Tech in My Placement
My placement school has computers in the media center, two laptop carts, a few smart boards, some ELMO projectors, and a whole lot of smart phones! Teachers at my placement school hang signs in their hall windows that are either red, yellow, or green. The students know that these colors designate the level at which their phone can be used. Red means it cannot be out at all, yellow means it can be used if it is for educational purposes, and green means have at it.
My teacher keeps the yellow sign up and the kids do a great job at using their phones when the time is right. Last week we were in the lab and the students were creating a model of a cell using things they had brought in from home. Most of the students pulled up a photo of a cell on their phones and used that photo to successfully complete the project. This week students were asked to write about how oxygen and carbon dioxide diffuse across your alveoli into your capillaries. I was happy to walk around see students googling and researching this topic on their phones.
I have also noticed students taking pictures of the agenda for the day or the assigned homework. These may be students who do not have a planner or place to write down their homework so this is exciting that they are actually going to know what to do when they get home! I plan on using Remind101 when I begin teaching so I will be able to send out a mass text reminding students and parents (if they choose) about the assigned homework. This is an awesome tool I saw used over the summer. Read more about Remind101 below-
I look forward to doing webquest activities with my students in order to enhance student learning about difficult topics in science. I have been researching some interactive activities to do with my students and found a great edublogger in the process! I also plan on showing a lot of YouTube videos about different processes in science - Kreb, mitosis, meiosis, DNA replication, transcription, glycolysis, etc. etc. The list is endless. I have found it so helpful to watch animations of these processes when trying to learn them. It brings them to life and is a lot more engaging then reading about them in a textbook (although students will be expected to do this also). I have started writing my guided notes and have embedded links to videos throughout.
What interesting things have you guys seen in your placements? Any resources I must check out? I look forward to hearing about your schools.
What a great idea! I really like the color coding system and it seems as though it is pretty well respected by the students. I wonder how many schools allow teachers to decide whether or not students can use phones classroom by classroom? Remind101 is definitely a great resource, and I felt the one (cel.ly) that Liz Kolb shared with us last night was pretty fantastic as well! Community seems to have some of the same resources that your school has, yet there is a big difference in the frequency with which the various teachers use the tech. It sounds like Matt's teacher has checked out the laptop carts a few times whereas my mentor teacher's idea of using tech is showing a VHS (kidding...sort of). Anyway, thank you for sharing, especially the idea of color coding the rooms! I've always enjoyed your posts.
ReplyDeleteHey Jeni!
ReplyDeleteWhen I read your post, I found myself wondering which color card I might use if
I were a teacher at your school. It's difficult, because I can see the reasoning behind each of them, but I think I'd probably side with your mentor teacher's use of the yellow card. My own mentor teacher would probably post the yellow card as well, though she might also side with those who would post the red card. She gets particularly upset when folks try to slip a text in in the middle of class, and I definitely don't blame her. The reason why she might opt for red over yellow is because it's essentially impossible to tell whether a student is using their phone to text a pal or to write down an assignment.
The reason why I would shy away from the red card is because I feel like we do our students something of a disservice when we disallow cell phone use in class for any reason. Firstly, I think that such a requirement robs students of their agency and ability to make good choices. Goodness knows that they're told enough where they need to be, when they need to be there, and what they need to do to succeed there. It's a necessary difficulty, but I don't forget writing as a middle-school student, even, that "School is a little too much like the military..." Or worse, prison.
Instead, we should be teaching students how to make good choices within a reasonable set of parameters. Cell phones aren't going away anytime soon; it's part of our job to teach students when it's a healthy choice and/or socially acceptable to use mobile technology. Their ability to develop good relationships and be successful in their work depends upon this.
If teachers treat cell phones as mere taboo devices for social interaction, then that's how students will conceive of them. If teachers treat cell phones as devices that can be used to further one's education -- or talk to friends -- by choice, then I think that this may contribute to the health of students' approach to mobile tech.
Matt