school that used BYOD. You would understand that it is a tool rather than just a social media toy and you would have learned how to balance your time with and without your device. Teachers will probably ask "What about the digital divide and the kids that don't have devices that they can bring?" This is a very valid question especially for schools that are in lower income areas. It is a problem that will need to be solved from within the school itself but there are a few options that you could explore 1. Is there a laptop cart that you could use or share with another class 2. Is there a few seats in the computer lab that you could borrow 3. You could implement a rotation model where only part of the class is using the devices that you have available at the school I am sure there are many other options that could be explored so try not to be quick to dismiss if you can't think of a way to make it work at first. I am of the opinion that, in order to teach our children in today's day and age, we need to start thinking of their devices as an asset, not a deficit. They know how to use them and they have the world at their fingertips. If we open our minds to this and give it a try, I think that students will love it and even start to love learning this way. If you want to learn more, you can watch these videos or go to some of my listed websites at the bottom. Please feel free to add any more if you have some great resources you would like to share. I read an article today about 3D printing and it's uses around the globe in K-12 education. (click here if you would like to read it too. It is page 40 and 41) and it got me thinking.
Although there are many schools around the globe that are taking advantage of its uses, and putting real life replicas and models into the hands of learners, over time, will the 3D printers start to collect dust or serve as a place to hang paintings to dry?? To put new technology into classrooms, it takes a ton of training that teachers typically do not want to do. "Experimenting" is not in the vocabulary of many of them (though it should be) and they just want to be told how to use it and where it fits into their lesson. Even if you give them that, they might try it once and never use it again. SMARTBOARDS are a great example of this. When I was subbing in BC, I shed a tear almost every time I walked into a classroom with art projects taped to the Smartboard. Just more wall space is what came of them. Either that or they only used it as an electronic whiteboard because they did not have the time to explore all that it had to offer. I am not grouping all teachers into this category as many use them to their full potential but the majority of teachers don't have the training to do so. I know I am sounding negative here but a fact is a fact and teachers seldom change their ways. On a brighter note, there are many great things that have come out of these 3D printers in K-12 and the article has a great list for you. I will also list some sites at the end of my rant if you do not want to read the whole article yourself. Could you imagine the look on a students face when they could se a physical sculpture of the ruins come to life in their classroom, or see the design of Stonehenge during a history lesson? It is moments like those that drive my passions for education and for that reason alone, I would be first on the list to volunteer for the trial and learn with my students. What about you? Do you think that 3D printers are a fad in education? Are they valuable only in the medical and engineering industries or could it serve a purpose in education? Will we be seeing them in Canadian schools soon? Chime in if you wish, even if you think I'm crazy :) go.nmc.org/gua go.nmc.org/helping go.nmc.org/taip go.nmc.org/dim go.nmc.org/becomes go.nmc.org/how3d |
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