Reflection Week 3
This week wasn’t called Technology Bootcamp for nothing! Having spent more than half of my life living on or near a military installation I’ve had the first-hand opportunity to observe many a trainee in the process of training. My favorites were the Navy Seals jogging the beaches of Coronado, clad in little tan shorts….BUT WAIT, I digress!!! Bootcamp is all about basic skills and this week was an introduction to a fair dose of those basic skills.
I loved the title of Rosen’s Chapter 3: An Explosion of WMDs: Wireless Mobile Devices, what a great visual! In this chapter we continue our study of iKid, and his world of constant, instant, mobile communication. Rosen sites the phenomenal popularity of the iPhone and we are presented with the concept of being able to utilize the smart phone as a powerful learning tool through mLearning and Mobile Virtual Learning Environments. Brooks-Young gives us a more in-depth look at mobile technologies and encourages us to consider the valuable impact these various devices can offer as educational tools. Both authors agree that it is simply not enough to plug our current lessons into these technologies. Rosen says that in doing so, the content is “static material presented in a static learning environment”. Instead, educators are encouraged to seize the opportunities that these WMDs afford for the development of critical thinking skills.
I can see many valuable applications for WMDs. I like the idea of providing information via podcasting that my students could simply download. How valuable could this be for students who have missed a class, or for days when I miss a class? The biggest constraints I face here are time and lack of experience. Although I have received some training in podcasting, I’m slow and clunky at it. Maybe I need to take my sixth graders to the computer lab and we can all learn it together.
At first I had a difficult time imagining that cell phones would have a lot of applications to use in an elementary setting, but if used for nothing else but the camera, they could be a most valuable asset to the art room. I love having my students use photography, yet it is frustrating when the media center only has three cameras available for check-out. It was a major *aha* moment when I realized that probably half of my older grades could be using their own! Duh! Why had that never dawned on me before?
Who wouldn’t be excited about the prospect of each student being able to bring a netbook to class with them?! Oh the places we could go and the things we could do! Realistically though, given our current economy, I think it will be a while before I picture this dream coming true.
I will have to admit that in the process of reading these assignments I started getting a little apprehensive, after all, it sounded like I was going to need to change everything I was already doing. Then, after reading the assigned material, I read, as Melissa suggested we might, Chapter 1 of Teaching With the Tools Kids Really Use where Brooks-Young references the website http://www.21stcenturyschools.com/ I ventured on over to the site for a quick exploration, and as I skimmed a chart comparing the 20th century classroom to the 21st century classroom I noted that art education is already most of the way there! Go Team!!!
In addition to the utilizing technology in more meaningful ways, the biggest areas I could improve would be to provide my students more opportunities for collaborative work, and to visualize myself more as a facilitator, and coach. In summation, I can see the need for change. In the case of education, I do not believe that the opportunity exists not to change! I must consider the role of the art teacher in this paradigm shift, because change is a coming, with or without me!
I had to be absent for a class last week and used a small wonder to video the lesson in another class. I thought this could be easily used as a podcast and agree with you about absent students. It has been really helpful to keep the flow going and review for everyone, even if they were here!
ReplyDeleteI like that idea. It's such a pain to get ready for a sub. Would certainly simplify things to have file of podcasts you could pull from as needed.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of you guys. One project that we've had "in the works" for years at RBHS is to make a series of instructional videos starring our own faculty. Each teacher has their own strengths - for example, I'm a hell of a lot better painter then a ceramist - which could be recorded in the form of demos for students to use to catch up on a process or to help teach those techniques we don't feel the most comfortable doing. Additionally, have ever purchased a decent art ed video? I mean, really, most of them look like they're taped in someone's basement on a shoestring budget - though they have just taken a good $20 or so out of yours! This way, your department would have a "library" of videos for little to no cost.
ReplyDeleteVideo is one area that I will not be teaching very much about during this class, but it would make a fabulous topic for your final project.
Wow, I'm talking a lot here :)