Teachers have different philosophies of what works and does not work in education. I personally believe that differentiation is an effective way to teach children. I do not think that lecturing is conducive for all students. I completely agree with what the text said about prior learning: direct instruction is more effective for students with less prior knowledge. Primary grades tend to lean more towards direct instruction and then follow up with discovery learning. I also enjoyed what the book said about using technology to remove deficits in the classroom. I use games and activities on the computer to help students learn particular topics that they are having trouble understanding. Although group work with computers is difficult with primary age students I have found in my experience that the students enjoy the research and are more motivated when I involve technology in their learning.
TPACK- provides knowledge to the teachers in order to incorporate technology into their classroom. TPACK blends content, pedagogy and technology and incorporates them all into instruction rather than technology taking up extra time it enhances the time a teacher is already using. TPACK helps the teacher have a better understanding of the student’s prior knowledge and how to build on existing knowledge with the use of technology.
TIP Model- Is a model to make sure that teachers have a plan on how they will integrate technology into their classroom. Without a plan technology can become overwhelming and teachers tend to regress back to the familiar. By following the six steps the teacher is able to: understand more about incorporating technology, determine advantages of technology in the classroom, decide how to integrate online assessments, and revise their teaching after implementation of technology.
The “muddiest point” for me in this chapter is the section about a shared vision of technology. I taught last year in a very remote village in Alaska. I loved to incorporate technology in my lessons and my students seemed to be much more engaged. The district was very supportive of doing anything they could to make sure we had exactly what we needed. However, this became very difficult because the district was spread out over 200 miles of Alaska. My principal was not very supportive of continued education that he had to be involved in, which was very discouraging and made implementing technology very challenging.
Where in Alaska did you teach? I started my career in a small village in Western Alaska -no internet,etc. Now they provide a laptop for every student and are completely wired. While here in Fairbanks (the "big city") we struggle for consistent access in my classroom. I think you also hit an important point, the changing philosophies and views of principals, etc. have such an impact on the lives of teachers that it can be hard to have consistency. I always thought that it there was less impact from individuals out in the "lower 48" or bigger districts, but maybe I'm wrong.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more with your views on the use of direct instruction vs discovery learning. Within my program we are faced with the exhausting task of 'squishing' (for lack of a better term!) these strategies together in an effort to make up for lost time. What I mean by this is that although we are a high school program, we are an alternative charter where most of our students enter our program with basic reading, writing, math and overall comprehension skills of about an 8th grade level. Therefore we try our best to teach basic skills while also trying to provide self discovery opportunities in the short time we have these students. It's a tough task...
ReplyDeleteI also appreciate your honest insight into the frustration you felt with a lack of support from your administration. I myself work as the Dean/ Assistant Principal and try and provide our teachers with the support they need. Comments from classmates within this program such as yours I believe have made me a better administrator.