When the first day of class arrived, the usage of these devices was much less than I expected. The whiteboards were filled and slid up and down as a constant path of direct communication to the students. The rest of the devices remained in sleep mode.
My excitement of observing a well-supplied tech classroom changed course. When I asked my mentor teacher, the response was directed toward IT support. Without the necessary support, focusing curriculum that depends on the technology can be very difficult to use when the response to tech problems can take days to weeks to correct.
I decided to reevaluate the situation from a new perspective. Instead of creating curriculum that depended on tech, I looked for the positive side of technology applications that support non-tech based curriculum, but would not prohibit progress without. For example, www.desmos.com was used in geometry and Algebra II as a fantastic graphing website. It can be incorporated in the lesson to increase the visualization beyond the mini screen of a graphing calculator and human error of a sketch. If problems arise, two backup options were already in place. Planning with tech as a complement to the lesson with backup prepared will allow more tech usage to be considered in my future classroom without fear of problems being unresolved on a timely basis.
Bonus points if you know what a "dongle" is?
Rachel..Interesting to read about your perspective on technology availability at STEMM. I do agree that with out tech support, it can be difficult if there were no non-tech based curriculum. But generally technology in a classroom is only used as an additional resource. The project based curriculum at Ypsi, offers so many ways to learn the same thing, those macs are only in addition. Our class has never faced any hardware problems. Has yours? If anything, the network was slow or the power school was down for some days..
ReplyDeleteHi Rachel,
ReplyDeleteIt is great to hear that there is technology used in your class, because I knew that you were concerned that all you would have was a whiteboard to write on. It sounds like your placement is going well and you have a chance to use different techniques in the classroom .
Rachel,
ReplyDeleteI WAS JUST GOING TO ASK YOU WHAT A "DONGLE" WAS! As I was reading in the beginning, I was thinking..."uhh did she make up this word?" Now your bonus question has me googling what a dongle is....Here it is....Thanks Wikipedia:
"A dongle is a small piece of hardware that attaches to a computer, TV, or other electronic device in order to enable additional functions such as copy protection, audio, video, games, data, or other services. These services are available only when the dongle is attached.
Although the term "dongle" was originally used to refer only to software protection devices, it is now more broadly applied.
I think I've seen a dongle....is that that thing people use when they have a MAC ,laptop and want to hook it up to the big screen to connect to that 3 pins thing? Oh boy...now I feel uneducated and behind the technological times...I will learn.
Rachel---coming from Ypsi high I have felt the same way. We have all of this technology at our fingertips, but I feel we do not make use of them as often as we could. My mentor teacher is big on the overhead projectors...but that's about it. We are supposed to have 8 MAC stations in our classroom...but I have no idea what is going on with that.
I would love to get a chance to have my students use their cell phones to answer questions on Polls like we've done in our EDUC classes. I'm sure your students have their cell phones permanently attached to their hands like mine do. I say we should make use of that permanent attachment. What is wrong with making students use their cell phones to participate in polls or questions in class. I think they'd forget about texting if they are too busy answering polls.
It's lovely reading your blog....feel like I never get a chance to chat with you and your amazingness. Hope to hear from you soon!
Anthony