Sean Capelle's article, It's Not About the Tool, points out the importance of using Web 2.0 tools to further instructional goals, not just to say you're using 'technology' in the classroom.
Using web tools such as Wiki, blog, and Glogster, to name a
few, can facilitate the twenty-first century learning skills students need not only for the future, but for today. These tools encourage collaboration, creativity, and problem
solving - the very skills Web 1.0 doesn’t account for. The caveat for teachers willing to use
2.0 tools is to be clear in its curricular purpose. Basic computer skills are
vital for students to learn early on in their education in order to facilitate
the use of technology for deeper understandings instead of becoming bogged
down with the ‘how -to” of using a keyboard. When teachers are able
to move beyond the ‘procedural’ keyboarding skills and basic computer know-how,
students are able to engage in authentic, meaningful, inquiry-based learning.
Check out Dover's "Technology I Can Statements for Students K- 8".
With the creation of the 21st Century Skills course (I don't yet know how I'm going to implement all of this - couldn't even find the NH IT frameworks on the site) I will be teaching next year, one important
role I see myself offering to the middle school teachers is to support the
development of instructional lessons and units that use technology to extend
and reinforce the very core curricula they teacher. In 21st Century Skills, students can learn the digital applications needed
to support the curriculum lessons.
This will free up the cognitive space for student’s to use digital tools
for authentic critical thinking and collaborative applications.
It takes time to come to terms with a new and evolving
teaching and learning context especially in developing the technical pedagogical content knowledge needed by teachers for effective technological
integration. Teachers need to feel
supported and encouraged at their ability level and be confident that they can,
indeed, begin to integrate technology with curricula to some degree – one step
at a time.
The best part about teaching technology to students is to teach them how to use all of the tools so they can walk into any core curricular area and put them into direct application. They can then "show what they know" in many ways that often times classroom teachers do not have the time to show the kids. They can ask the teachers if the project can be done in a movie, wiki, blog, prezi, glogster, etc.
ReplyDeleteThe link for the I Can statements was interesting. I like seeing different ways districts are organizing their curriculum. The list of possible projects at the end of each page is fairly open ended which allows them to be used in any of the curriculum areas.
ReplyDelete