Journal Entry 2

When examining teachers as change agents, it is important to think about the roles and responsibilities a teacher has. There is a multitude of titles a teacher assumes throughout the course of a day: caretaker, mom, nurse, instructor, guide, nurturer, encourager, and so on. In our class discussion on Thursday January 10th, our class discussed as a group how these roles are different from teachers 30, 50, or 100 years ago. What a teacher is to a student largely depends on the students needs. But, in order for a teacher to serve as an agent of change, he or she needs to first be able to recognize the specific needs of each individual student. It is for this reason that teachers must form authentic relationships with students. It is important to know what students are interested in and what the cool toys and movies are. Letting the students know that you like what they like and that you "speak their language" helps foster an authentic relationship. This also helps teachers in tailoring class instruction and projects to interest and motivate your students, and also makes it more likely that your students will be receptive to your teaching.


One way teachers can "generically" make lessons and instruction more "kid friendly" is through the use of technology. Using technology in the classroom is an innovative and motivating way of catching kids' interest. Furthermore, the internet provides current and easily accessible information on just about anything you can think of. It is great for those "teachable moments" where a random subject is brought up and can lead to the most extensive of tangents, and also for online exploring. Authentic global issues can be researched and students can work in teams to propose solutions to these problems. One major issue of using technology in classrooms is how well teachers can understand and use technology. From what I have observed, the five most common uses of technology in the classroom are: 1) doing math and ELA games, 2) learning to type, 3) accelerated reader tests, 4) watching educational videos (e.g. how tofu is made, electromagnets…), and 5) doing small research on a topic in class (Askforkids.com). All of these applications do made learning more interesting for kids, but I have never seen teachers use classroom technology to create a project or do a webquest. These are two simple applications of technology that can be awesome learning experiences for children. They get technological experience and also get the satisfaction of exploring and being in control of their own learning. Authentic learning from a global issue or a webquest can also be a great source for practice in critical thinking as well. As I mentioned in a previous blog, critical thinking is not something you can specifically teach. You can train a mind to look at an issue for more than one angle, but critical thinking is a very independent activity. You cannot specifically teach a person how to think critically because we all learn in a different way. However, as a teacher you can give your students topics to think critically about and have them work in groups to problem solve. Allowing different minds to work together will give them the “practice” at looking at problems differently, and also give them experience in working together.

I think that teachers fail to use technology more often in the classroom because they are not sure how, or they are not comfortable enough to use it. Many “veteran” teachers can feel squeamish when it comes to using the big, scary computers that their students can run circles around them on. But, this can be solved in two ways: teach the teachers to get familiar and comfortable with simple computer applications or let the kids teach them. The teacher and students could learn together, and nothing would empower a student more than teaching their grown-up teacher something. When I am a teacher, I will be sure to use technology in my classroom to the fullest extent possible. I am glad I learned about the LoTI framework. I feel it is much easier to rate and improve yourself is you have a standard to compare to. Some teachers may independently think that they are effectively using technology in the classroom, but when they compare themselves to the LoTI framework, they may only be on a level 2 or 3. I do not think I would be able to achieve a level 6 at the elementary level, but the framework at least provides me with guidelines that I can follow for using technology in the classroom, as well as provide ideas for new ways to use technology. To date, I have created my own web page, a blog, a wiki, and a podcast for this class, all things I have never done before. Before this class, I suppose I had an “average” skill level- I could email, shop, chat, I had MySpace and Facebook, I can effectively and properly use search engines (Boolean operators, etc.), and can find research materials (scholarly articles, references for papers). I do understand computer applications, and could upload and download files. At the start of this class, I was a little confused about how to do some things but once I learned how to do them, I was experimenting with my pages and was immediately thinking of how I can use these things when I have a class of my own: webquests, a class website to post information about upcoming events and assignments, post fieldtrip pictures, send out notices to parents. I do believe that education and training prior to teaching with technology is the best way to ensure that these advantages will make their way into the classroom, and I believe that this course is helping me get on my way.