Yesterday was the last day of the summer semester, and we were fortunate enough to have a group of former SecMAC students come to talk about their experiences in the program, in their current placements, and in their use of technology.
The most surprising thing is that they all want to use and develop neat things to do with technology in their classrooms, but they might not be able to. For example - one school has a lot of technology equipment, but it none of it is functional (either out of date, or there is no administrative support to do so)! It is eye opening to hear that, although we are being trained in this program to use the latest and greatest teaching technology, we might not be able to use it! Or, there is a chance that my grand ideas about having students research water politics in Bolivia might take much longer than expected, because students might not know how to do research (This of course makes sense, but I had gotten used to the practice of researching done by college students, so I would have to modify that lesson to include how exactly to do research online, and how to get information that is within their ability leve)
The discussion made me think that even thought I have many ideas about how I will use technology in my Spanish classes, which is such a bummer! I think I've come across in this blog as super excited about how to use what I'm learning in my classrooms, and the thought that I might not be able to do is disheartening. It
The former students did give me some ideas in terms of coping with whatever my situation may be. One technique that I will likely use is called http://www.zamzar.com/, and it is a tool that allows you to download YouTube videos. The benefit of this site is that you can get around the probably YouTube ban on the school's internet, and it will play without internet as well to avoid any connection issues. Another technique that I will use is the Librarian / Media Center Specialist. This faculty member would be useful when teaching the students how to properly search on the internet, or how to use the technological tools that the school has.
So I leave for this summer break thinking about the technology in my placement, how I can take advantage of it while I'm there, and how I can cope with whatever is thrown (or not thrown) at me in the years to come. This course is teaching me invaluable techniques for the classroom, and I am determined to use some of the tools I have blogged about in my own classrooms!
Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible' - Audrey Hepburn
Hi- Last time I tried to download a YouTube video on ZamZar, I was blocked. Should that happen to you, Jeff introduced me to keepvid.com, which does something similar. I also like how these tools make it possible to convert videos into audio files so I can listen in the car.
ReplyDeleteLauren,
ReplyDeleteI too came away with the idea that things in our own classroom may look quite different from what we see in our classrooms at UM. This is where teacher creativity/flexibility comes into play. I'm sure if you found zamzar (thanks for that resource by the way), there are other programs you can use to circumvent certain issues. I bet there is even an edublogger or two who discusses how to get around certain technological impairments. With such a large community of teachers out there, I think you'll be able to find a solution to any problem you might face. Chin up madam, you haven't been told you can't use these programs yet. And I'm sure if you do find yourself in that situation, you will arm yourself with the passion you feel for teaching and attempt to change the attitudes and checkbooks of those who bar your way.
Hello Lauren... First of all I have to say your pink themed blog is an inspiration to me.
ReplyDeleteUsing technology in a classroom always fraught with difficulty. From my personal experience of working in Japan, I sometimes thought that the administration wanted me to fail. For instance, one school refused to load software that was necessary to teach material from a new textbook for months simply because they were too lazy to find the admin password. After they finally found the code and installed the software, I thought my problems had finally been resolved...
Oh how naive of me... During our first lesson, the computer went into sleep mode and I was unable to wake it because it required the same admin password that took months to obtain for the install. Instead of giving me the password, because that's against policy, the vice-principal had to come into the room multiple times to awaken our sleepy fortress of a computer.
Things rarely work the way you intend so I would suggest being prepared to help yourself as much as possible.
I totally think that we as teachers need to know figure out the tech difficulties when they are thrown at us! Teaching students by using technology gives teachers more time, technology does speed things up a bit. Whether technology make students understand new knowledge easier and faster is up for debate, but I think it can if used correctly. So, we should keep using technology no matter how difficult it may be. Nothing is impossible, there always solutions for the problem. Do you think in the future that all the teachers will not only need to know their own field knowledge, but also technology as well?
ReplyDeleteI think we'll definitely have to be trained in technology - I mean, we are! I think that technology will probably become part of the methods classes!
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