Preface/Chapter 1 Reflection

Prior to reading these chapters, I had never considered how prominent technology truly is in teaching and learning. I use my computer, camera, phone, ipod, and other items daily for school or work (I teach dance classes). Ever since I was in elementary school in New Jersey, when we used computers to play math games, I realized that technology has been infused into the curriculum. While reading, I began to think back on all the different types of technology that I have been exposed to at school and realized that there are a huge number of them. I also was amazed to read that technology can contribute to causal, analogical, expressive, and experiential thinking as well as problem solving. That alone makes technology a vital aspect of education. Similarly, I really liked how the book states that we must learn with technology, not from it. To me, that means having students use computers to create projects and do research rather than have them sit and watch as the teacher reads a powerpoint to the class. It makes sense that the former would result in more learning for students. It is definitely more engaging and teaches students to become independent learners rather that relying on the teacher to supply information to be learned.

What impacted me the most from this reading (that will impact my teaching) was the idea that teachers need to give up some authority in the classroom. The idea scares me a little bit, because I am not sure how much authority a teacher would have in some classrooms if only serving as a “coach”. As a student myself, I enjoyed having the teacher directly convey knowledge some of the time. However, the reading has made me consider how I would get students to take more of a teacher role themselves, such as by sharing methods and developing ideas on their own. I also noted how the book states that learning how to take a standardized test does not lead to meaningful learning. I believe that standardized testing is important, but I wonder how much knowledge it actually measures. Many students become good at selecting choices that may look more correct in order to score high, yet have no idea how to complete the problems. Many probably could not explain how they got their answers or why they used the method that they used. As a teacher, I will make sure NOT to teach to the test, but to teach my students how to think and use technology in order to do well on these tests. The job of a school is to give students the tools they need to succeed in life, so I realize that having problem-based lessons and using technologies to develop understanding is far better than bubbling in answer choices. Lessons and topics need to be connected to real-life experiences or students will not be able to transfer them. Another idea that I will use is combining many standards into one large project. The constructivist approach seems like it would take longer to cover a specific standard, so being able to combine them frees up time to focus on one more in depth project, rather than many small assignments that will soon be forgotten. I agree that overall, a large, combined, standards-based activity that engages students at many cognitive levels will result in much more learning.